Exhibition: Life, death and miracles

11th June 2022 – 8th January 2023 On 10 June 1315, as if by a miracle, all the bells of the city of Treviso spontaneously tolled in proclamation of the death of Henry of Bolzano. Crowds thronged the streets headed for the cathedral where, for days, the faithful kept vigil over the body of the man who for so many years had lived among them as a simple pious labourer. Soon, pilgrims came from far and wide to pray at his tomb. And sure enough, the first miraculous events began to occur and so it was decided that a chapel should be consecrated in Henry’s honour. The life, virtues and wonders of this humble worker was documented, and a delegation was sent to the pope in Avignon to ask for Henry’s canonization. In the year 1750, Henry was finally proclaimed a saint by Pope Benedict XIV. In 1759 Bolzano received holy relics gifted by the chapter of the Treviso Cathedral and the senate of the Republic of Venice. The relics were received in the city with a sumptuous procession in which all the city’s social classes took part. The procession led from the Chapel of Our Lady of Loreto on the banks of the Isarco to the Cathedral and thus began the story of Saint Henry of Bolzano as patron saint of his hometown.