Summary
An intriguing passage in an old account of Dubrovnik’s churches and relics records a remarkable tradition concerning an Albanian priest and a relic associated with Jesus. While describing the treasury of Dubrovnik Cathedral, the text states that a piece of cloth preserved in a silver reliquary was believed to be the cloth in which Jesus had been wrapped when He was presented to Simeon in the Temple. It then gives a precise date and provenance: “God 1048 donio je neki arbanaški sveštenik iz Jeruzolima” — “In the year 1048, an Albanian priest brought it from Jerusalem.”
The expression “arbanaški sveštenik” is significant. Arbanaški is an older South Slavic term meaning Albanian, while sveštenik means priest. The source therefore explicitly identifies the bearer of the relic as an Albanian priest. No name is given, and the text does not specify exactly where he came from.
The account is particularly interesting because it connects an Albanian ecclesiastic, Jerusalem, and Dubrovnik in the 11th century, suggesting the existence of religious and cultural networks linking the western Balkans with the eastern Mediterranean. The most important unanswered question is therefore who this unnamed Albanian priest was and whether earlier documentary sources can independently confirm the 1048 date and the transfer of the relic from Jerusalem to Dubrovnik.
Screenshot:
Extracted from the publication:
“MAROJ. A Sketch from Recent Dubrovnik Life. By Mihail Vedropoljanin
The Churches of Dubrovnik
The following day, in the morning, Mrs. Made left the house with Count Marconi in order to visit the churches, and they went first to see the Cathedral.
This church is built in the Renaissance style, with three naves supported by two rows of columns upon which rest four-sided vaulted arches. It has the form of a cross, and in the middle rises a beautiful dome.
Mrs. Made began:
“On this very spot, in the year 1192, construction began on the cathedral church at the expense of the English King Richard the Lionheart. When, on his return from the East, he was caught in a terrible storm, he vowed that he would build a church in honour of Our Lady wherever he might safely land, alive and well.
“Fortune brought him to Lokrum. There he wished to build the church he had vowed to erect, but the government of Dubrovnik persuaded him to build it in the city, while it would itself build a church on Lokrum for the Benedictines who were settled there.
“Richard therefore left an order and a sum of money, and a magnificent church was built in the city. It was completed forty-four years later.
“It was in the Romanesque style, with three naves resting on high and beautiful marble columns, with magnificent capitals, bases and mouldings in the Gothic style. Inside, gold gleamed, while the sides were adorned with beautiful paintings from the Old and New Testaments. The window panes were decorated with images of saints.
“Symbolic marble statues, some made of bronze and others of silver, beautifully executed, adorned the church, while it was further embellished with exquisite work in mosaic and flat relief carving.
“On the high altar stood a rich silver image with eighteen figures, and above the presbytery was a large silver crucifix, with Our Lady and Saint John on either side. The statues were life-sized.
“Under the presbytery, in the principal nave, stood the throne of the prince of the Republic, with seats for the councillors around it.
“The pulpit rested upon four beautifully crafted columns, and beneath it was a small altar from which the Gospels and Epistles were sung and the people were informed of the feast days.
“There were five other altars, among them one made entirely of pure silver, before which the prince would hear Mass.
“Above the vaults there was a chapel where the holy relics were kept.
“The church had three doors, the principal one facing west. Around the church was a space enclosed by marble columns resting upon beautifully executed marble statues.”
“It must have been this church that was destroyed in the great earthquake,” remarked the Count.
“Yes. In the unfortunate earthquake of 1667 the cathedral church collapsed, and all the treasures that were inside it remained buried beneath the ruins. Only part of the relics was saved.”
“And was the new one built on the same site?”
“Yes. It was completed in 1713. The only difference is that its doors face east, and its workmanship cannot be compared with that of the former church.”
As they were talking, they had reached the high altar, and the Count asked about a painting.
“This icon must be the work of some talented artist.”
“Tiziano,” Mrs. Made replied. “This famous painter lived in our city for six months with the Pucić family, and during his stay he painted the Magdalene, which is now in the Dominican church, and this icon of the Virgin for the Church of Saint Lazarus, which was transferred here in 1712.
“You can see Titian’s signature at the bottom of the painting: Ticianus R. R. F.”
Mrs. Made then ordered that the chapel where the holy relics were kept should be opened.
While they went to fetch the keys, she pointed out to him, on the right, the magnificent marble altar of Saint John Nepomuk, erected at the expense of the Archbishop of Dubrovnik, Arkanđel Lupi, in 1755. Opposite it stood another altar dedicated to Saint Bernard, belonging to the Žurković family, as well as the other altars and various objects of value.
The Count stopped before Pordenone’s Head of Christ and before the icon depicting the Three Kings, in the Flemish school. Finally, he was astonished by Raphael’s Madonna and by the Madonna della Seggiola, which, if it was not by Raphael, could, according to the opinion of connoisseurs, have been painted by Andrea del Sarto, who followed so closely after Raphael that even Raphael’s own pupils might have been deceived.
[“Skurta Dubr. for the year 1867.”]
The Count then read the two inscriptions standing there, namely those dedicated to Archbishop Tommaso Scotti and to Ruđer Bošković.
“I am quite certain,” said Mrs. Made, “that you will not be offended if I say that this chapel is a true treasure, both because of the great number of relics and because of the artistic skill with which the reliquaries containing them have been made.”
“Ah, beautiful workmanship,” remarked the Count, looking at a reliquary that resembled a Byzantine crown.
At that moment, an attendant announced that the chapel of the holy relics was open.
Its reliquaries were exquisitely crafted in various forms: heads, feet, hands, pyxides, chalice covers, crosses, and so forth. No city in the world, except Rome, could boast such a collection of relics.
As they spoke, they entered the chapel.
It was richly decorated. At the front stood a beautiful little altar upon which was placed a cross containing a piece of the True Cross. Along the sides were shelves, beautifully worked in gold, upon which the other relics were arranged.
The Count asked:
“How were the people of Dubrovnik able to gather so many relics?”
“From the very beginning of their existence,” Mrs. Made continued, “the people of Dubrovnik devoted all their care to collecting the relics of the saints and using them to adorn their church. Thus, over time, this magnificent treasury of relics came into being, which is still today a source of pride for the people of Dubrovnik and a wonder to foreigners.”
“And a wonder to foreigners,” the Count continued.
“Here, in this casket of pure silver, is preserved the cloth in which Jesus was wrapped when He was presented to Simeon in the Temple.”
The Albanian
“In the year 1048, an Albanian priest brought it from Jerusalem.“
“It is about one and a half metres long and half a metre wide.
“In this other reliquary there is a piece of Christ’s seamless robe, which the Patriarch of Constantinople, Gregory, gave to the Dubrovnik citizen Junije Gradić.
“And this piece of stone is a fragment cut from Jesus’ tomb, brought here by Bonifacius de Stephanis, Bishop of Ston, after he found it during his stay in Jerusalem, when the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was being rebuilt.
“And how did the people of Dubrovnik obtain the True Wood?”
“The same Bonifacius de Stephanis, who was the first after Saint Helena to open Jesus’ tomb, found inside it a piece of the holy wood. He took it and divided it between the Roman Pope and Dubrovnik.”
“Here is enclosed the skull of Saint Blaise. It was brought from the East in the year 1026 by a Greek abbot, to whom the government gave 500 ducats in return.
“The reliquary is magnificent, resembling a Byzantine crown and made of pure gold.”
The Count would stop to look at the relics, while Mrs. Made, assisted by a priest who was present there, explained everything that was necessary to him.
She noticed a beautiful reliquary, resembling a monstrance, made of gilded silver in the Gothic style and artistically executed. It contained a piece of the throat of Saint Blaise, namely the bone which serves as a support for the tongue and which anatomists commonly call the hyoid.
Source
Slovinac 1879. Dragutin Pretner. Harvard University. 1879. (in Croatian). https://www.google.se/books/edition/Slovinac/IPnUjbQo0ecC?hl=sv&gbpv=1
