Note 353 — Chapter V · THE SLAVIC CATHARI.

Klaić, pp. 437-9, 443.--Wadding. ann. 1478, No. 67; ann. 1498, No. 2-3; ann. 1500, No. 44. There was at least one humorous incident connected with the conquest of Bosnia. On the occupation by the Turks of the capital, Jaicza, the Franciscans fled to Venice, carrying with them the body of St. Luke, which had been translated thither from Constantinople. The possession of so important a relic brought them great consideration, but involved them in a troublesome contest. For three hundred years the Benedictine house of St. Justina at Padua had rejoiced in owning the body of St. Luke, which was the source of much profit. The Benedictines objected to the intrusion of the döppelganger; and as no trustworthy tradition assigned two bodies to the saint, there was no chance of compromise. They appealed to Pius II., who referred the case with full powers of decision to his legate at Venice, Cardinal Bessarion. A trial in all legal form was held, lasting for three months and resulting in the victory of the Franciscans. The Paduan Luke, as an impostor, was forbidden to enjoy in future the devotion of the faithful, but no provision was made to compensate those who for three centuries had wasted on him their prayers and offerings, in the belief that they were securing the suffrages of the genuine Evangelist. The Paduans for years vainly endeavored to get Bessarion’s decision set aside, and they were finally obliged to submit. Their strongest argument was that, about the year 580, the Emperor Tiberius II. had given to St. Gregory, then apocrisarius of Pelagius II. in Constantinople, the head of St. Luke, which was still exhibited and venerated in the Basilica of the Vatican. Now the Benedictine St. Luke was a headless trunk, while the Franciscan one was perfect, and they argued with reason that it was highly improbable that St. Luke had possessed two heads. This logic was more cogent than successful, though the Vatican clergy did not feel called upon to discredit their own valuable relic, which they continued to exhibit as genuine. The question was still further complicated by a superfluous arm of the Evangelist which was preserved in the Basilica of S. Maria ad Præsepe (Wadding. ann. 1463, No. 13-23).