Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/851

 REMESIANA

763

REMIGIUS

scribed by Father Grisar and by Lauer. A large relic of the True Cross is probably still embedded in the hollow of the case, covered with a thick coating of bal- sam — a perfumed unguent which, as the "Liber Pon- tificalis" informs us, was applied to such reliquaries as a mark of veneration. This identical cross is prob-

Rei iql \Ry OF St Ursula Decorated by Memling Hospital of St J hn Bruges

ably that found by Pope Sergius (687-701) m a corner of the sacristy of St. Peter's, and it may possibly date from the fifth century.

Other medieval reliquaries, of which specimens still survive, took the form of legs, arms, and particularly heads or busts. Perhaps the earliest known is a bust from the treasury of St. Maurice in the Valais ; amongst the later examples are such famous reliquaries as those of the heads of the Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, at the Lateran, and that of St. Januarius in Naples (cf. plate in The Catholic Encyclopedia, VIII, 296). Under this class we may also mention the relic statues which seem to have been rather exceptionally common in England. It is conceivable that some of the prejudice of the English Reformers against "wonder-working" statues was due to the practice of making doors into the hollow of such figures and preserving relics within them. Sir Thomas More ("Works", London, 1557, p. 192) describes a case in which such a hiding-pLare for relics was unexpectedly discovered in the Abbey of Barking. Lastly it will be sufficient to point out that, relics have at all times been kept in simple caskets or boxes, varying indefinitely in size, material, and or- namentation. In more modern times these are in- variably secured by a seal, and the contents indicated in a formal episcopal act of authentication, without which it is not lawful to expose the relics for public veneration. The silver box containing the head of St. Agnes, recently brought to light in the treasury of the Sancta Sanctorum, still iirescrved the seal of some cardinal deacon affixed to it apparently at the end of the thirteenth century. From a graphical point of view the illustrations of reliquaries in the early Ger- man "Heihgthums-Biicher", published in connexion with various famous shrines, e. g. Einsiedeln, Wittem- berg, Halle etc. are particularly interesting.

Probably the most useful work is Grisab, Die rdmiscke Kapelte Sanrta Sanctorum u. iht SchaU (Freiburg, 1908), an account of the recent discoveries made in the trea-sury of the Sancta Sanc- torum at the Lateran ; cf. I..AUER, Le tresor du Sancta Sanctorum (Paris, 1906). A more formal discussion will be found in w.irks on Christian art: Reubens, Elements! d'archcnt. rhi-'i i 1,.mi\ :uii, 188.5), I, 470; 11,339; Ottb, llandhuch der Km, i 1 ,./,„../-»,/■, I (Leipzie, 1886), 183-211; Beroner, Ilnudlm.), ,hr l.u.hl. KunstaltertUmer (Ijeipzig, 190.5). See also Di,t. i'hn.^t. Anlu^., a. V. Reliquary; De Rossi, La capsella reliquinria nfrivnna m Omaggio a Leone XIII (Rome, 1888) ; Molinieb, Hist. gSn&rate des arts appliques A Vinduslrie, especially IV. pt. i (Paris, 1901); FrShneb, Collections du chAteau de Goluchow: L'or/ivrerie (Paris,

1897). For any profounder study the separate monographs and articles, of which almost every remarkable reliquary of antiquity has at some time formed the subject, should be consulted

Herbert Thurston. Remesiana, titular see in Dacia Mediterranea, suffragan of Sardica. Remesiana is mentioned by the "Itinerarium Antonini" (135), the "Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum " (566), the "Tabula Peutinger- iana", the "Geographus Ravennatensis", IV, vii. Justinian rebuilt and fortified it at the same time as he established numerous fortresses in that vicin- ity (Procopius, "De sedif.", IV, i, iv). In the sixth century this city of ancient Moesia was counted among those of Dacia Mediterranea (Hierocles, "Synecdemus", dcliv, 7). To-day it is known as Bela Palanka, has 1100 inhabitants, and is a rail- way station between Nich and Pirot in Servia. Remesiana was a suffragan of Sardica (to-day Sofia, capital of Bulgaria), the civil and religious capital of Dacia Mediterranea which was under the Patria,rchate of Rome. Two bishops are known: St. Nicetas (q. v.) and Diogenianus, present at the R.obber Synod of Ephesus (449). The see must have disappeared in the sixth century.

I.E QuiEN, Oriens christ., II, 305; Farlati. Illyricum sacrum, VIII, 77-84; Smith. Diet, of Greek and Roman Geogr., s. v.; ToMASCHEK in Sitzungsber. der Wiener Akad., XCIX (1881-2), 441; Burn, Niceta of Remesiana (Cambridge, 1905). x, xix; Patin, Niceta, Biachof von Remesiana (Munich, 1909). 4.

S. PiTRIDfes.

Remigius, St., Apostle of the Franks, Archbishop of Reims, b. at Cerny or Laon, 4.37; d. at Reims, 13 January, 553. His feast is celebrated 1 October. His father was Emile, Count of Laon. He studied literature at Reims and soon became so noted for learning and sanctity that he was elected Arch- bishop of Reims in his twenty-second year. Thence- forward his chief aim was the propagation of Chris- tianity in the realm of the Franks. The story of the return of the sacred vessels, which had been stolen from the Church of Soissons testifies to the friendly relations existing between him and rin-\-is, King of


 * jt:iNG Clovis to rk

TAKKN FROM SoiSSONS BY THE F

I the M.S. History of the Emperc Library of the Arsenal, Par

i preserved in the

the Fi'r.mks, whom he converted to Christianity with till' :is<isl;iiice of St. Waast (Vedastus, Vaast) and St. ('loliMi, wife of Clovis. Even before he embraced Cliiisliaiiity Clovis had .showered benefits upon both the Bishop and Cathedral of Hcims, and after the battle of Tolbiac, he requested Kcmigius to baptize him at Reims (24 December, 490) in presence of