The building was constructed under the orders of Pope Urban IV to commemorate and provide a suitable home for the Corporal of Bolsena, the relic of miracle which is said to have occurred in 1263 in the nearby town of Bolsena, when a traveling priest from Bohemia who had doubts about the truth of transubstantiation found that his Host was bleeding so much that it stained the altar cloth. The cloth is now stored in the Chapel of the Corporal inside the cathedral.
The miracle was used by the pope to reaffirm the doctrine of the transubstantiation (i.e. that the holy wafer turns into the actual blood and flesh of Christ during Mass) and proclaim the feast of the Corpus Domini.
Orvieto was chosen because it was frequently used by the papal court as a residence in the middle ages and provided an easily defensible location, as it sits on top of a volcanic cork of tufa stone.
Inside the cathedral the chapel of San Brizio a cycle by Renaissance painter Luca Signorelli depicts the Apocalypse, from the book of revelation of St John, a subject that is rarely depicted in Christian churches.
Why are there pictures of naked men and women?
They sure don’t build things like they used to.
Just once I’d like to see a modern building with an equal amount of detail and effort to the cathedrals of the past.
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The building was constructed under the orders of Pope Urban IV to commemorate and provide a suitable home for the Corporal of Bolsena, the relic of miracle which is said to have occurred in 1263 in the nearby town of Bolsena, when a traveling priest from Bohemia who had doubts about the truth of transubstantiation found that his Host was bleeding so much that it stained the altar cloth. The cloth is now stored in the Chapel of the Corporal inside the cathedral.
The miracle was used by the pope to reaffirm the doctrine of the transubstantiation (i.e. that the holy wafer turns into the actual blood and flesh of Christ during Mass) and proclaim the feast of the Corpus Domini.
Orvieto was chosen because it was frequently used by the papal court as a residence in the middle ages and provided an easily defensible location, as it sits on top of a volcanic cork of tufa stone.
Inside the cathedral the chapel of San Brizio a cycle by Renaissance painter Luca Signorelli depicts the Apocalypse, from the book of revelation of St John, a subject that is rarely depicted in Christian churches.
Why are there pictures of naked men and women?
They sure don’t build things like they used to.
Just once I’d like to see a modern building with an equal amount of detail and effort to the cathedrals of the past.