tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post6330584502434588309..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: A Walk in RomeJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-31148974597637500282021-12-20T00:20:51.732-05:002021-12-20T00:20:51.732-05:00It seems there had been a medieval nunnery here, b...It seems there had been a medieval nunnery here, but it had been abandoned and had fallen into ruins. Then one day some workers removing stone came across a painting of the Virgin that had miraculously remained intact and bright despite centuries of neglect. People came from all over Rome to see the miracle, and the Pope ordered that a new church be built to house it.<br /><br />I imagine that the site of those ruins, in the very heart of Rome, would have been an attractive piece of real estate. I'm assuming that since the site had previously been a nunnery it was church-held land, but I wonder if that wasn't so, or if there might have been some competing claims. Perhaps some wealthy local aristocrat wanted to clear the ruins and build a villa or something there, citing the disuse of the land? Were that the case, it would have been very convenient if someone in the church arranged for an "ancient" piece of art to be found in the ruins "miraculously intact", thus giving the church massive leverage to claim the site for their own purposes. Plus, it's just plain old good public relations - miracles boost faith.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-5360375936833143732021-12-20T00:13:04.954-05:002021-12-20T00:13:04.954-05:00This fascinates me because there must be a hundred...<i>This fascinates me because there must be a hundred churches in Europe with this exact same foundation story, about a miraculous image found in a ruin, a field, a cave, or really just about anywhere. Which makes me wonder: who believed this? Did the Pope believe it?</i><br /><br />The pope in 1580 was Gregory XIII, commissioner of the Gregorian calendar, church reformist following the recommendations of the Council of Trent, centralizer of Papal Authority at the expense of the Cardinals, general patron of the arts and sciences, etc.<br /><br />The popes of his time period were shrewd politicians as much as they were religious heads (two of the three Borgia popes had already come and gone by Gregory's reign, for example), and the Holy See was particularly focused on responding to the challenges of the Protestant Reformation. This was also an era where Machiavellian thought held significant sway.<br /><br />Thus, I personally highly doubt Gregory would have actually believed in the cliche of the miraculously preserved image - any more than he would have credulously purchased a "saint's finger bone" or a "piece of the true cross" proffered by an unscrupulous street merchant. But he <i>absolutely</i> would have seen the value of such a story as propaganda, whether he actually believed it or not. Prestige and popular opinion were always of paramount importance for rulers in that era, whether feudal, theocratic, or republican. (Arguably, that's still just as true today.)G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.com