Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/364

 ORVIETO

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ORVIETO

Jesus", and thero are several sculptures by Soalza (ir)72), amoiis; tliem the fjioup of the Piota, chiselled from a single Idock of niarhle. The chapol on Ihi- op- posite side, called "of the Corporal", contains the large reliquary in which is preserved the corporal of the miracle of Holseiia (see below). This recepta- cle was made b^■ order of Hishop IVrtrand (lei Monaldesclii. by tlu'SiiMiese rudlinodi Ma'stro Vieri (13o7); it is of silver, adoriieil with enanielliiiftsthat represent the Passion of Jesus and the mir- acle; the frescoes of the walls, by Ugolino (1357-64), also repre- sent the miracle. In the palace of the popes, built by Boni- face VIII, is the civic museum, which con- tains Etruscan antiq- uities and works of art that are, for the greater part, from the cathedral. Among the other notable churches of Orvieto are San Giovenale, which contains rem-

Papal Pala Erected by Pope Bonif,

over it; while, in 1377, the town was sacked by the adventiner llawkwood (.Acuto). On the l.shmd of Martana, in the lake near by, Anialasunta, daughter of Theodoricus and wife of Thcodatus, was slr.iiit;lcil. To this island, in the sixth (•(•ntury, was transferred Ihi^ body of St. Christina, a virgin and m;utvr of HoLseiia (21(7?), but it was later returned to the city ; tlie church of this saint contains a reclining statue of her by Luca doUa Jiubljia; annexed to the church is an an- cient Christian ceme- tery, and ancient Christian inscriptions are numerous at Bol- sena. Three bishops of \'olsinii are known: Caudentius (499), Candidus (liOl), who, it a])pears, is not the Bishop of Orvieto of that name, and Ag- nellus (t)80).

The M iracle of Bolscna is not sup- ported by strong his- torical evidence, and its tradition is not altogether consistent;

VUI (1294-1303)

nants of ancient frescoes, and San Andrea, which for in the first place Urban IV makes no mention

has a dodecagon tower; in 1220 Pierre d'Artois was of it in the Bull by which lie established the feast

consecrated King of Jerusalem by Honorius III in this of Corpus Christi, although the miracle is said to

church. have taken place in his day and to have determined

The first known Bishop of Orvieto was John (about him in his purpose of establishing that feast; likewise,

590), and in 591 appears a Bishop Candidus; among the two biographers of Pope Urban impugn the truth

its other prelates were Coa stantino Medici, O.P., sent by Alexander IV in 1255 to Greece, where he died; Fran- cesco Monaldeschi (12S0), who did much for the construction of the cathedral. In 1.528 Clement VII sought refuge at Orvieto, and while there or- dered the construction of the "Pozzo di San Patrizio" (the well of St. Patrick), by San- gallo. Bishop Sebastiano Vanzi (1562) distinguished himself at the Council of Trent and built the seminary, which was enlarged afterwards by Car- dinal Fausto Polo (1645) and by Giacomo Silvestri, the lat^ ter of whom gave to it the col- lege and other property of the Jesuits (1773); Cardinal Paolo Antamori (1780) caused the history of the cathedral of Or- vieto to be written by Gug- lielmo dclla Valle; and lastly G. B. Lambruschini (1807).

With the Sec of Orvieto has been united from time imme- morial that of Bolsena (the ancient Volsinii), of the ruins

of this tradition by their silence, i. e. Wuratori, "Rerum Itali- carum scriptorcs". III, pt. I, 400 sq. ; and especially Thier- ricus Vallicoloris, who, in his life of the pope in Latin verse, describes in detail all the acts of the pontiff during the latter's stay at Orvieto, referring else- where also to the devotion of Urban in celebrating the Mass, and to the institution of the Yeasi of Corpus Christi, with- out at any time making allu- sion to the miracle at Bolscna. The latter is related in the in- scription on a slab of red mar- ble in the church of St. Chri.s- liiia, and is of later date than 1 he canonization of St. Thomas A(iuinas (1328). The oldest historical record of the miracle is contained in the enamel ' ' his- tories" that adorn the front of the reliquary (1337-39). It is to be noted that in the nar- ratives of the miracle cited by Fumi (II Santuario, 73) the re- liquary only is called "taber- naculum D.N.J.C.", or "tab . pro D.N.J.C." or, again.

Designed by Lorenzo Maitani (1275-1330)

of which th(^re are still the remnants of the tem- "tabernacolo del Corpo di Xpo."

pie of Nortia, of the "Thermte", or hot baths, of In 1344 Clement VI, referring to this matter in a

Sejanus, of the mausoleum of L. Canuelius, etc. Ac- Brief, uses only the words "propter miraculum ali-

cording to Pliny, 2000 statues were taken to Rome quod" (Pennazzi, 367); Gregory XI, in a Brief of 25

from Vol.sinii, when the latter was destroyed in 2.54 June, 1337, gives a short account of the miracle; and

B c. In the Middle Ages, Bolsena had much to suffer abundant reference to it is found later on (1435), in

from the neighbouring lords (Vico, BLsenzo, Cerbara, the sermons of the Dominican preacher Leonardo

etc.), and from the Orvietans, who claimed dominion Mattel of Udine ("In festo Corp. Christi", xiv, ed.