This January 6, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. The word “epiphany” comes from Greek and means “manifestation.” Jesus Christ manifests to the Three Wise Men (and in them all the nations of the world represented) his divinity and his glory.
These “wise men from the east” followed the star of Bethlehem to reach the Child with the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. There they offered the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. But what happened next to these characters?
Receive the main news from ACI Prensa by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channels today:
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (EC), “it is certain that the Magi heard in a dream that they should not return to Herod and ‘they returned to their country by another way’.”
“It is said that after their return to their homeland the Magi They were baptized by Saint Thomas and they worked hard for the spread of faith in Christ. The story dates back to a post-6th century Arian writer, whose work is printed as The unfinished work in Matthew among the writings of Saint John Chrysostom,” notes the EC.
Where are the relics of the Three Wise Men?
The remains of the Three Wise Men were taken by Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, to the city of Constantinople.
Later, in 1164 they were taken from Milan (Italy) to Cologne (Germany), where they are today.
He August 18, 2005within the framework of his trip for World Youth Day (WYD), the first that he presided over in his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI said in that German cathedral that “the city of Cologne would not be what it is without the Three Wise Men , which have so influenced their history, their culture and their faith. In a certain sense, the Church celebrates the feast of the Epiphany here all year round.
“For this reason, before greeting you, dear inhabitants of Colonia, I wanted to take a few moments in prayer before the reliquary of the three Wise Men, thanking God for his testimony of faith, hope and love,” he added.
Benedict XVI then recalled that “in 1164, the relics of these Sages of the East, leaving Milan and, escorted by the Archbishop of Cologne Reinald von Dassel, crossed the Alps until they reached Cologne, where they were received with great demonstrations of joy.”
“In their pilgrimage through Europe, these relics have left evident traces, which even today remain in the names of places and in popular devotion,” he highlighted.
Years later, in 2014, Pope Francis appointed the then Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Angelo Scola, as his special envoy for the commemoration of the 850th anniversary of the transfer of the relics of the Three Wise Men from Milan to Cologne.
According to the story, collected on the website of the Cologne Cathedral, the mother of Emperor Constantine, Saint Helena, found the relics of the Three Wise Men in the city of Saba and moved them to Constantinople, today’s Istanbul (Turkey).
Three centuries later, the then Bishop of Milan, Saint Eustorgio, traveled to Constantinople for the emperor to accept his episcopal appointment and he gave him the relics of the Three Wise Men, which the Prelate took to the Italian city.
However, when Emperor Barbarossa laid siege to Milan, the Archbishop of Cologne, Monsignor Rainald von Dassel, saw that a Milanese church was guarding the relics.
The abbess there was the sister of the mayor of the city and she promised Bishop Von Dassel to give her the relics if he protected her brother from the emperor’s wrath. He did so and was able to take the relics to Cologne.
Between approximately 1190 and 1220 a group of craftsmen worked on the imposing reliquary that today guards the relics of the Three Wise Men.
The beautiful reliquary is 1.10 meters wide, 1.53 meters high, and 2.20 meters long. The base structure is made of wood, covered in gold and silver and decorated with filigree, enamel, and about a thousand precious stones.
It also has 74 figures in gilt silver bas-relief in total, not counting the additional, smaller figures in the decoration of the background.
Other images that can be seen are the Adoration of the Magi, Mary enthroned with the Child Jesus, the Baptism of Christ, and Christ enthroned at the Last Judgment. At one end also appears the bust of Mons. Dassel.
The current Cologne Cathedral began construction in 1248 and the work took 632 years, becoming the largest Gothic church in northern Europe.
In August 2005, Benedict XVI said in his homeland, Germany, that “the inhabitants of Cologne made for the relics of the Three Wise Men the most precious reliquary in the entire Christian world and, as if that were not enough, they raised a reliquary over it.” even greater: the Cologne Cathedral”.
“Together with Jerusalem the ‘holy city’, with Rome the ‘eternal city’, with Santiago de Compostela in Spain, thanks to the Magi, Cologne has become one of the most important places of pilgrimage over the centuries. of the Christian West,” Benedict then highlighted.
This note was originally published on January 4, 2023. It has been updated for republication
Walter Sánchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.