Tuscany – And now about those dead bodies

I know that some might consider this post sacrilegious, and I apologize in advance if this offends you. 

Romulus and Remus - the Founders of Rome. The son of Remus founded Siena

As we travel through Italy, Kit’s fascination with religious art has led us to explore places as divergent as simple country churches and basilicas, and to marvel at art created in the middle ages that was intended to teach as well as to inspire. In an age of general illiteracy, the mosaics, frescoes and statues were designed to illustrate the lessons of the Bible.  This, more than anywhere else we’ve visited, was true for the Dukedom in Siena. Starting on the floor, the mosaic panels depict stories of Roman mythology, scenes from Sienese history, and ultimately biblical scenes. The mosaics on the walls tell of the life of the saints and of Jesus, and even the smallest details of the architecture contain a lesson.  The lion, on whose back rests one of the pillars supporting the pulpit, illustrates the church offering nourishment to the young while simultaneously devouring evil. It’s easy to imagine the priest using this art to teach the lessons of Christianity.

One of the lions supporting the pulpit

And when talking about the saints, what better way to bring home the point that these were real people who lived and died right in your town than to have their body on display?  I have to admit that I have developed a morbid fascination with the religious relics displayed in many of the churches that we’ve visited.  I think it started with St. Catherine.  A daughter of Siena (actually the 25th child of a Sienese wool dyer), she is revered in both Rome and Siena for persuading the Pope to leave Avignon and return the papacy to Rome.  Her thumb (c. 1368) is mounted on a nicely turned wooden post and kept under glass in a chapel in her church in Siena next to her skull.   

St. Fausto, the patron saint of sharecroppers and small farmers, was a simple farmer in Castellini in Chianti.  A religious man whose oxen would plow his fields for him while he spent his days in prayer, he was beheaded by the Romans for refusing to renounce his beliefs.  He is the go-to saint locally to intercede for incurable diseases and droughts. It is said that you can tell if your prayers will be answered by the direction the flames of the candles in front of his body swirl as you pray.

Then we found St. Zita’s body (d. 1272) in a glass case in Lucca.  She was a domestic servant who found time to give food and clothes to the poor.  She was accused of giving away the bread that she was supposed to be baking for the family, but when her employers went to the kitchen to confront her, they found angels kneading and baking the bread.  She is the patron saint of maids and domestic servants.
She is often appealed to in order to help find lost keys.

And as I write this, we have just arrived in Padova. Kit is anxious to see the medieval paintings by Giotto in the Scrovini chapel.  Personally, I’m looking forward to paying my respects to St. Anthony.  I look to him as the patron saint of teachers and orators. It is said that when the heretics of the town refused to listen to him, he went to the river bank to preach to the fish, finally impressing the town folk with his dedication to teaching. He died in 1231.  In 1567, he was exhumed.  His body was dust, but his tongue still glistened.  Today, his tongue, jawbone and vocal cords are preserved at his Basilica here in Padova.