Sainte-Réparate cathedral: plague and relics galore
And also
The tops
Come on, let’s visit the inner church: in the Sainte-Rosalie chapel, we have an inscription echoing the plague epidemic of 1631, where people prayed Saint François-Xavier and saint Rosalie.
It says: "While the city was burying the dead, we prayed saint Rosalie and saint François-Xavier, for the victim’s mercy and to calm down an angry God. This altar was dedicated to them, because Nice city was saved."
The terrible plague provoked the panic in the city! The tradition says bishop of Nice was forced to empty the font from water, because nasty people put plague germ inside, on purpose!
They also keep several relics in the church:
- Rosalie’s relics, given by Palermo city in Italy.
- Victor’s one, given in 1686 by Victor Amédée the Great: this mighty saint used to protect people from Nice from the water floods and from the dryness!
- Alexandre’s one, given in 1709 by pope Clement XI to Saint-Dominique’s monks.
- Vincent’s relics, given in 1642 by Jean-Paul Lascaris, master of the Malta order.
The tradition says that during a very strong storm, in 1782, they displayed all those relics in order to calm the sky’s fury down! That was not very efficient... Because thunder and hail entered the church by the broken stained glass windows. People probably thought the end of the world was near!