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DOI Artikel:Krasny, Piotr: New Branches of the Roman trunk: the issue of "early Christian revival" in Central Europe
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polvere had been recalled. According to the accounts
of hagiographers, when Polish king Sigismund
Augusts’ envoy asked the Pope for some relies, the
Pope advised him to také some soil from the square
in front of St. Peter’s Basilica and také it with him
to Poland, explaining that the square is situated in
the exact spot where the ancient circus of Nero
had once been located and where the blood of the
hrst martyrs had once been spilt. When the envoy
expressed his indignation at this proposition, Pius V
is reported to háve asked for a basket of soil from
the square; he then took a handful of soil from the
basket and squeezed blood out of it.17 This scene
had been portrayed on one of the paintings which
decorated the Roman church of S. Maria sopra
Minerva during the béatification célébrations18 and
was subsequently repeated in a number of effective
Italian paintings, among which the best known is the
painting by Giovanni Viani in the pilgrimage church
of Madonna di San Luca in Bologna [Fig. 7].19 The
above paintings proclaimed the exceptional religious
significance of the Eternal City, showing that what
the Romans used to tread on may become a precious
relie in a distant country.20
Yet in Poland the above legend became trans-
formed in such a way as to show that the Polish soil
may be equally sacred as the Roman one. For it was
announced that having heard the request for the rel-
ies, Pope Pius V bade the envoy to fetch the soil from
the graveyard situated next to the collegiate church
in Sandomierz, where in 1259 or 1260 the Tatars had
murdered hundreds of citizens of this city. After the
miraculous squeezing of the blood from this soil,
he is supposed to hâve declared that the Pôles do
not need relies of Roman martyrs, if in their own
country they can find the remains of equally great
saints.21 Having put a mark of equality between
17 RANDING, A.: Beatus Pius V Pontifex Maximus ex Ordine
Praedicatorum assumptus a Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Ckemente
X beatororum coelium solemni ritu inscriptus anno MDCCLXXII.
Augustae Vindelicorum 1672, pp. 152-153. The legend of
miracolo dellapolvere has been borrowed from the hagiography
of Pope Gregory the Great, who had to squeeze the blood of
martyrs from the soil of Coliseum. This soil was donated as a
relie to the envoy of the Emperor Justinian I. See O’REILLY,
A. J.: The Martyrs of Coliseum. London 1871, pp. 1-2.
18 RANDING 1672 (see in note 17), p. 183.
7. Giovanni Viani: The Miracle of St. Pius VSquee^ingMartyr’s Blood
out of the Soil, 1700. Bologna, Pilgrimage Church of Madonna di San
I.uca. Photo: K. Blaschke.
19 LEWAŇSKI, R. C.: Storia delle relayionifra la Polonia e Bologna.
Bologna 1951, p. 35; EMILIANI, A. - AGOSTINI, G:
pittura in Emilia e in Bologna. Seicento. Milano 1994, p. 435.
20 On the worship of the Roman soil, saturated with the blood
of a martyrs, as a relie, see ABLASTER, P.: Antwerp and the
World. Ward Verstegan and the International Culture of Catholic
Reformation. Leuven 2004, p. 158.
21 This legend is known mainly from the book of lives of the
Polish saints, issued by Florian Jaroszewicz in the year 1767
(seeJAROSZEWICZ, E: Matka swiçtych Polska albo yyivoty šwf-
tych, blogoslaivionych, wielebnych, swiqtoblinych, pobočných Polaków i
Polek. Vol. 2. Piekary Špskie 1850, p. 361). The hagiographer
139
of hagiographers, when Polish king Sigismund
Augusts’ envoy asked the Pope for some relies, the
Pope advised him to také some soil from the square
in front of St. Peter’s Basilica and také it with him
to Poland, explaining that the square is situated in
the exact spot where the ancient circus of Nero
had once been located and where the blood of the
hrst martyrs had once been spilt. When the envoy
expressed his indignation at this proposition, Pius V
is reported to háve asked for a basket of soil from
the square; he then took a handful of soil from the
basket and squeezed blood out of it.17 This scene
had been portrayed on one of the paintings which
decorated the Roman church of S. Maria sopra
Minerva during the béatification célébrations18 and
was subsequently repeated in a number of effective
Italian paintings, among which the best known is the
painting by Giovanni Viani in the pilgrimage church
of Madonna di San Luca in Bologna [Fig. 7].19 The
above paintings proclaimed the exceptional religious
significance of the Eternal City, showing that what
the Romans used to tread on may become a precious
relie in a distant country.20
Yet in Poland the above legend became trans-
formed in such a way as to show that the Polish soil
may be equally sacred as the Roman one. For it was
announced that having heard the request for the rel-
ies, Pope Pius V bade the envoy to fetch the soil from
the graveyard situated next to the collegiate church
in Sandomierz, where in 1259 or 1260 the Tatars had
murdered hundreds of citizens of this city. After the
miraculous squeezing of the blood from this soil,
he is supposed to hâve declared that the Pôles do
not need relies of Roman martyrs, if in their own
country they can find the remains of equally great
saints.21 Having put a mark of equality between
17 RANDING, A.: Beatus Pius V Pontifex Maximus ex Ordine
Praedicatorum assumptus a Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Ckemente
X beatororum coelium solemni ritu inscriptus anno MDCCLXXII.
Augustae Vindelicorum 1672, pp. 152-153. The legend of
miracolo dellapolvere has been borrowed from the hagiography
of Pope Gregory the Great, who had to squeeze the blood of
martyrs from the soil of Coliseum. This soil was donated as a
relie to the envoy of the Emperor Justinian I. See O’REILLY,
A. J.: The Martyrs of Coliseum. London 1871, pp. 1-2.
18 RANDING 1672 (see in note 17), p. 183.
7. Giovanni Viani: The Miracle of St. Pius VSquee^ingMartyr’s Blood
out of the Soil, 1700. Bologna, Pilgrimage Church of Madonna di San
I.uca. Photo: K. Blaschke.
19 LEWAŇSKI, R. C.: Storia delle relayionifra la Polonia e Bologna.
Bologna 1951, p. 35; EMILIANI, A. - AGOSTINI, G:
pittura in Emilia e in Bologna. Seicento. Milano 1994, p. 435.
20 On the worship of the Roman soil, saturated with the blood
of a martyrs, as a relie, see ABLASTER, P.: Antwerp and the
World. Ward Verstegan and the International Culture of Catholic
Reformation. Leuven 2004, p. 158.
21 This legend is known mainly from the book of lives of the
Polish saints, issued by Florian Jaroszewicz in the year 1767
(seeJAROSZEWICZ, E: Matka swiçtych Polska albo yyivoty šwf-
tych, blogoslaivionych, wielebnych, swiqtoblinych, pobočných Polaków i
Polek. Vol. 2. Piekary Špskie 1850, p. 361). The hagiographer
139