Sunday, November 15, 2020

The Collegiate Church of San Gimignano (Part 6): The Museum

We conclude this series on the Collegiate Church of the Assumption in San Gimignano, Italy, with items from the church’s musuem, predominantly a very beautiful collection of sacred vestsments from the 16th-18th centuries. Thanks once again to our Ambrosian writer Nicola de’ Grandi for sharing these with us. For the previous posts in this series, see the following links: part 1part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

Crucifix by an unknown Tuscan artist, mid-13th century. As is typical before the later decades of the same century, Christ’s divinity is emphasized by showing Him on the Cross fully clothed, awake, and upright, the creator and sustainer of the world even in the midst of His Passion.
Altar frontal of St Catherine of Alexandria, Tuscan; mid-16th century; red velvet with embroidery in silk and metallic threads.
Cope in grey silk and brocade; Italian, 18th-century.
Dalmatic in red and yellow silk, linen and brocade; Florentine, mid-16th century.
The matching chasuble...
stoles, maniples and veil.
Mid-18th century chasuble, Tuscan manufacture
Venetian chasuble, 1700-25
Florentine chasuble, mid-17th century.
Vincenzo Tamagni (1492-1530); the Virgin Mary Appearing to St Fina, the Patron of San Gimignano, and a Blessed of the Franciscan order named Bartolo (1228-1300), another native of the city. 
St Martin Shares His Cloak with the Beggar, also by Tamagni.
Sacred Conversation with the Christ and St John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary and St Anne.
A bust of “Onofrio di Pietro, the restorer of this church”, by the sculptor Benedetto da Maiano, who also did the original tomb of St Fina.
Grave marker of a senator named Venenzio Moronti, mid-15th century.

More recent articles:


On the Sanctification of Time
In “Processing through the Courts of the Great King,” I spoke of how the many courtyards and chambers of the King’s palace prior to his throne room, or the many precincts and rooms of the Temple leading up to the Holy of Holies, could be a metaphor of a healthy Catholic spiritual life that culminates in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but surrounds...

“Now About the Midst of the Feast” - Christ the Teacher in the Liturgy of Lent
Today’s Gospel in the Roman Rite, John 7, 14-31, begins with the words “Now about the midst of the feast”, referring to the feast of Tabernacles, which St John had previously mentioned in verse 2 of the same chapter. And indeed, the whole of this chapter is set within the context of this feast.The Expulsion of the Money-Changers from the Temple, th...

The Apple of Her Eye
“The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. From the soil, the Lord God caused to grow every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Gen. 2, 8-9) This 17th century painting...

The Exposition of the Holy Lance at St Peter’s Basilica
The YouTube channel of EWTN recently published a video about the exposition of the Holy Lance at St Peter’s basilica on the first Saturday of Lent. This was formerly done on the Ember Friday, which was long kept as the feast of the Holy Lance and Nails, but since this feast is no longer observed, the exposition of the relic has been transferred to ...

The Feast and Sunday of St John Climacus
In the Byzantine liturgy, each of the Sundays of Lent has a special commemoration attached to it. The first Sunday is known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy, because it commemorates the defeat of iconoclasm and the restoration of the orthodox belief in the use of icons; many churches have a procession in which the clergy and faithful carry the icons, as...

The Story of Susanna in the Liturgy of Lent
In the Roman Rite, the story of Susanna is read as the epistle of Saturday of the third week of Lent, the longest epistle of the entire year. This episode is not in the Hebrew text of Daniel, but in the manuscripts of the Septuagint, it appears as the beginning of the book, probably because in verse 45 Daniel is called a “younger man”, whic...

A New Edition of the Monastic Breviary Available Soon
The printing house of the Monastère Saint-Benoît in Brignole, France, Éditions Pax inter Spinas, is pleased to announce the re-publication of the two volumes of the last edition (1963) of the traditional Latin Monastic Breviary.The Breviary contains all that is necessary to pray the complete Monastic Divine Office of Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, S...

A Mid-Western Saint from Rome: Guest Article by Mr Sean Pilcher
Thanks once again to our friend Mr Sean Pilcher, this time for sharing with us this account of the relics of a Saint from the Roman catacombs, which were brought to the cathedral of Dubuque, Iowa, in the 19th century. Mr Pilcher is the director of Sacra: Relics of the Saints (sacrarelics.org), an apostolate that promotes education about relics, and...

Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit - July 1–4, Menlo Park, California
You are cordially invited to the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit, which will be held from July 1-4, in Menlo Park, California!Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit gathers together Catholics who love Christ, the Church, and the Church’s sacred liturgical tradition for: - the solemn celebration of the Mass and Vespers; - insightful talks on...

A Lenten Station Mass in the Roman Forum
Today’s Mass is one of the series instituted by Pope St Gregory II (715-31) when he abolished the older custom of the Roman Rite, by which the Thursdays of Lent were “aliturgical” days on which no Mass was celebrated. The station appointed for the day is at the basilica of Ss Cosmas and Damian, which was constructed by Pope St Felix IV (526-30) in ...

For more articles, see the NLM archives: