From next October 15 and for several weeks, the reliquary will provisionally leave the monumental Confessio located before the Papal Altar and will be placed on one of the side altars of the right nave, next to the Sistine Chapel.
The basilica has explained that the transfer will allow you to contemplate up close a relic intimately linked to its own history and the ancient Roman devotion to the mystery of Christmas.
Five fragments attributed to the Bethlehem manger
The Holy Cradle is made up of five thin pieces of sycamore wood, traditionally venerated as fragments of the manger in which the Virgin Mary deposited the Child Jesus after his birth.
“She gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in diapers and put him to bed in a manger,” Luke recounts in describing the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.
The tradition of St. Mary Major places the arrival of the relics in Rome by the middle of the 7th century. The basilica itself points out that around the year 644 were delivered to Pope Theodore I, born in Jerusalem, by the patriarch St. Sophronius.
The devotion to the manger was so linked to the Roman temple that for centuries the basilica was also known as Sancta Maria ad Praesepe, “Santa Maria next to the Manger”. Saint Mary the Elder thus became a kind of Bethlehem of the West, especially linked liturgically and devotionally to the celebration of the Nativity.
A reliquary in the form of a crib
The relics are currently guarded in an elaborate reliquary held in the early 19th century by the Roman architect and goldsmith Giuseppe Valadier.
The work was conceived in the form of a cradle, directly evoking the mystery of the birth of Christ. Decades later, during the pontificate of Pius IX, the relic received the monumental site it currently preserves.
Between 1861 and 1864, the architect Virginio Vespignani built before the Papal Altar the great Confessio, decorated with about seventy varieties of marble, many of them from excavations carried out in Rome and Ostia.
It is precisely this group that will be intervened in the coming weeks.
A new teak to preserve relics
The works respond to the need to replace the current interior structure that houses the relic, made with wooden panels and considered insufficient to guarantee stable conditions of conservation.
The new teak will incorporate updated systems of security, stability and microclimatic control, while maintaining its integration with the historical reliquary of Valadier and with the architecture of the Confessio.
Behind the Holy Cradle will also be installed a new blue mosaic background, made with vitreous enamels and golden tiles, which will symbolically evoke the sky of Bethlehem.
The faithful will be able to worship her closely
For the duration of the work, the reliquary will be located next to the Sistine Chapel of Santa María la Mayor, in a place considerably more accessible to pilgrims than its usual location.
The provisional location will also allow to establish a dialogue with the Annunciation of Pompeo Batoni, preserved in that sector of the basilica: the announcement of the angel to the Virgin will visually follow the memory of the Nativity preserved in the relics of the manger.
The temporary arrangement will thus offer pilgrims an unusual opportunity to approach the remains venerated for centuries from greater proximity.
The Holy Cradle will return to the Papal Altar at Christmas
The provisional transfer will coincide with the Christmas celebrations.
On December 24, following the tradition of St. Mary Major, the Holy Morning will be solemnly moved next to the Papal Altar, where it will remain on display throughout the Christmas season.
After the Epiphany, the reliquary will finally return to its historic niche of the Confessio, where the new teak and mosaic background will be installed.
The work will be supervised by the Directorate of Museums and Cultural Property of the Vatican City State Governorate and will be executed by Progetto Arte Poli, Verona.
The transfer thus offers, for a few weeks, an exceptional opportunity to contemplate up close a relic that has defined for more than a millennium the identity of St. Mary the Elder as the Roman Basilica of Christmas.