Santo Bambino of Aracoeli

Santo Bambino di Aracoeli
Holy Child of Aracoeli

The Bambino Gesu of Aracoeli enshrined within the titular Basilica
Location Capitoline Hill
Date Fourteenth century
Witness Franciscan monk
Prince Alessandro Torlonia
Type Olive wood
Holy See approval Pope Leo XIII
Pope Saint John Paul II
Shrine Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli

The Santo Bambino of Aracoeli sometimes known as Bambino Gesu di Aracoeli (Lit: Holy Jesus of Aracoeli) is a 15th-century Roman Catholic devotional wooden image enshrined in the titular Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, depicting the Child Jesus[1] swaddled in golden fabric, wearing a crown, and adorned with various gemstones and jewels donated by devotees.

On 18 January 1894, Pope Leo XIII authorised its public devotion and granted a canonical coronation on 2 May 1897. It was again blessed by Pope Saint John Paul II on 8 January 1984. The image was stolen in February 1994, but was replaced with a copy.

History and devotion

The wooden image measures approximately 60 centimeters tall and depicts the Child Jesus as an infant. According to historical records preserved at the Basilica Santa Maria in Aracoeli, the image was carved from a single block of olive wood from the Garden of Gethsemani by a Franciscan friar assigned to the Holy Land in the fifteenth century.

Pilgrimages to the images are recorded as early as 1794. In February 1798 the image was seized by French troops but ransomed by Roman aristocrat Serafin Petraca, thus saving it from being burned.[2] It remained in a convent in Trasteverino for a little over a year while a new shrine was built.

The Bambino is customarily placed in the crèche at the Basilica at Christmas. In 1838, thieves, ostensibly bending to kiss the made, made off with a considerable part of the jewelry with which he was adorned. During Anti-Catholic protests in 1848, Carlo Armellini saved Santo Bambino from arson.[3]

Romans have long associated the image with healing.[4] According to one account, sometime in the 1800s a member of the noble Torlonia family became seriously ill and the friars were asked to bring Santo Bambino to the sickbed. The friars obliged and the person recovered. Thereafter, Prince Alessandro Torlonia used a carriage that belonged to Pope Leo XIII to spend his Thursdays bringing the image on "house calls" to the sick unable to get to the Basilica. Until the beginning of the 20th century a coach of Prince Torlonia stood day and night available to bring the Bambino to the bedside of a sick person.[5]

In 1927 the Legation Counsellor at the British Embasssy was seriously ill with typhoid and was given last rites. Someone suggested sending for the Bambino. Father Philip Langdon went to Santa Maria in Araceoli, but on his return he and the accompanying Franciscan were stopped at the Piazza Venezia by a cordon of soldiers who had blocked off the street while the Duce made a speech. Despite being in a car with a Cardinal's coat of arms they were not allowed to pass, until Langdon told them that he was bringing the Bambino to a dying man -at which point the soldiers snapped to attention and flagged them through.[5]

The Chapel of Santo Bambino is filled with letters from all over the world, some of them addressed only to "Il Bambino, Rome". After a few weeks, to make room for new ones, the letters are removed and burned unopened. According to one of the Franciscans, "What is in the letters, is a matter between the Bambino and the letter writer and does not concern us." [5] In the past, in the period between Christmas and Epiphany, children six to ten could stand on a specially built platform to speak to Santo Bambino, but this custom has fallen out of practice.

Pontifical recognitions

The high altar of Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli.

On 18 January 1894, Pope Leo XIII authorised the devotion to the image, along with a rescript and prayer dedicated to the infancy of Jesus. The papal document was witnessed by Cardinal Ignatius Persico.[6] On 2 May 1897, the Pontiff issued a canonical coronation towards the image through the Vatican Chapter.[2]

The image was also mentioned in a 1969 letter to the College of Cardinals given by Pope Paul VI for the 1969 World Day of Peace on New Year's Day.[7]

On 8 January 1984, Pope John Paul II issued a homily blessing the title and its image at the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall on the solemn occasion of Jubilee year for children.[8]

Theft of the image

The statue itself was of limited artistic value, but adorned with valuable ex-votos. Ordinarily it is stored at night in a secure cabinet, but in the late afternoon of February 1, 1994, two thieves masqueraded as workers on a scaffold erected in the monastery for renovations. By one account, the thieves ransacked the friars' rooms looking for something o steal, and coming to the room where the image was stored at night, found the armored cabinet open. Another version says the statue was still inside the church on display in the crèche, which was to be taken down the next day. While the police believed it would be difficult to recover and of the gold and valuables taken with the image, they considered Santo Bambino too well known to be easily marketed.[3] The theft of Santo Bambino caused considerable outrage in Rome. A number of wealthy individuals offered to underwrite a ransom, but the Franciscans discouraged that approach and proceeded to have a copy made. The inmates at Regina Coeli prisons wrote a petition to their unknown "colleagues" asking for its return,[5] and that having failed donated money for the new copy.

According to historical data the real statue stands today in the church of San Giovanni in Giulianello in Cori, where it is still revered, and a copy was placed in Santa Maria in Araceoli, which stolen in February 1994. This was replaced with an exact copy which resides at the shrine today.[4] A tradition in Cori maintains that in 1798 Cardinal Borghese, to prevent the statue from being destroyed by the Jacobins, donated it to the church of San Giovanni in Giulianello.

A solar brooch depicting the allegorical image Sun of Justice was attached to the image, later stolen, and was associated with the Milanese jeweler Carlo Sartore. The Sun of Justice is still depicted in older 19th-century lithographs of the image.

Legends

Pious tradition holds that when the friar did not have the paints necessary to finish his work, it was completed by an angel. Upon his return to Italy, the ship was wrecked during a storm. The friar survived and later found the statue washed up on the shore at Livorno.[2] A second tale relates that in 1797, the Princess Borghese, wishing to have the statue for herself, had a copy made. When her cousin became gravely ill, the family requested that the Bambino be brought, but returned the copy. However, at midnight while the bells rang at Santa Maria in Araceoli, the statue miraculaously returned to its rightful place.[4]

According to tradition, the lips of the Holy Child turn red when a request is going to be granted, and white when the cause presented is hopeless.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Miraculous Bambino Gesu". Italian Slow Walks. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Darang, Josephine. "Devotion to Bambino de Aracoeli spreads", Philippine Daily Inquirer, February 23, 2014
  3. 1 2 "The Child Dell' Aracoeli Stolen", la Repubblica, February 2, 1994
  4. 1 2 3 4 Liverotti, Massimiliano. "Curiosity and legends about the statue of the Holy Child kept in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli", Mysterious Rome, Abitare a Roma, December 11, 2088
  5. 1 2 3 4 Nersinger, Urlich. "Il Santo Bambino The Holy Child of Rome", Zenit, December 23, 2006
  6. ↑ "Rector Ecclesiae s. Mariae in Aracoelis huius almae Civitatis, humiliter exorat Sanctitatem Vestram, ut dignetur aliquam concedere Indulgentiam f i d e l i bus qui sequentem recitabunt orationem in h o n o r em infantis Iesus. CONGREGREGATIONEM INDULGENTIARUM RESCRIPTUM, quo conceditur indulgentia centum dierum Christifidelibus recitantibus orationem in honorem Pueri Iesu. S. Congregatio Indulgentiis Sacrisque Reliquiis praeposita, utendo facultatibus a SSmo Domino Nostro Leone Pp. XIII sibi specialiter tributis, universis Christifidelibus, corde saltem contrito, ac devote recitantibus s u p r a d i c t am Orationem, I n d u l g e n t i am centum dierum, defunctis quoque applicabilem, semel in die luc r a n d am benigne concessit. Praesenti in perpetuum valituro absque ulla Brevis expeditione. Contrariis quibuscumque non obstantibus. Datum Romae ex Secretaria eiusdem S. Congregationis die 18 Ianuarii 1894. Fr. IGNATIUS Card. PERSICO Praefectus. L. & S. f ALEXANDER ARCHIEP. NICOPOLIT." (PDF). Vatican.va. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "FRANCESCO" (PDF). Vatican.va. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Celebrazione del giubileo dei bambini, 8 gennaio 1984". Vatican.va. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
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