The Spear of Destiny (11 page)

  “We are about to go inside the church,” the guide started, “The current Cardinal priest in charge of the church is Miloslav Vlk from Bohemia. He has been in charge since 1994. He has very kindly given us permission to access certain areas to the church which are currently off limits to other visitors and tourists. So once inside we need to be very respectful and so please do not ,anyone, take photographs. There are a very limited number of leaflets and booklets, one of which is in English, on the church and its history. If anyone would like one after the tour they do accept a small donation for them.”

  Hutchinson reached into his back pocket and took his wallet out.

  “I’ll take one. Does anyone else want one?”

Alberto put his hand on Hutchinson’s arm.

  “At the end sir. For now you don’t need one. You have something much better. You have me.”

  This brought a chuckle from the group in front of him. 

  “The church is one of the seven pilgrim churches of Rome. These are visited by pilgrims in order to gain indulgences. Four of the churches have basilicas. They are St Peter’s of course, San Giovanni in Laterano, San Paolo Fuori Le Mura and Santa Maria Maggiore. The other three churches are San Lorenzo Fuori Le Mura, Satuario Della Madonna Del Divino Amore and this one. Satuario Della Madonna Del Divino Amore was added by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000. It replaced the church of San Sebastiano Fuori Le Mura.”

  “What do you mean by indulgences?” Dennis asked.

  “Indulgences are in catholic theology. They are remissions for sins commited. They are granted by the catholic church only after a sinner has confessed and been given absolution.”

  “Oh I see. Well there’s hope for me yet.”

  “I beg your pardon.”

  “Oh nothing. Sorry. Just an English joke.”

Alberto’s face split into a huge grin.

  “You English are very good at humour. Yes?”

  “Very,” Dennis replied.

  “The church was built surrounding part of the imperial palace of St Helena which she converted to a place of worship around the year 320AD. She was the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine who became the great. In 325AD the church was converted to a basilica and the floor was covered with soil from Jeruslaem. This is why the church has the name Holy cross in Jerusalem even though we are standing in Rome. From the outside the church doesn’t appear to be old. The bell tower was added in the twelfth century when the church was renovated by pope Lucius II. He also added a nave, a porch and gave the church two aisles. Santa Croce was again renovated in the sixteenth century and its appearance today comes from the Cardinal priest Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini who was the head of the church before becoming pope Benedict XIV. He connected Santa Croce to two others with new roads. The current façade was designed by Domenico Gregorini and Pietro Passalacqua. For 500 years there has been a monastery adjoining the church. Then earlier this year, in May 2011 an internal inspection, an inquiry, discovered that years of….how do you say?… problems….”

  Some of the group nodded.

  “After years of problems both financial irregularities and also behaviour unbefitting of a monk pope Benedict closed the monastery down. Now shall we go in?” he said turning and climbing the steps quickly. He used his umbrella as a  walking stick and its metal tip click - clacked as he set off at a fast pace. At the entrance to the church he stopped for them.

  Natalie and Dennis were the first to join him at the top of the steps.

  “What behaviour?” Natalie asked.

  “Excuse me?”

  “What behaviour was unbefitting of a monk?” Dennis asked.

  “There were reports of a nun who was pole dancing to entertain the monks.”

  “No!” Natalie was shocked.

  “What was her name?” Dennis asked.

  “I’m not going to say. I’m sorry,” Alberto answered. He turned his attention to the others ascending the steps. Clearly not wanting to talk about it.

  “Oh go on. What was her name?”

  “Mr Dennis I am a deeply religious man. This is of immense embarrassment to the church, to the Roman catholic church. I do not wish to discuss it. If you are that interested and I suppose you journalists always like to get your story google the monastery and her name will be there along with the scandal.”

  Dennis was going to reach into his jeans pocket for his phone but decided to leave it until later.

  “No. It’s um! It’s not that important. I hope I have not offended you.”

  “Not at all.”

The others got to the top of the steps.

  “I would ask you to all put your cell phones on silent or turn them off. It will be quiet inside. Despite the importance of the church it gets very few visitors.”

  “Has it always received few visitors?”

  “No doubt Mr Hutchinson that in history its visitor numbers were many more. Helena had this holy place built for pilgrims who were unable to travel to Jerusalem. It is important to remember that the church did not take the name ’Holy cross’ until the middle ages. Now if we are all ready.”

  He turned and stepped inside.

The church was brightly lit and they all stood and marvelled at the nave in front of the altar at the far end of the church.

  “The style of building over the altar is eighteenth century baroque. The eight granite coloumns supporting the roof are the original ones from the fourth century. The flooring and frescoes are twelfth century. Underneath the altar is an urn which contains the relics of the saints Anastasius and Caesarius.”

  Alberto gave them a minute to absorb the sights and sounds. Priests were going about their business in silence. One was lighting candles. Another was tidying a table containing leaflets and postcards. A few people were seated and praying. There were a few foreign tourists, English speaking, who were talking and giggling. One girl of the group was receiving text messages on her phone while two other girls crowded around her. Alberto frowned at them and was tempted to say something but it was Hutchinson who went over to them and said.

  “Show a little respect.”

The girl quickly put her phone away and the three looked at each other and giggled again. Hutchinson rejoined his group.

  “Bloody kids.” 

  “If we make our way downstairs to the right of the high altar,” Alberto said leading the way. At the bottom of the steps he stopped once again to let them catch up.

  “This is the chapel to St Helena. This and the two rooms off to the side are part of the original palace owned and used by Saint Helena herself. We are two metres below the current building. This Roman statue is of Saint Helena holding the true cross of Christ. This glass covering on the floor is protecting the soil brought from Jerusalem. The papers and envelopes that you can see underneath the glass are prayers from pilgrims. The mosaics on the ceiling were originally done in the fifth century during the reign of the Roman emperor Valentinian II. They were re-done in the fifteenth century. In the second room of the chapel there is a fourth century statue with the inscription to St Helena on it. The room opposite this one is the Gregorian chapel which was built between 1495 and 1520. It is an exact copy, a mirror image of the St Helena chapel.”

  Alberto led them through to it.

  “In the silver frame there are over two hundred relics.”

Knowing that they would want time to examine the artefacts Alberto continued.

  “I will wait for you upstairs.”

It wasn’t long before they rejoined him.

  “I must say,” Hutchinson was very impressed, “You give one hell of a tour.”

  “We have saved the best for last,” Alberto replied, “In a moment I’d like you to all follow me upstairs but before we do this shrine at the bottom of the stairs is for a young girl aged seven called Antonietta Meo, also known as Nennolina.”

  “What happened to her?” Natalie asked.

  “She had bone cancer at the age of six which resulted in her having to be….I don’t know the English,” Alberto mimed a cut across the top of his thigh.

  “Amputated,” Hutchinson said.

  “Yes. She wrote letters to Jesus Christ telling him of her suffering. Since her death there has been one miracle which was attributed to her. She was buried in the graveyard and her remains were moved inside in 1999. She is currently on the Vatican’s shortlist to become a saint.”

  “Why this church?” Dennis asked.

  “She was baptised here as a baby. This was her church.”

  “That is such a sad story,” Natalie said. She reached out and touched the shrine. Her lips moving in silent prayer for the child.

  “I will now show you the chapel of the holy relics.”

Alberto led the way upstairs and into a small room. The others filed in silently and spread themselves out. There were two other tourists in this room and they were hastily trying to hide a small Nikon camera, caught in the act of taking photographs. Alberto frowned at them and they quickly left.

  “I thought that was kept in Turin,” Hutchinson said.

  “Oh it is Mr Hutchinson. This is an exact copy.”

  “What is it?” Dennis asked, looking at the large piece of stained cloth through the protective glass.

  “It is an exact replica of the shroud of Turin.”

  “The what?”

  “The shroud of Turin,” Hutchinson said, “It is said to be the very linen that Christ’s body was wrapped in. Scholars have argued for centuries about its authenticity.”

  “It looks medieval,” Dennis said.

  “It is a work of art,” Hutchinson defended the piece.

  “Art? I think it’s disgusting,” Dennis said, “and probably a fake. Just my opinion,” he said when he saw Alberto’s expression.

  “But of course,” the guide replied.

Alberto led them into the final room. This room was brightly lit, the floor and walls white marble. At the far end were four black marble, square coloumns supporting a large roof, atop of which was a simple gold cross. Behind this, at the far end of the room was a glass case surrounded by brown marble.

  “It’s beautiful,” Natalie said.

  “This is the chapel of the holy relics,” Alberto said, leading them up to the glass.

  “If you look to the left you can see a fragment of the good thiefs cross, the largest in the world. Now to the glass case.”

   The shelves were filled with a variety of gold and silver ornaments, intricately decorated with adorning crosses.

  “On the top shelf is the bone of an index finger said to belong to St Thomas. This reliquary with the cross on top of it contains very small pieces of Christ’s crib and pieces of his sepulchre, his tomb and also pieces of the scourging pillar where he was whipped by the Romans.”

  At these words Hutchinson felt goose pimples rise on his forearms. He rubbed at them.

  “My God,” was all he said.

  “Also on this shelf you can see two thorns from the crown that was placed on Christ’s head. On the next shelf down you can see, once again the reliquary with the cross on top, this contains the three pieces of the true cross once found by St Helena. On the bottom shelf is a nail used in the crucifixion. However and I must warn you now, that only three nails were used in a crucifixion and around the world there are far more than three nails claimed to be original. It doesn’t help of course that some Popes throughout history made copies of these nails and distributed them around Christendom. Finally on the bottom shelf you can see what is known as the Titulus Crucis or title of the cross. This was discovered here in the church in 1492. The same year as Colombus. This is a piece of wood written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Legend has it that this piece was personally written by Pontius Pilate the Roman governor of Judaea at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. For many years it has been thought to be a forgery from the medieval period. However new evidence suggests that the inscriptions were written from right to left and not left to right as would be the case with a medieval translator. In the 19
century this relic was further proved by the discovery of a travel journal belonging to the Spanish pilgrim Egeria, a lady who had visited the holy land in the 4
century and recorded that she’d seen this relic in Jerusalem.”

  “Wow! That is amazing,” Hutchinson said, “So much history,” he could feel his goosebumps returning.

  “Yes history is my passion,” Alberto said, “I am in love with history. I am extremely fortunate to have been born in such a city where I tread in the footsteps of some of the most famous people who have ever lived.”

  “That you are,” the American replied.

  “And now lady and gentlemen that concludes our tour of the Santa Croce en Gerusalemme in Rome. I will wait for you all outside to give you free time here in the church. On your way down the stairs look for the brick in the wall with the inscription ‘Titulus Crucis’ which I noticed none of you saw on the way up.”

  They weren’t very long in meeting Alberto outside.

  “That was a wonderful tour,” Natalie said.

Hutchinson came forward and shook Alberto’s hand.

  “Truly fantastic,” the American said, “If it’s not too personal a question may I ask how you are paid.”

  “I do a lot of work for Citalia holidays. This particular tour was, I believe, paid for by the Vatican.”

  “Oh I see. Are you allowed to accept tips?”

Alberto gave his best smile. Jim pressed a twenty euro note into the Italian’s hand.

  “And did the Vatican tell you why we needed a guided tour?” Bauer asked. It was the first thing he’d said since arriving at the church.

  “No. Just that i was to give a private tour.”

  “Do you also give personal tours?” Hutchinson asked.

  “Yes of course. Though my fees are expensive.”

  “Would you be able to give us a tour tomorrow. Myself, Miss Feltham, Mr Dennis….” Jim waited for their re-action.

  “Yeah I wouldn’t mind Jim,” Dennis answered. Natalie nodded. “Sounds good.”

  “Inspector Bauer?”

  “No thank you. I have reports to make tomorrow.”

  “Just the three of us then. That’s if you can manage tomorrow?”

  “What do you want to see?”

  “Oh uh! I don’t know. Ancient Rome, the Vatican.”