Translation (relic) - Notable Translations

Notable Translations

Among the most famous translations is that of St Benedict of Nursia, author of the Regula S. Benedicti, from Cassino to Fleury. Adrevald's account of this translation, and the ensuing miracles, helped establish one of medieval Europe's most influential cults. In England, the lengthy travels of St Cuthbert's remains to escape the Vikings, and then his less respectful treatment after the English Reformation, have been much studied, as his coffin, gospel book and other items buried with him are now very rare representatives of Anglo-Saxon art.

Some well-known translations of relics include the removal of the body of Saint Nicholas from Myra in Asia Minor to Bari, Italy in 1087. Tradesmen of Bari visited the relics of Saint Nicholas in 1087 after finding out their resting-place from the monks who guarded them. According to one account, the monks showed the resting-place but then became immediately suspicious: "Why you men, do you make such a request? You haven't planned to carry off the remains of the holy saint from here? You don't intend to remove it to your own region? If that is your purpose, then let it be clearly known to you that you parley with unyielding men, even if it mean our death." The tradesmen try different tactics, including force, and manage to take hold of the relics. An anonymous chronicler writes about what happened when the inhabitants of Myra found out:

Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the city learned of all that had happened from the monks who had been set free. Therefore they proceeded in a body, a multitude of men and women, to the wharves, all of them filled and heavy with affliction. And they wept for themselves and their children, that they had been left bereft of so great a blessing ... Then they added tears upon tears and wailing and unassuageable lamentation to their groans, saying: "Give us our patron and our champion, who with all consideration protected us from our enemies visible and invisible. And if we are entirely unworthy, do not leave us without a share, of at least some small portion of him."

— Anonymous, Greek account of the transfer of the Body of Saint Nicholas, 13th century,

Professor Nevzat Cevik, the Director of Archaeological Excavations in Demre (Myra), has recently recommended that the Turkish government should request the repatriation of St Nicholas' relics, alleging that it had always been the saint's intention to be buried in Myra. The Venetians, who also claimed to have some parts of St Nicholas, had another story: The Venetians brought the remains back to Venice, but on the way they left an arm of St Nicholas at Bari (The Morosini Codex 49A).

In 828, Venetian merchants acquired the supposed relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist from Alexandria, Egypt. These are housed in St Mark's Basilica; in 1968, a small fragment of bone was donated to the Coptic Church in Alexandria.