Mantua

and the

Precious

Blood of Jesus

Life and death of Saint Longino

The Finding of the Relic

The construction of the Basilica of Saint Andrew

Colophon

Those who enter the basilica of St. Andrew and dwells at the third great chapel on the right, called after the Blood of Christ (later on Boschetti) is surrounded by the religious history of Mantova. Here we find the urn of St. Longinus with the fresco of the Crucifixion showing the gathering of the Blood of Christ. Another fresco shows the finding of the most Precious Blood, the Mantuan Holy Grail. The sarcophagus of the blessed Adalbert is under the altar in the chapel.

The Gospel was first brought to Mantova by St. Longinus. Thanks to the finding of the most Precious Blood (804), Mantova became autonomous from a religious point of view with its own dioceses and its own priest. After the second finding (1084), Mantova became the capital of the Canossa Principality.

The exaltation of the most Precious Relic took place under the Gonzagas who had the present basilica of St. Andrew built which is "the greatest, the worthiest, the most serene and eternal" as Leon Battista Alberti wrote to Ludovico II Gonzaga.

From that moment onwards, coins, seals and documents, both of the Court and the bishop's see, have carried the impression of the sacred vases and their finding.

Roberto Tognoli

Society for the Dukes' Palace of Mantova

Editing

ITIS "E. Fermi"

Mantua