Relics rediscovered in the Pantheon on the eve of the 1675 Jubilee. Very Rare.
[Pantheon] / Domenico Viva. Nuova Relatione Del modo come si sono ritrovati li Ven. Corpi de’ SS. Rasio, & Anastasio Preti, e Martiri nella Chiesa della Rotonda di Roma, Col ragguglio perche vi furono posti assieme con altre Reliquie insigni, con altre cose curiose appartenenti à detti Santi. Rome: s.n., 1675. 16mo [14.0 x 10.0 cm], [4] ff., with woodcut on title and woodcut initial. Bound in later cartone, which is well preserved. Edge toning, minor staining, manuscript and stamped foliation indicating that the item once formed part of a composite volume.
Very rare (1 copy worldwide: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) 1675 relatione announcing the discovery of the relics of Saints Rasio & Anastasio at the church of Sta. Maria della Rotunda, i.e., the Pantheon in Rome.
This popular pamphlet—written by the Jesuit Domenico Viva (1648-1726)—was clearly published to capitalize on the influx of pilgrims into the Holy City during the 1675 Jubilee: It opens with a mention of the generous indulgences being granted to visitors. Although the 4-leaf 16mo relatione was not intended to survive long and was destined to become rare, its narrative was canonized through being prominently cited in the 1688 Acta Sanctorum entry on Saints Rasius & Anastasius (vol. 7, pp. 763-64).
Viva first discusses the history of the Pantheon, i.e., its origins as a pagan temple; its acquisition by Boniface IV from the Emperor Phocas in 607; its subsequent reconsecration as a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary “ad Martyres”; its being stocked with 28 carts of martyrs’ bones, etc.
Of special interest are his comments on the arrival of such relics as the famous Marian icon said to have been painted by St. Luke (the Pantheon Hodegetria); the Sudarium (the Veronica) later housed at St. Peter’s; the case protecting the Sudarium (which had thirteen locks and could only be opened with keys held by the heads Rome’s thirteen rioni), etc.
The relics of Saints Rasio & Anastasio, Viva writes, were discovered in late December 1674 during restorations beneath the main altar. They were found in mud that had accumulated during flooding of the Tiber. The reliquary, its contents, inscriptions, etc., are described, as are the procedures of its opening and the prelates involved. Viva then notes that the relics were carried in procession around the neighborhood. He closes by providing the “curious reader” with details about how the feast of All Saints was founded, how its date was fixed, and how it came to be celebrated “across the whole world forever.”
This item is not located by OPAC/ICCU, OCLC or KVK, but Sible de Blaauw cites a copy at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (no. Pantheon II.2, ff. 328-31).
*Sible de Blaauw, “Das Pantheon als christlicher Tempel Blaauw,” Boreas, vol. 17 (1994), pp. 13-26; Giovanni Eroli, Raccolta generale delle iscrizione pagane e cristiane esistite ed esistenti nel Pantheon di Roma, pp. 306-7.