Ioannis Bessarion was a Greek, Byzantine monk and archbishop who lived from the years 1403-1472. Bessarion's career was impressive, beginning with the fact that he was a student of one of the greatest, most eminent Byzantine scholars of his time, Gemistos Plethon, a teacher who was known for zealous promotion classical Greek thought -- including within the Western world where, at this point in history, they were not yet familiar with all of the classical texts that the Byzantines had in their possession.
Pope Eugene IV -- who had heard Bessarion speaking during the Council's sessions -- was so impressed by his erudition that he chose to elevate him to the rank of a cardinal in the year 1439. It was from this point that Bessarion would take up permanent residence within Italy.
With all of the political turmoil that was taking place as a result of the Ottoman Empire's own imperialist ambitions, Bessarion would become a key figure for those Byzantines seeking refuge from the Ottoman threat, employing them to make Latin translations of Greek texts for Western European consumption. Bessarion also continued to actively encourage the union and collaboration of the Christians of East and West. For these efforts, Pope Pius II gave him the ceremonial title of "Latin Patriarch of Constantinople."
Of Bessarion, the Catholic Encyclopedia has this to say:
All the aspirations of Bessarion, which, more than great, were unique, were absorbed by three ideas: the union of the Oriental Church with the Latin, the rescue of Greek lands from the [Muslim] yoke, and the triumph of classic literature and philosophy, especially the Greek. If the realization of the first two was only partial or, in a way, temporary, the third was certainly fulfilled to a more complete degree than perhaps Bessarion himself had dared hope. His labours in that direction had lasting success...
Understanding the Byzantine background then, this finally brings us to the matter of Bessarion's reliquary.
The reliquary had originally been owned by the Byzantine imperial family, who had gifted it to the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Patriarch, upon his death in the year 1459, bequeathed it to Cardinal Bessarion. Bessarion was reisdent in Venice at the time, and he ultimately donated it to the Venetian confraternity of the Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Carità. It was by this and other such acts of generosity that Bessarion had hoped to both garner support for the re-unifiication of the Eastern and Western churches and he also hoped to inspire the Venetians to support efforts being considered at that time to re-take Constantinople from the Ottomans.
With all that in mind, let's take a look at the reliquary -- wonderfully and characteristically 'Byzantine' in its complexity and style.
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| Left: A 15th century painting by Gentile Ballini depicting Cardinal Bessarion and two members of the Venetian confraternity venerating the relics within the reliquary. Right: The reliquary |
The reliquary consists of a silver triple-barred cross which has an inscription along the edge that is thought to point to the niece of the Byzantine emperor as the benefactor responsible for donating the silver casing.
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| Detail of the filigreed cross case during restoration works.(Source) |
The case itself also includes painted, iconographic scenes of the Passion of Christ in typical medieval Byzantine style, as well as images of the Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena, painted on glass, and metal reliefs of the archangels Michael and Gabriel. Within four open spaces, set around the triple-barried cross, we can see the relics of the True Cross and Tunic of Christ.
Recently restorations of the reliquary were undertaken, and this has provided us with the good fortune of being able to see some of these different pieces close up when they were removed for cleaning by the restorers:
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| An image of the Emperor Constantine painted on glass (Source) |
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| St. Helena (Source) |
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| Metal relief of the Archangel Michael (Source) |
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| Detail of the front and back of the filigreed Cross (Source) |
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| (Source) |
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| Detail of the filigreed cross case during restoration works.(Source) |
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| The reliquary with its cover. Here you can see the various icons of the Passion of Christ. |
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| One of the shards of the True Cross contained within the reliquary |
To conclude our story, I would simply mention that Cardinal Bessarion died in the year 1472 and, upon his death, he was buried in Rome within his titular church, the Basilica of Santi Apostoli. Here his tomb can still be seen, carrying both a Latin and Greek inscription, reflecting his passionate love for his Greek and Byzantine culture to the very end of his days.
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| Cardinal Bessarion's tomb in the Basilica of S. Apostoli |
