Montevergine

THE HOLY SHROUD AT MONTEVERGINE  AND ITS DISPLAY
October 28 -29  1946 by Giovanni Mongelli 1973 
​In English and Italian

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   Reminiscing, Cardinal Maurilio Fossati, the Archbishop of Turin, writes in his pastoral letter dated October 31, 1946, 
"It was wise to have taken it away from Turin since even if it had been respected by the bombs, it would not perhaps have been respected by the invaders who lost no time in trying to find out where it was.” 
    We don’t have to look far in Shroud history to see examples of invading armies confiscating art, artifacts, and religious relics. Despite the threat of excommunication from Pope Innocent lll, the fourth crusaders sacked the Byzantine capital at Constantinople. The three-day carnage by the crusaders, destroyed, murdered, looted city, churches, and monasteries, which included the pilfering of the Mandylion. World War Two, was not impervious to such behaviors. During the war, German forces seized vast amounts of Jewish art collections during the invasion of France. Even American troops brought back home works by Dürer, Cranach, and Hals after the fall of the Third Reich.     
    Somewhere along the way, a week before April 10, 2010, exhibited of the Shroud, The Reverend Andrea Davide Cardin the custodian librarian at Montevergine, took the opportunity to extrapolate Cardinal Fossati’s meaning of his pastoral letter. In an interview with an Italian magazine, Diva e Donna, Father Cardin surmised that the possibility the Shroud was transferred from Turin to the Abby at Avellino, to hide it from the hands of Hitler. Father Cardin's supposition was based on the Cardinal Fossati pastoral letter along with the events in 1943 that Germans soldiers entered the Abbey perhaps looking for the sacred Relic. Father Cardin’s revelation was picked up by every major newspaper around the world ensuring press coverage for the upcoming 2010 Shroud exhibit. 
    During the Spring of 1938, Hitler visited Italy for six days. Hitler himself never venture to Turn but visited Rome, Naples, and Florence. The Führer's visit was to show gratitude to Mussolini's neutrality in Germany's occupation in Austria and the Sudetenland. Surprisingly, it was not Mussolini who played the key host for the occasion, but rather Hitler’s State visit was mostly accompanied by King Victor Emman­uel III. 
    It appears the Diva e Donna, volume 14, April 13, 2010 edition, may have sensationalized the two main events that Father Cardin recalled during his interview. The headlines "Quando Hitler Voleva Rubare La Sindone” spread across the front page superimposed on the image known as the Santo Volto. The article continues with the caption stating the official announcement that the Shroud was hidden in Montevergine to protect from bombardments but in reality, it was to hide it from Hitler’s obsession to desire the relic. Hitler himself was never at Turin in his 1938 visit, and it was his staff members who were probing the whereabouts of the Shroud. Were the questions by the German officers imposing? Was it just casual talk? Or were they just interested if the Church had a contingency plan in place to protect such relics in case of a European conflict. Throughout my studies of the Shroud at Montevergina, I have never come across any documents within the Guild’s archives or journals before 2010 that the major concern for the King was Hitler's desire to steal the Relic. 
    There are several problems with the hypothesis that Hitler was contemplating stealing the relic before or during the war. Mussolini was an alley and the King who fully supported the actions that were taken by Mussolini in 1940 to join the War alongside Nazi German. With Italy’s allegiance, it would have been irrational politically and militarily for Hitler to steal the Shroud. Many argue in defense of Father Cardin’s proposition by recalling the relics of the Imperial Regalia, most notably the Holy Lance that was stolen. It was after the annexation of Austria, Hitler requested that the item be returned to Nuremberg where it was once housed. It was during the war the relic was hidden from allied air raids beneath Nuremberg Castle and later returned after the war to Austria.
   It was during the Napoleonic wars, the Holy Lance was moved from Nuremberg to Vienna to protect it from Napoleon Bonaparte. WIth enthusiastic support of most of the Austrians to be annexed, the Holy Lance being returned to Nuremberg was because Hitler favored his spiritual headquarters. As for the events in 1943 at Avellino, Gustavo Aguilera Jiménez, author, philosophy and theologian major was graciously granted an interview in 2013, with then the Abbot at Montevergine, Beda Umberto Paluzzi. During the interview, Abbot Paluzzi detailed some of the events that occurred at the monastery. While the Nazis were stationed in the region, some German soldiers witnessed a light through the windows that seemed to be inside the Abby. This prompted German soldiers to venture inside the monastery and check if there were any enemy combatants. Abbot Paluzzi believes it was just a reflection from the moon’s rays that the Germans saw and they found no enemy troops inside the Monastery. 
    It is important to note, that in September 1943, the allies landed near Salerno and further south. After heavy bombardment in Avellino, Salerno falls to the allies and the U.S. Army 7th infantry, 3rd division marches into Avellino on October 1, 1943. It was during this period the Germans were retreating. As Abbot Paluzzi explains to Gustavo, there were other encounters at the Monastery with German soldiers. The Germans who entered the monastery were young soldiers scared of the allies offensive and were looking for shelter and bumming for a few cigarettes and wine. At no time these soldiers had orders to search for the Shroud. As Abbot Paluzzi also pointed out, the Germans were not even aware of the whereabouts of the Shroud and were on the retreat. It was only the Abbot Ramiro Marcone along with two members of the order that knew the Shroud was hidden at the monastery. Finally, during the Allied invasion of Italy in September, 1943, The Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence against and on the order of King Vittorio lll, was replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio who ordered the arrest of Mussolini. Afraid of Italy’s capitulation to the allies, Hitler orders Gran Sasso operation to rescue Mussolini where he was held at Campo Imperatore. 
    On June 2, 1946, more than a year after the war in Europe, Italy was wrapping up its referendum that decided to end the Savoy's family dynasty and to hold democratic elections. After the King abdicated the throne, he departed to Portugal. While under legal consideration, it was decided that all of his possessions in 1948 were officially transferred to the Italian State. 
    In a manuscript penned by Luigi Gedda who was present at the 1946 Ostensione at Montevergine, he wrote about the event, which honored the importance of the Monastery sheltering the Shroud. 
Titled, L’ostensione della Sindone a Montevergine on pages 41-42, Professor Gedda writes,
Translated to English 

"In the last month of June, after the institutional referendum, Umberto II wrote a letter to S. E. Il Card. Fossati in which he (the King) entrusted to the Archbishop of Turin the custody of the Shroud, while the property was claimed by the House of Savoy, the relic being declared "inalienable". S. E. Card. Fossati, which has the great merit of having obtained the document avoiding that the Shroud was transferred abroad, he (the King) wished to bring the relic back to Turin and (Card. Fossati) chooses when.
  
Note the declaration of the King’s statement, 
While the property was claimed by the House of Savoy, the relic being declared "inalienable”. The use of the word inalienable is a powerful adjective reinforcing his ownership of the Shroud.

The transfer of the Shroud back to Turin begins the new chapter of who’s the controlling body of the most holiest relic. 

The next update will explore the ownership of the Shroud.
Giorgio Bracaglia

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