Instytut Sztuki (Warschau) [Hrsg.]; Państwowy Instytut Sztuki (bis 1959) [Hrsg.]; Stowarzyszenie Historyków Sztuki [Hrsg.]: Biuletyn Historii Sztuki (78.2016)

178

Michał Kurzej

Reliquary of the Head of John Cantius
in the Kraków Church of St Anne

The box in which the skull bones of the patron of
Cracow University have been deposited is a parti-
cularly precious monument of modern goldsmithery.
Funded by University professors, it was executed in
1695 by the Kraków goldsmith Jan Ceypler.
Suggestions of some contribution having been made
to the reliquary by other artists (Jerzy Szymonowicz-
Siemiginowski and Jan Liszkowiec), appearing in
some older literature, may have resulted from an
error. The authorship of the reliquary content
programme can be attributed to Father Sebastian
Piskorski who headed the works on the church's
construction.
Despite the reliquary having for long been
ranked among the most outstanding works of Polish
goldsmithery, its iconography has not as yet been a
subject of a monographic study. Although already a
long time ago it was noticed that the sides of the box
are adorned with the scenes from John Cantius' life,
while the corners feature personifications of eight
beatitudes, the representations have been replaced
several times, and not all have been properly
identified. The original arrangement may have been
implied by the Evangelical order of the beatitudes
(only slightly modified), these associated with the
events from the Saint's life. Such a scene arrangement
allowed to bring out the impact of the decoration most
fully. The concept stems from the Saint's life by Adam
Opatowiusz, who assumed such a narration, em-
phasizing the Saint's virtues and describing them as
steps in the spiritual life, leading man to God. A
similar concept was applied by Father Piskorski in the
nave decoration of the Church of St Anne, as well as
in the homily on its consecration.
The reliquary decoration is clearly of an
emblematic structure: personified beatitudes are
holding cartouches with lemmata, whereas below
each scene a rhymed explication is inscribed. The
original order of the presentations might have been
the following: the Poor: John Cantius gives his robe
to a poor man; the Meek: John Cantius practicing
humbleness and modesty; they who Mourn: John
Cantius praying before the Misericordia Domini
effigy; they that Hunger and Thirst after justice: John
Cantius converting robbers; the Merciful: John
Cantius taking pity on the servant who has broken a
jug with milk: the Clean of Heart: John Cantius

chasing the devil out of a swallow; the Peacemakers:
John Cantius avoiding troubling and accusing
others; they that suffer Persecution: John Cantius
attacked by bandits during a pilgrimage.
The coinciding of the decoration ofthe reliquary
with the hagiography by Opatowiusz does not only
point out that it served as its direct literary
inspiration, but also allows to perceive in the
goldsmithery piece a set of illustrations for an older
book that had become its integral meaning
component, providing necessary comments on the
shown scenes. The presentations on the box sides by
being put together with personifications provided
with lemmata, turn into allegories of a general
character, while two-verse inscriptions explain
merely their moral sense, therefore only the book
accounts for the historical circumstances of the
presented events. Such an integration ofthe text of a
hagiography with accompanied illustrations has the
closest model in the book Piskorski dedicated to
Blessed Salome, this providing an additional
premise allowing to see him as the author of the
reliquary. The programme is also interrelated with
the decoration ofthe nave vaulting, the two having a
similar didactic impact, defining the way to the
paradise, marked by the virtues resulting from the
beatitudes and possible to discover thanks to
following in the saints' footsteps.
There is one more element present in St Anne's
Church which relates to the relics of John Cantius,
though not pointing to them in a clear parallel, but in
an oblique allusion, appropriate to the metaphor of a
hidden treasure. This is the inscription Piskorski
placed in the side of the figure of Crucified Christ,
hung under the vaulting in the first nave span. The
quote that opens it, derived from the Gospel of St
Matthew (6.21) was paraphrased by differentiating
pronouns, the first of which can be referred to Christ,
while the other to the inscription author. Therefore,
the inscription does not refer to a human, but divine
treasure that Piskorski would like to place his heart
by. The explanation of this concept can be found
only in the revelations of St Bridget to whom Christ
revealed that his treasure are the relics of his friends,
explaining that the words quoted from the Gospel
mean his joy at visiting Saints' graves and the
veneration for their remains.

Translated by Magdalena Iwińska