On the occasion of the exhibition ‘Journey to the End of the World – Michele Ruggieri and Jesuits in China’ (29 November 2012 – 3 March 2013, Macau Museum) dedicated to Jesuit Michele Ruggieri, a relics of Blessed Carlo Spinola will be shown to the public. The relics is a gift donated by Angelo Paratico to the Government of Macau.
During an interview (www.spinola.it), Dr. Angelo Paratico explained how he found the relic: in 1995, in a bookbindery situated in Via della Scrofa (Rome), he was attracted by a small piece of paper with a name on it – Spinola – and a small silver reliquary containing a white piece of fabric. The document, written in Latin and dated 1869 – the year in which Carlo Spinola sj was dec;lared blessed by the pope – presented the title bishop “episcopi Nicaensi” indicating that the relics contained a fragment of the shirt of the blessed Carlo Spinola. Back in Hong Kong, after discussing with Gianni Criveller, a PIME (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions) father and historian who autenticated it, Angelo Paratico expressed his wish to donate that relics to the Government of Macau.
This small religious memento of the blessed Carlo Spinola sj is now owned by the Cultural Department of the Government of Macao and will remains in the in the exhibition dedicated to Father Michele Ruggieri until its end. Then the common wish is that will be put in the nearby museum inside San Paulo Church.
Carlo Spinola was born in Genoa (or Madrid according to some) in 1564. Educated in Spain and in Italy, in 1594 he was ordained Jesuit and in 1596 was sent for a mission to the East. First he did stop of a few years in Macau, then he was directed to Yokohama in Japan, where he worked to expand the Christian community in that country. In 1614, all foreign missionaries were banished, but Spinola refused to abandon his flock, and after enduring four years of captivity, he was burnt at the stake in 1622.
The Church of Sao Paulo in Macau, built between 1602 and 1637, was built upon a project and design left behind by Father Carlo Spinola sj.
Date: Thursday, November 29, 2012 – Sunday, March 03, 2013
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 06:00 p.m.
Venue: Exhibition Gallery, 3rd floor of Macao Museum, Macau
Organized by: Mondo Mostre / Cultural Affairs Bureau / Macao Museum / National Archives of Rome
In collaboration with: Consulate General of Italy in Hong Kong and Macau / Italian Cultural Institute
cosa vuol dire sj?