L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano R elics and reli- q u a r i e s w e r e really a thing of t h e M i d d l e Ages. A saint's bone or two could put your tiny village on the map and quickly transform it into a pil- grimage destination, which also meant something else: money. Hang on, you may say: are we talking about spirituality or cash? Well, both. But let's take a step at a time and see exactly what relics are. The trend, to be truthful to histo- ry, wasn't only Italian, but European as a whole, and developed in the early cen- turies of Christianity. Indeed, one of the first relics we know of was a piece of the Holy C r o s s t h a t C o n s t a n t i n e ' s mother Helena had brought t o C o n s t a n t i n o p l e . T h e Empress was a fervent Christ- ian and traveled and financed several trips to the Holy Land seeking the places and objects related to the life of Christ, including the Cross on which he died. Of course, this part of Helena's life, the part where she comes back home with the Holy Cross, is hagiogra- phy rather than history – we f i n d i t i n J a c o p o d a Varazze's Legenda Aurea, a collection of lives of Saints from the 13th century - but it's important nevertheless because we can pin down the beginning of an important cultural trend, that was, how- ever, to fully bloom in the Middle Ages, especially dur- ing the Crusades. Because if you are in the Holy Land, anything could potentially become a holy relic, right? Europe became the ultimate destination of a myriad of shards of Jesus' cross -yes, the same Helena had – of nails that supposed- ly pierced his flesh and, of course, of cloths where his image had been miraculously impressed. Indeed, the most f a m o u s r e l i c o f a l l t i m e , which has been guarded with pride and devotion in Italy for centuries, is the Holy Shroud of Turin, a burial cloth believed to have the outline of Christ's body on it. B u t d u r i n g t h e M i d d l e Ages, there was another phe- nomenon that made relics important, the rise of the cult o f S a i n t s : i t w a s n ' t o n l y Christ to be important, there were dozens of holy men and women whose clothes, bones, t e e t h , y o u n a m e i t , c o u l d become an object of worship, make miracles and attract people. While, as said, the cult of relics was common in the Middle Ages throughout the Old Continent, Italy had a central role in its creation and rise and, still today, it is perhaps the country where there are more holy relics around. The reason for such a centrality is quite simple: Rome. Christianity was born in the Middle East, but its core very quickly moved to the Eternal City, as could have been expected: Pales- tine, the region where Jesus and early Christianity were born, was part of the Roman Empire, so it was only natur- al for Christians to proselyte in "their" capital. And once Peter was there, and a community developed around him, the key role of Rome in Christianity became even stronger: Peter was the chosen one, the man Christ had entrusted his message to the world. He became head of the church, the first pope, and remained in Rome: the faith of the city as the most important place for Chris- tians, along with the Holy Land, of course, was sealed. W h e n h e d i e d , h i s g r a v e b e c a m e t h e u l t i m a t e p i l - grim's destination, the ulti- mate "relic," so to speak, giv- ing to Italy a predominant position in Christian spiritu- ality. No wonder so many relics are here. B u t d u r i n g t h e M i d d l e A g e s , t h i n g s s t a r t e d t o become a tad grotesque. As we said, relics were often an immense source of money for the parishes where they were k e p t a n d t h e y w e r e v e r y much sought after. So, when t h e r e w e r e n ' t r e a l s a i n t s ' b o n e s t o w o r s h i p o r h o l y cloaks to pray at, there were certainly ornate reliquaries w i t h s o m e o n e ' s b o n e s o r clothes inside… And Men of God were not free from the bug of "making relics," espe- cially when they had the real thing – i.e. the body of a holy man – at their disposal. Leg- e n d s s a y t h a t w h e n S a i n t Thomas of Aquinas – theolo- g i a n a n d F a t h e r o f t h e C h u r c h - d i e d , h i s r a t h e r large body was boiled to get quickly to its bones so that they could be sold around as relics. Gruesome stuff! T oday we want to e x p l o r e a v e r y common Italian expression, hai presente (ah-ee prai-sehn-teh). Avere pre- sente means that we know w h a t t h e o t h e r p e r s o n i s t a l k i n g a b o u t , f o r instance, ho presente quel n e g o z i o , c i h o c o m p r a t o questi pantaloni ("I know that store, I bought these pants there"), or ho presente q u a n t o è f a t i c o s a u n a m a r a t o n a , n e h o c o r s a una! ("I know how hard it is t o r u n a m a r a t h o n , I d i d it!"). I t i s t h e u n i o n o f t h e verb avere, "to have" and the adjective presente, "pre- sent," so, if we translate it literally – even if it makes n o s e n s e ! – i t ' d b e s o m e - thing like "having present," but of course, we'd rather s a y " k n o w i n g a b o u t , " " k n o w i n g w e l l a b o u t , " " b e i n g a w a r e o f , " o r e v e n "being familiar with." In Italy, we often use it when we ask people whether they are familiar with a per- son, a situation or an event, as in hai presente il fratello di Erica? E' il mio profes- s o r e d i T e d e s c o ! ( " Y o u know Erica's brother? He is m y G e r m a n t e a c h e r " ! ) , or hai presente la libreria in fondo alla via, è lì che lavoro (Do you know the bookstore at the end of the s t r e e t ? T h a t ' s w h e r e I work"). Of course, you can use " a v e r e p r e s e n t e " w i t h a l l verbal forms of "to have," so you can say ho presente, ha p r e s e n t e , a b b i a m o presente and so on. - Avete presente il teatro del paese? E' lì che si terrà il concerto. - Are you familiar with o u r t o w n t h e a t r e ? T h a t ' s where the concert is. - A b b i a m o p r e s e n t e l e difficoltà del viaggio - We are aware the trip is hard - Ho presente tua madre, ricordo quando insegnava nella nostra scuola - I know your mother, I remember when she used to be a teacher in our school LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Expression of the day: hai presente – when you should know, but maybe you don't Italian curiosities: why was Italy obsessed with relics? Reliquaries in a museum (Photo: Tupungato/Dreamstime) © Syda Productions | Dreamstime.com

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