Covo

In the Covo parish church, the altar was originally positioned on the Gospel side (in the church from the 18th to 20th century). It is cited as being of San Lazzaro or of relics and in some cases – perhaps erroneously – as being of San Lazzaro and Santa Maria Maddalena. It houses a silver and crystal shrine containing the skull of San Lazzaro and other minor relics. The marble part bears the date 1733 and has been salvaged, possibly from the previous altar. A contract was signed in 1786 for the marble one that stands today, whilst the contract for the stucco one is dated 1804. With the 180° rotation of the church’s axis in the first half of the 20th century, it was located on the Epistle side to the east, to the right as one enters, instead of on the Gospel side.

The relics of San Lazzaro
Covo’s relics were authenticated in 1721 and, due to the reconstruction of the church, ended up being housed in the Church of Disciplini as of 25th April 1785 then returned once works were completed, perhaps in 1789 or 1791. The relics have travelled on various occasions, in addition to the journey from France to Senigallia and from there to Bergamo.
Reference to the presence in Covo of the relic of San Lazzaro’s skull, missing its mandible, dates back to 1520. Spini, writing in 1569, quoting Baldassarre Zaili’s chronicle of 1444, only mentions part of the bones of Maddalena and Lazzaro. In 1599, Monsignor Cesare Speciano, Bishop of Cremona, on a pastoral visit to Covo, said that when he was apostolic nuncio to Emperor Rudolph II, he had seen the head of San Lazzaro, Bishop of Marseilles, where he was venerated. He thus identified the Covo skull as being that of San Massimino, Aquense Bishop, thus of Aix-en-Provence, not least because with the relics there was a “fairly ancient” inscription that spoke of San Massimino Bishop of Marseilles previously known as Lazzaro (Reliquiae plures s.ti Maximini Episcopi de Marsilia de Provincia, qui ante vocabatur Lazarus frater Mariae Magdalenae risuscitatus a D.no Iesu). In some cases, the relics of San Lazzaro or the saint's skull are referred to generically. Strangely, in 1711, there is also mention of relics of San Lazzaro at the altar of the Concezione di Romano, albeit in a generic reference to the relics of San Lazzaro and Mary Magdalene. In 1919, it was described as a head without a lower jaw, without teeth and missing other bones. The absence of the jaw is almost never explicitly stated, with the exception of 1919. But in Giacomo Giordani’s 1855 paintings of the time of delivery (albeit constructed ex post), the jaw is not present.

Find out more...
www.coglia.org/
www.youtube.com
www.bergamowalls.com
www.bergamonews.it
www.pianuradascoprire.com
www.bassabergamascaorientale.it