Dust from the tombs of S. Emidio: Protection against earthquakes.

[Touch relic] / [Earthquake] / [Amulet] / [Sant’Emidio]. Per intercessionem, et merita S. P. EMIDII a terremotu, et ab omni malo libera nos Domine. ASCOLI Polveri raccolte sotto l’urna del Sacro Corpo di S. EMIDIO Prottetore di Ascoli, e nella grotto, ove si nascondeva, henedette [sic] col Santo di Lui Braccio. Giacomo Cataldi Can. Dep. 1855. S.l. [Ascoli]: s.n., 1855. [6.4 x 4.4 cm], [1] letterpress envelope, closed with wax seal on verso. Well preserved.
 
 
Unrecorded letterpress envelope containing (according to the text) dust collected both from the vicinity of the urn containing the body of Saint Emygdius (or Emidius) (c. 279-c. 309) housed in the Cattedrale di Sant’Emidio in Ascoli and from the place where the saint was originally buried “in the cave” (“nella grotto”), i.e., the site of the present-day tempietto of Sant’Emidio alle Grotte in Ascoli. The text also asks for the intercession of Emidio to protect against earthquakes and “all evils.”
 
The tempietto of Sant’Emidio alle Grotte was built 1717-21 at the saint’s sacred caves to honor him for sparing Ascoli from the 1703 earthquake which destroyed many neighboring towns. Dust from Emidio’s holy sites was later packaged for sale to pilgrims as amulets against the earthquakes so common in the Marche. This is thus an interesting example of a ‘touch’ relic (also called a ‘contact’ or ‘secondary’ relic), i.e., an item that contacted or was in the vicinity of a saint’s primary relic (e.g., a body part or personal item) or another holy item or locale.
 
The envelope is closed with a wax seal that is visible on the verso. When held up to the light a small packet of twisted paper containing the dust can be seen inside the envelope.
 
 
This particular letterpress envelope is not recorded by OCLC, KVK or OPAC/ICCU, and similar packets of anti-earthquake Emidio dust from Ascoli are only rarely encountered today.
 
*G. Fabiani, “Il terremoto del 1703 e il tempietto votivo di S. Emidio alle Grotte,” in Artisti del Sei-Settecento in Ascoli, pp. 74-83; C. Marchegiani, “Il sacello ascolano di Sant’Emidio alle Grotte, rupestre Arcadia del ‘Protettore ne’ Tremuoti’,” in Quaderni dell’Istituto di Storia dell’architettura: Realtà dell’architettura fra materia e imagine: Per Giovanni Carbonara: Studi e ricerche, D. Esposito and V. Montanari, eds., pp. 561-66; A. Galli. Sant’Emidio, la sua vera immagine.