16. PLACES, VASES AND LOCULI IN WHICH THE SACRED RELICS ARE KEPT
After having briefly given instructions regarding the major and minor chapels and altars, we will now give indications about the places, vases and loculi in which the sacred relics are kept and preserved.
The bodies of the Saints are kept piously and appropriately above all in that subterranean part of the church known as “confessio” or in the vernacular as “scurolo” if the church has one, and in or beneath the stone altars, as is the ancient custom. Therefore it will be proper to prepare an ark of marble or at least of solid stone, smoothly polished inside, furnished with a gabled lid of the same material, in which, tightly closed, the sacred bodies can be kept. It will be firmly set inside or beneath the altars.
The relics can also be kept in another conspicuous place in the church, aside from the altars. In this case the ark must be of a more precious marble, sculptured outside and distinguished for its pious and religious ornamentation.
Supported by four or more small marble columns, finely made, and if the characteristics of the site are such that it can easily be done, the ark will be decorously placed either in the interior of the church itself, size permitting, or in a more important chapel, except the one where the Most Holy Eucharist is kept. If it is located in the central part of the church, it must be far from the walls and any other construction. If it is located in a chapel, it can be placed either in the back part or next to the altar. It will be set against the wall, or partially enclosed in an appropriate concave recess in the wall. It will be set four cubits above the floor of the chapel. Every ark, then, set in some conspicuous place whether raised above the floor or in the wall, must have an adequate and decorous iron railing, in accordance with the site. If the bodies of the saints are already kept in some other place beneath the floor, and not in the altar or beneath it, then this place will be completely covered over and furnished on all sides with iron railings, closely worked in the upper part.
So that the bodies of the Saints or the sacred bones will be preserved incorrupt and inviolate forever free from all dirt and dust, and safe from all affront, the following precaution is to be taken. Every ark, set in a conspicuous place or beneath the altar, will be extremely solid and compact outside, and held together on all sides by iron and lead bars so that not even the smallest crack can be seen. Moreover another casket will be enclosed inside, of gold, silver or gilded tin, of solid make, in which the sacred bodies are preserved. When they are placed in this casket they will be wrapped and covered in silk cloth or in an even more precious veil, appropriate in color to the Saint whose sacred bones they enclose, in conformity with ecclesiastical norms and rites. The casket, or case, or the loculi or the vases, of whatever type, will be ritually blessed with the prescribed prayer from the Pontifical or Ritual book before the holy relics are enclosed therein.
In order to separate and distinguish the bodies of different Saints put into the same ark, it will be carved out into two or three compartments, on the basis of the number of sacred bodies or sacred relics. Or it will be adequately and appropriately divided by partitions of marble slabs or in some other way, or at least subdivided by the caskets of silver or tin.
A bronze tablet will be closed in every ark, on which the names of the Saints will be engraved. An inscription will also be engraved in the stone of the ark, precisely indicating the names and the bodies of the Saints, when they were deposited in the church and then transferred and other information of the kind, as long as it is certain.
So that the heads of the Saints, separated from their bodies, can be exhibited for the veneration of the faithful on specific days, they will be properly kept separately. They will be enclosed in a gold or silver reliquary, or if this is not possible, in gilded bronze, which reproduces the shape and features of the head with the neck and half bust.
So that the bodies of the saints, still intact and with all their limbs, which are kept either within the altar or in a conspicuous place, can sometimes be seen, the altar or ark will be made so as to have a small window on the front. This will be decorated and well made, provided with an iron or bronze grate, solidly closed as indicated below, through which the bodies can be seen.
In those churches in which important relics or limbs of Saints are preserved, the precise place in which they are kept can be constructed in one or the other of the forms described below, on the example of the holy Roman basilicas.
The first type of location
A platform will be built in an aisle of the church, if large, on the Gospel side, four or five cubits from the columns or piers of the aisle. This platform itself will also be approximately five cubits large and will be supported by four columns in marble or solid stone, six or eight cubits high.
The cabinet in which the sacred relics are kept will be placed on this platform. The cabinet will be in marble or another stone, finely decorated and appropriate, lined inside in walnut or a more precious wood, and lined with silk in the color which, according to the rite of the church, is appropriate to the holy relics kept inside. It will have a small door, closed with panels covered on the outside in bronze and lined inside in silk of the same color as above. Two bolts will be used to close the door, and at least two locks and the same number of keys, no two alike.
At the top of the columns, on the flat part of the platform, a dais should be erected, a cubit and a half wide and as long as the platform itself. It will have a railing in the front part, either of bronze, or iron, or marble, or other solid stone, or turned wood. There will be no stairs leading up to the platform, either spiral or otherwise, but portable wooden ladders will be used only on specific days when the sacred relics are shown to the people.
The second type of location
If a church is not large enough for what has been described above, and has important relics, a podium will be built outside the main chapel on the Gospel side, approximately in the center, but closer to the high altar, or near the wall at the head of the nave. The podium will be attached to the wall, and will be as long and wide as prescribed above for the preceding form. A cabinet in which to preserve the relics will be set into the wall to which the podium is fastened and mortared. The cabinet will be of marble or some other solid stone, lined inside with panels of oak or some other wood, treated so as to last a long time, and decorated everywhere in silk of the appropriate color, according to the tradition of the Church, to the saints whose relics are kept within. This cabinet will be closed with bronze-covered doors and two different locks, as above.
Stone or wooden steps can be added to reach the podium, provided that they can conveniently be placed at the back of the cabinet and not occupy space in the church. Otherwise, a portable ladder will be used, as above.
Third type of location
The third type will be used in churches which have relics but in which it has not been possible to establish in precedence, nor have available, a place corresponding to the first or second type as prescribed above.
In the main chapel, that is within the enclosure, on the Gospel side, a cabinet should be set into the wall, if possible facing the high altar. It will be as wide, long, high and deep as required by the number and size of the holy relics to be preserved therein.
The base of the cabinet will be four cubits above the chapel floor. Inside it will be completely lined with wooden panels and decorated all around in silk of the color befitting the relics. It will be tightly shut with doors clad in bronze, well made, with a solid lock, and double keys, each one differently made. In this finely made cabinet the relics, enclosed in containers or boxes, will be kept in good order.
Containers and loculi for the relics to be kept in the locations prescribed above
The containers in which the relics are kept will be of gold, silver or crystal or of some other metal, finely worked and gilded, depending on how important the relics are and how much the church where they are kept can afford.
There will be as many containers as there are kinds of relics, so that one, two, or more kinds, carefully separated and in distinct order, can be kept in each container. Each container will be covered by a veil, different in color depending on the type of relic it contains.
If the sacred relics are so small that containers, which would be too large, are not required, but where even smaller containers would suffice, they will be preserved as follows. A panel of walnut or some other wood, well smoothed, or also in a more precious material, such as ivory or silver will be chosen. Finely worked by the craftsman, it will be as long and wide as necessary for the use it is to be put to. As many small cavities or compartments as there are relics to preserve will be carved out to the depth of three ounces. These compartments will be surrounded at the top by small gilded ornamental frames.
The panel, thus prepared, will be glazed so that each compartment is protected by transparent glass. The glass covering will be furnished with a frame of gilded wood or more precious material, which serves as decoration and at the same time keeps it firmly in place. Moreover each sacred relic will be doubly wrapped in silk taffeta or “ormesino”, or in some other quality of finer silk, interwoven with gold and silver, in different colors, as are proper, according to the rite of Holy Mother Church, to the saints, the apostles, or martyrs, virgins, or confessors, whose relics are kept there.
For each of the relics whose name is known, an inscription on parchment, in clear letters but small in size, will be attached to whatever kind of compartment, cabinet, container the relics are kept in, or rather to the silk in which they are wrapped. This inscription will specify what the relics kept there are and to which saint they belong.
If there is reliable evidence that some of the relics belong to certain saints, but they are intermingled so that it is impossible to say that they belong to this or that saint, these relics will be placed in a single compartment or container, on which the names of each of the saints whose relics are kept therein will be inscribed. The same will be done in naming the container or compartment where the inscriptions have been separated from the relics and mixed so that it is impossible to find a way to identify them, despite the presence of the above-named inscriptions.
Then if there are relics the name of which is unknown, they will be kept in a single compartment with this inscription: “Holy relics of which the names are unknown”.
On one wall of the cabinet in which the sacred relics are kept, the effigies of the saints to whom the most important relics kept within belong, will be appropriately and piously painted.
Two rods of ivorywood, or of that known as “braxilio” or some other suitable type, three cubits long, will be made. At the top they will have a silver plate and pairs of small hooks. Here the faithful will hang their rosaries to touch the holy relics, or better, their containers.
Finally in any church in which there are relics or bodies of saints, a bronze or marble plaque will be set in a conspicuous and important place, such as on the column of the main chapel on the Gospel side, or some other similar place, and firmly attached to the wall or the column. Incised in large letters will be a brief outline of the story of the relics kept there.
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