The Santo Bambino of Aracœli ("Holy Child of Aracœli"), sometimes known as the Bambino Gesù di Aracœli ("Child Jesus of Aracœli") is a 15th-century Roman Catholic devotional replicated wooden image enshrined in the titular Basilica of

Santa Maria in Aracoeli The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven ( la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae de Ara coeli in Capitolio, it, Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara coeli al Campidoglio) is a titular basilica in Rome, located on the highest summit of the Campidoglio. ...

, depicting the

Child Jesus The Christ Child, also known as Divine Infant, Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, the Divine Child, Child Jesus, the Holy Child, Santo Niño, and to some as Señor Noemi refers to Jesus Christ from his nativity to age 12. The four canonical gospels, ...

swaddled in golden fabric, wearing a crown, and adorned with various gemstones and jewels donated by devotees. On 18 January 1894,

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

authorised its public devotion and granted a

canonical coronation A canonical coronation ( la, Coronatio Canonica) is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a bull, in which the pope bestows the right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureole to an image of Christ, Mary or Josep ...

on 2 May 1897. It was again blessed by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 8 January 1984. The image was purportedly stolen on 1 February 1994, then now replaced with a modern copy.

History and devotions

The wooden image measures approximately 60 centimeters tall and depicts the Child Jesus as an infant. According to historical records preserved at the Basilica Santa Maria in Aracoeli, the image was carved from a single block of

olive wood The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

from the

Garden of Gethsemane Gethsemane () is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. It is a place of great resona ...

by a Franciscan friar assigned to the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

in the fifteenth century. Pilgrimages to the images are recorded as early as 1794. In February 1798, the image was seized by French troops but ransomed by Roman aristocrat Serafin Petraca, thus saving it from being burned. It remained in a convent in

Trastevere Trastevere () is the 13th ''rione'' of Rome: it is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin ''trans Tiberim'', literally 'beyond the Tiber'. Its coat of arms depicts a golden head of a lio ...

for a little over a year while a new shrine was built. In 1838, thieves, ostensibly bending to kiss the image, made off with a considerable part of the jewelry with which he was adorned. During

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

protests in 1848, Carlo Armellini saved the Santo Bambino from arson.

Traditions

Romans have long associated the image with healing. According to one account, sometime in the 1800s a member of the noble Torlonia family became seriously ill and the friars were asked to bring the Santo Bambino to the sickbed. The friars obliged and the person recovered. Thereafter, Prince Alessandro Torlonia used a carriage that belonged to Pope Leo XIII to spend his Thursdays bringing the image on "house calls" to the sick unable to visit the Basilica. Until the beginning of the 20th century, a coach of Prince Torlonia was available day and night to bring the Santo Bambino to the bedside of a sick person. An image of Santo Bambino known as the Bambinello is also venerated in the Church of San Giovanni,

Cori, Lazio Cori (ancient Cora) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, in the Lazio region of central Italy. History Cora was well developed in the age of the expansion of Rome (7th-6th century BC). It is recorded as being part of the Latin Leagu ...

, where it is under secured custody of the Salviati and Borghese clan. Pious tradition in Cori maintains that in the 18th century, the Prefect of Pontifical Household, Cardinal Scipione Borghese,

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of Teodosia, gave the original Santo Bambino of Aracoeli to the Church of San Giovanni in Giulianello in an effort to prevent the image from being stolen or desecrated by left-wing Jacobin militants. If this is the case, then the image stolen from Aracoeli is an 18th-century replica, while the original from the 15th century remains at Cori. A solar

brooch A brooch (, also ) is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with vitreous enamel, ...

depicting the allegorical image ''Sun of Justice'' was attached to the image, later stolen, and was associated with the Milanese jeweller Carlo Sartore. The Sun of Justice is depicted in older 19th-century

lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

of the image. In 1927 the Legation Counsellor at the British Embasssy was seriously ill with typhoid and was given last rites. Someone suggested sending for the Bambino. Philip Langdon went to Santa Maria in Araceoli, but on his return he and the accompanying Franciscan were stopped at the Piazza Venezia by a cordon of soldiers who had blocked off the street while the Duce made a speech. Despite being in a car with a cardinal's coat of arms they were not allowed to pass, until Langdon told them that he was bringing the Bambino to a dying man - at which point the soldiers snapped to attention and flagged them through. Today, the chapel at Aracoeli is filled with letters from all over the world, some of them addressed only to "Il Bambino, Rome". To make room for new letters, several weeks' worth of old ones are removed and burned with some incense. These are left unopened because, as a Franciscan custodian of the image puts it, "What is in the letters, is a matter between the Bambino and the letter writer and does not concern us." At Christmas, the Bambino is customarily placed in the

crèche Crèche or creche (from Latin ''cripia'' "crib, cradle") may refer to: *Child care center, an organization of adults who take care of children in place of their parents *Nativity scene, a group of figures arranged to represent the birth of Jesus ...

at the Basilica. Another custom is, in the period between Christmas and Epiphany, to have children of six to ten years of age stand on a specially built platform to speak to the Bambino. This has fallen out of practice, having been replaced by the mainstream religious procession.

Pontifical recognitions

* On 18 January 1894, Pope Leo XIII authorised the devotion to the image, along with a

rescript In legal terminology, a rescript is a document that is issued not on the initiative of the author, but in response (it literally means 'written back') to a specific demand made by its addressee. It does not apply to more general legislation. Over ...

and prayer dedicated to the infancy of Jesus. The papal document was witnessed by Cardinal

Ignatius Persico Ignazio Camillo Guglielmo Maria Pietro Persico (30 January 1823, Naples – 7 December 1895) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served multiple assignments including as Vicar Apostolic, bishop, Apostolic delegate to Ire ...

. On 2 May 1897, Leo XIII issued a canonical coronation towards the image through the Vatican Chapter. * The image was also mentioned in a 1969 letter to the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are appoi ...

given by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

for the 1969 World Day of Peace on New Year's Day. * On 8 January 1984, Pope John Paul II issued a homily blessing the title and its image at the Pope

Paul VI Audience Hall The Paul VI Audience Hall ( it, Aula Paolo VI) also known as the Hall of the Pontifical Audiences is a building in Rome named for Pope with a seating capacity of 6,300, designed in reinforced concrete by the Italian architect Pier Luigi N ...

on the solemn occasion of Jubilee year for children.

Theft of the image

The statue itself was adorned with valuable ''

ex-voto An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or to a divinity; the term is usually restricted to Christian examples. It is given in fulfillment of a vow (hence the Latin term, short for ''ex voto suscepto'', "from the vow made") or in gratitude o ...

s''. It was customarily stored at night in a secured cabinet, but on 1 February 1994 at approximately 4:00 PM, two thieves masqueraded as workers on a scaffold erected in the monastery for renovations. By one account, the thieves ransacked the friars' rooms looking for valuables, and coming to the room where the image was stored at night, found the armored cabinet open. Another version says the statue was still on display in the Basilica's crèche, which was to be removed the next day. While the police believed it would be difficult to recover any of the gold and valuables taken with the image, they considered the Santo Bambino too well known to be easily marketed. The theft of the Santo Bambino caused considerable outrage in Rome. A number of rich individuals offered to underwrite a ransom, but the Franciscans discouraged that approach and proceeded to have a copy made. The inmates at the

Regina Coeli prison Regina Coeli (; it, Carcere di Regina Coeli ) is the best known prison in the city of Rome. Previously a Catholic convent (hence the name), it was built in 1654 in the rione of Trastevere. It started to serve as a prison in 1881. The constructi ...

even wrote a petition to their anonymous "colleagues", asking for its return. That having failed, they donated money for the new copy.

Legends

Pious tradition holds that when the friar did not have the paints necessary to finish his work, it was completed by an angel. Upon his return to Italy, the ship was wrecked during a storm. The friar survived and later found the statue washed up on the shore at Livorno. A second tale recounts that in 1797, the Princess Paolina Borghese wishing to have the statue for herself, had a copy made. When her cousin became gravely ill, the family requested that the Bambino be brought, but returned the copy. However, at midnight while the bells rang at Santa Maria in Araceoli, the statue miraculously returned to its rightful place, thus inspiring the famous

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

tale of a Roman noblewoman pretending to be sick with the ulterior motive to take the image to her home. According to tradition, the lips of the Holy Child turn red when a request is going to be granted, and white when the cause presented is hopeless.

References