Holy Prepuce
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Holy Prepuce, or Holy Foreskin (
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
or ), is one of several relics attributed to Jesus, consisting of the
foreskin In male Human body, human anatomy, the foreskin, also known as the prepuce (), is the double-layered fold of Human skin, skin, Mucous membrane, mucosal and Muscle tissue, muscular tissue at the distal end of the human penis that covers the glans ...
removed during the
circumcision of Jesus The circumcision of Jesus is an event from the life of Jesus, according to the Gospel of Luke Luke 2, chapter 2, which states: And when eight days were fulfilled to circumcision, circumcise the child, his name was called Jesus, the name called by ...
. At various points in history, a number of churches in Europe have claimed to possess the Prepuce, sometimes at the same time. Various miraculous powers have been ascribed to it.


History and rival claims

All
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
boys are required by Jewish religious law to be circumcised on the eighth day following their birth; the
Feast of the Circumcision of Christ The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ is a Christian celebration of the circumcision of Jesus in accordance with Jewish tradition, eight days (according to the Semitic and southern European calculation of intervals of days) after his birth, the ...
, still celebrated by many churches around the world, accordingly falls on January 1. Luke 2:21 (King James Version), reads: "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb." The first reference to the survival of Christ's severed foreskin comes in the second chapter of the
apocryphal Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...
Arabic Infancy Gospel which contains the following story: Foreskin relics began appearing in Europe during the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
. The earliest recorded sighting came on December 25, 800, when
Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
gave it to
Pope Leo III Pope Leo III (; died 12 June 816) was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 26 December 795 to his death on 12 June 816. Protected by Charlemagne from the supporters of his predecessor, Adrian I, Leo subsequently strengthened Charlem ...
when being crowned Emperor. Charlemagne claimed that it had been brought to him by an angel while he prayed at the Holy Sepulchre, although a more prosaic report says it was a wedding gift from the Byzantine Empress Irene. Its authenticity was later considered to be confirmed by a vision of Saint
Bridget of Sweden Bridget of Sweden, Bridgettines, OSsS ( – 23 July 1374), also known as Birgitta Birgersdotter and Birgitta of Vadstena (), was a Swedish Catholic Mysticism, mystic and the founder of the Bridgettines. Outside Sweden, she was also known as the ...
, who confirmed that it was somewhere in Rome. The ''Descriptio Lateranensis Ecclesiae'', written shortly before 1100, indicated that a cypress chest commissioned by Leo III and placed under the altar in the Chapel of St. Lawrence held three caskets. One of the caskets contained a gold jeweled cross. The document stated that in this cross was the foreskin and umbilicus of Jesus.
Catherine of Siena Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa (25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), known as Catherine of Siena, was an Italian mystic and pious laywoman who engaged in papal and Italian politics through extensive letter-writing and advocacy. Canonized in 1461, ...
mentioned the foreskin-as-wedding ring motif in one of her letters (#221), equating the wedding ring of a virgin with a foreskin. In a letter to encourage a nun who was undergoing a prolonged period of spiritual trial and torment, she wrote: "Bathe in the blood of Christ crucified. See that you don't look for or want anything but the crucified, as a true bride ransomed by the blood of Christ crucified – for that is my wish. You see very well that you are a bride and that he has espoused you – you and everyone else – and not with a ring of silver but with a ring of his own flesh. Look at the tender little child who on the eighth day, when he was circumcised, gave up just so much flesh as to make a tiny circlet of a ring!" David Farley recounts how a relic brought to Rome by Saint Brigida and said to be the holy foreskin was looted during the sack of the city in 1527. The German soldier who stole it was captured in the village of
Calcata Calcata (locally ) is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Lazio, located north of Rome by car, overlooking the valley of river. Calcata borders the following municipalities: Faleria, Magliano Romano, Mazza ...
, north of Rome, later the same year. Housed in Calcata, it was venerated from that time onwards, with the Church vouching for its authenticity by offering a ten-year
indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission bef ...
to
pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...
s. Pilgrims, nuns and monks flocked to the church, and "Calcata ecamea must-see destination on the pilgrimage map." A local priest reported the foreskin as stolen in 1983. However, in 1905
Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...
authorized an inventory compiled by Professor Hartmann Grisar, of the University of Innsbruck. Grisar's report corresponds to the earlier ''Descriptio Lateranensis Ecclesiae''. The gold cross was dated to between the sixth and eighth centuries. Grisar's study stated that, like Pope Paschal's enameled silver reliquary cross, the gold jeweled cross was clearly initially designed to hold a relic of the True Cross. This is further supported by the statement in the ''Descriptio'' relating it to a procession on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The ''Vita'' of
Pope Sergius I Pope Sergius I (8 September 701) was the bishop of Rome from 15 December 687 to his death on 8 September 701, and is revered as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected at a time when two rivals, Paschal and Theodore, were locked ...
(687-01) mentions both the Feast of the Exaltation, the jeweled cross, and veneration of the relic contained therein. Grisar attributed the reference to the foreskin and umbilicus as derived from later Medieval traditions. The gold cross was lost in 1945.


Traffic in relics

Mary Dzon says that for many people during the Medieval period, devotion to the Holy Prepuce reflected a focus on the humanity of Jesus.Dzon, Mary
''The Quest for the Christ Child in the Later Middle Ages''
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017, p. 221,
According to Farley, "Depending on what you read, there were eight, twelve, fourteen, or even 18 different holy foreskins in various European towns during the Middle Ages." In addition to the Holy Foreskin of Rome (later Calcata), other claimants included the Cathedral of
Le Puy-en-Velay Le Puy-en-Velay (, ; , before 1988: ''Le Puy'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Loire Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of south-central France. Located near the rive ...
,
Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...
, the city of
Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
, Coulombs in the diocese of Chartres, as well as Chartres itself, and churches in
Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...
,
Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
,
Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...
, Charroux.
Conques Conques (; Languedocien: ''Concas'') is a former commune in the Aveyron department in Southern France, in the Occitania region. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Conques-en-Rouergue. Geography The village is located at t ...
,
Langres Langres () is a commune in France, commune in northeastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Haute-Marne, in the Regions of France, region of Grand Est. History As the capital ...
, Fécamp, and two in
Auvergne Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France. As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...
. One of the most famous prepuces arrived in Antwerp in Brabant in 1100 as a gift from King
Baldwin I of Jerusalem Baldwin I (1060s – 2 April 1118) was the first count of Edessa from 1098 to 1100 and king of Jerusalem from 1100 to his death in 1118. He was the youngest son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and Ida of Lorraine and married a Norman noblew ...
, who purchased it in the Holy Land during the First
Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
. This prepuce became famous when the
bishop of Cambrai This is a List of bishops and archbishops of Cambrai, that is, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cambrai. Bishops For the first bishops of Arras and Cambrai, who resided at the former place, see Roman Catholic Diocese of Arras. On the death ...
, during the celebration of the
Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
, saw three drops of blood blotting the linens of the altar. A special chapel was constructed and processions organised in honour of the miraculous relic, which became the goal of pilgrimages. In 1426, a brotherhood was founded in the cathedral ; ("of the Holy Circumcision of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ in our Beloved Lady's Church in Antwerp"). Its 24 members were all abbots and prominent laymen. The relic disappeared in 1566, but the chapel still exists, decorated by two
stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
windows donated by king
Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509), also known as Henry Tudor, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henr ...
and his wife
Elizabeth of York Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 – 11 February 1503) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII of England, Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death in 1503. She was the daughter of King E ...
in 1503. The abbey of Charroux claimed the Holy Foreskin was presented to the monks by Charlemagne. In the early 12th century, it was taken in procession to Rome where it was presented before
Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III (; born Lotario dei Conti di Segni; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most power ...
, who was asked to rule on its authenticity. The Pope declined the opportunity. At some point, however, the relic went missing, and remained lost until 1856 when a workman repairing the abbey claimed to have found a
reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', ''Chasse (casket), chasse'', or ''phylactery'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary, or the room in which one is stored, may also be called a ''feretory''. Relics may be the purported ...
hidden inside a wall, containing the missing foreskin. This was not the only test of the relic's legitimacy: as anthropologist Eric Silverman writes, "A common test for foreskinned authenticity n medieval timeswas taste. A physician, supervised by a priest, sampled the skin for the flavor of genuine holiness. The taster was called a croque-prépuce, or ‘foreskin cruncher.’" According to Farley, the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
later removed the Day of the Holy Circumcision from the Latin church calendar, although Eastern Catholics and Traditional Roman Catholics still celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord on January 1.David Farley (December 19, 2006)
"Fore Shame"
''Slate''
In reality, it was more than two years before 11 October 1962, the date when the Second Vatican Council began, that a 25 July 1960 decree of
Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...
enacted a wide-ranging revision of the
General Roman Calendar The General Roman Calendar (GRC) is the liturgy, liturgical calendar that indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and Sacred mysteries, mysteries of the Lord (Jesus Christ) in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, wherever this liturgic ...
, which included changing the name of the 1 January feast from "Circumcision of the Lord and
Octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...
of the Nativity" to "Octave of the Nativity", with no change of the Gospel reading about the circumcision of the child Jesus.


Modern practices

Most of the Holy Prepuces were lost or destroyed during the
Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
and the French Revolution. In the Italian village of
Calcata Calcata (locally ) is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Lazio, located north of Rome by car, overlooking the valley of river. Calcata borders the following municipalities: Faleria, Magliano Romano, Mazza ...
, a reliquary containing the supposed Holy Foreskin was paraded through the streets as recently as 1983 on the
Feast of the Circumcision The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ is a Christian celebration of the circumcision of Jesus in accordance with Jewish tradition, eight days (according to the Semitic and southern European calculation of intervals of days) after his birth, th ...
, which was formerly marked by the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
around the world on January 1 each year. The practice ended, however, when thieves stole the jewel-encrusted case, contents and all. Following this theft, it is unclear whether any of the purported Holy Prepuces still exist. In a 1997 television documentary for
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
, British journalist
Miles Kington Miles Beresford Kington (13 May 1941 – 30 January 2008) was a British journalist, musician (a double bass player for Instant Sunshine and other groups) and broadcaster. He is also credited with the invention of Franglais, a fictional language ...
travelled to Italy in search of the Holy Foreskin, but was unable to find any remaining example. On December 22, 2013, National Geographic Channel broadcast a documentary starring Farley called "The Quest for the Holy Foreskin".


Modern literary allusions

According to an unconfirmed 19th-century source, in the late 17th century the Vatican librarian Leo Allatius wrote an unpublished treatise entitled ''De Praeputio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Diatriba'' (''A Discussion of the Foreskin of Our Lord Jesus Christ''), claiming that the Holy Prepuce ascended, like Jesus himself, and was transformed into the
rings of Saturn Saturn has the most extensive and complex ring system of any planet in the Solar System. The rings consist of particles in orbit around the planet made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of Rock (geology), rocky material. Parti ...
.
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
, in ''A Treatise of Toleration'' (1763), referred to
veneration Veneration (; ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Veneration of saints is practiced, ...
of the Holy Foreskin as being one of a number of superstitions that were "much more reasonable... than to detest and persecute your brother".
Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...
, in his book ''
Baudolino ''Baudolino'' is a 2000 in literature, 2000 novel by Umberto Eco about the adventures of a man named Baudolino in the known and mythical Christianity, Christian world of the 12th century. ''Baudolino'' was translated into English in 2001 by Wil ...
'', has the young Baudolino invent a story about seeing the holy foreskin and navel in Rome to the company of
Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...
. In 2009, Farley's ''An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church's Strangest Relic in Italy's Oddest Town'' was published.
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...
's '' Ulysses'' has Stephen Dedalus pondering the Holy Prepuce while he urinates with
Leopold Bloom Leopold Paula Bloom is the fictional protagonist and hero of James Joyce's 1922 novel '' Ulysses''. His peregrinations and encounters in Dublin on 16 June 1904 mirror, on a more mundane and intimate scale, those of Ulysses/Odysseus in Homer's ...
, in the section titled "Ithaca". In '' The Gospel According To Jesus Christ'',
José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese writer. He was the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony [with which ...
writes that anyone "wishing to venerate that foreskin today need only visit the parish church of Calcata near Viterbo in Italy, where it is preserved in a reliquary for the spiritual benefit of the faithful and the amusement of prying atheists."


See also

* Circumcision controversy in early Christianity * Nail (relic) * Nanteos Cup * Sandals of Jesus Christ * Shroud of Turin * Titulus Crucis * Tree of Jesse * True cross


References


Further reading

* * *{{cite journal, last=Shell, first=Marc , title=The Holy Foreskin; or, Money, Relics, and Judeo-Christianity , journal=Jews and Other Differences: The New Jewish Cultural Studies , editor1-first=Jonathan, editor1-last=Boyarin , editor2-first=Daniel, editor2-last=Boyarin , location=Minneapolis , publisher=University of Minnesota Press , year=1997 , isbn=9780816627509


External links


Relics
article from 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 Encyclopedi ...
'' *Peter Charles Remondino.
History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present
'' Philadelphia and London; F. A. Davis; 1891.

in ''Toronto Star'', December 2007 Circumcision Relics associated with Jesus Body parts of individual people Jesus and history