The anonymous pilgrim of Piacenza, sometimes simply called the Piacenza Pilgrim, was a sixth-century Christian pilgrim from

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

in northern Italy who travelled to the Holy Land at the height of

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

rule in the 570s and wrote a narrative of his pilgrimage. This anonymous pilgrim was erroneously identified as Antoninus of Piacenza or Antoninus Martyr out of confusion with Saint

Antoninus of Piacenza Saint Antoninus of Piacenza (or Placentia) (died 303 AD) is a patron saint of Piacenza in Italy. He is venerated as a saint and martyr in the Roman Catholic Church, with a feast day of 30 September. The saint was said to have been martyred at ...

, who died in 303 and is venerated as a martyr. The Piacenza pilgrim's description of sites and traditions are sometimes inaccurate, as he tends to confuse places from the same area, or such which are in Egypt. The travel descriptions of the Piacenza pilgrim are still valued by researchers because they sometimes contain information about local customs and traditions not mentioned in any other text. The pilgrim's itinerary documents the extent of the sixth-century trade catering to the pious pilgrims in the Holy Land: "We went to

Cana Cana of Galilee ( grc, Κανὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας; ar, قانا الجليل , translit= Qana al-Jalil , lit=Qana of the Galilee) is the location of the Marriage at Cana, at which the miracle of turning water into wine took place in ...

, where our Lord was present at the marriage feast," the Piacenza Pilgrim reports, "and we reclined on the very couch." Inspired by such a vivid figuration of Biblical truth, Antoninus indulged the classic tourists' act: "and there, unworthy as I was, I wrote the names of my parents". Antoninus' descriptions of the chalice of onyx that was venerated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and of the

Holy Lance The Holy Lance, also known as the Lance of Longinus (named after Saint Longinus), the Spear of Destiny, or the Holy Spear, is the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross during his crucifixion. Biblical references The l ...

in the Basilica of Mount Zion are early attestations of the ''

cultus Cultus may refer to: *Cult (religious practice) * ''Cultus'' (stonefly), a genus of stoneflies * Cultus Bay, a bay in Washington * Cultus Lake (disambiguation) *Cultus River, a river in Oregon *Suzuki Cultus The Suzuki Cultus is a supermini car ...

'' of these two relics. Of the historical Piacenza pilgrim, F. Bechtel reported in ''

The Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

'' (1910).''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', ''s.v.'' "Itineraria"
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"In manuscripts he is sometimes styled Antoninus the Martyr, through ignorant confusion of the writer with the martyr St. Antoninus who is venerated at Piacenza. He is the last writer who saw Palestine before the Moslem conquest. Although he covered in his travels nearly the same extensive territory as the Spanish nun, his work contains but few details not found in other writers; it is, moreover, marred by gross errors and by fabulous tales which betray the most naive credulity."

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*P. Geyer (ed.), in ''Itineraria et alia geographica'', Corpus Christianorum series Latina, Volume 175 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1965), pp. 129–53. *Aubrey Stewart (trans.),
Of the Holy Places Visited by Antoninus Martyr
',

Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society __NOTOC__ The Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society (PPTS) was a text publication society based in London, which specialised in publishing editions and translations of medieval texts relevant to the history of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Particular a ...

, 1887.

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See also