The Holy Face of Lucca (Italian: Volto Santo di Lucca) is an 8th-century life-size Crucifix made of painted wood. It is displayed in the cathedral of San Martino in Lucca, Italy. Medieval stories say that Nicodemus, who helped St. Joseph of Arimathea place Jesus in his tomb after the crucifixion, carved the Holy Face. These same stories claim the Crucifix arrived in Lucca in 782.
Carbon dating of the wood and canvas used to create the Holy Face shows it was made between 770 and 880. This time range matches the Legend of Leobino, which states the Holy Face arrived in Lucca from the Judea region in 782 (another version says 742).
The Holy Face is kept in a separate octagonal small temple ("tempietto") in the left aisle of Lucca Cathedral. A sacristy made of Carrara marble was built for this purpose in 1484 by Matteo Civitali, a sculptor-architect from Lucca.
Copies of the Holy Face, which is eight feet tall (2.4 meters), from the 12th century are found in many places across Europe. These include the Cross of Imervard in Brunswick Cathedral (Germany), the Holy Face of Sansepolcro (Italy), and possibly the Batlló Crucifix in Barcelona, Spain. The Holy Face is also shown in a 14th-century Gothic fresco in a Lutheran church in Štítnik, Slovakia.
History
In the traditional story, the year 782 is when the Holy Face arrived at the Basilica di San Frediano. Its movement to the cathedral, explained by a miraculous event described in the Latin legend De inventione, revelatione ac translatione Sanctissimi Vultus (or Leggenda di Leobino), may be connected to the time when Anselmo da Baggio was a bishop (1060–70). He presented the Holy Face during the consecration of the new Romanesque cathedral on 6 October 1070. Stories in the religious legend also suggest the image was once in Luni, Liguria, a former bishopric and early commercial rival of Lucca. Luni was a Byzantine-controlled area that was attacked by Saracens, disputed between Byzantines and Lombards, and became a village by the eighth century.
The sculpture does not look like Lombard sculptures from the tenth or eleventh centuries. The image of a fully robed crucified Christ wearing a long tunic called a colobium is more common in the East than the West. However, a life-sized Crucifixion carved in the round is unusual for Byzantine art. Life-sized Crucifixes became more common in Germany after about 970, following the Gero Cross in Cologne Cathedral. The long robe may have been influenced by Byzantine styles, though similar designs appear in Western art, such as in Ottonian manuscripts. The belt on the Holy Face is unique and not found in other Crucifixion images from the East or West.
In Lucca, an annual candlelit procession on 13 September, called the Luminara, honors the Volto Santo, the day before religious celebrations. The procession, which no longer includes the sculpture as it once did, moves from the Basilica of San Frediano to the cathedral. A fresco in the basilica shows the legend of Nicodemus carving the image from cedar wood in Lebanon. After completing all parts except the face, Nicodemus fell asleep and awoke to find the Holy Face finished by an angel. In Eastern Christianity, similar stories surround icons believed to be acheiropoieta—images not made by human hands but by divine power, as stated in the Latin legend: “The most holy Face, sculpted not by his craft but by divine art.”
The image was discovered in a cave in the Holy Land by Bishop Gualfredo, who was guided by a dream. It was carried to the Tuscan port of Luni in a boat with no sails or crew. When people in Luni tried to board the boat, it moved away from them. Bishop Johannes of Lucca, warned by an angel in a dream, arrived with his clergy and people of Lucca. He stopped attempts to take the boat and, by praying, caused the ship to open its gangplank for him. When the people saw the Holy Face, they cried with joy and shouted “Gloria in excelsis.”
After arriving in Lucca, the image was transported in a cart pulled by oxen with no driver, another miracle showing Lucca’s right to possess it. It was placed in the church of San Frediano and then moved miraculously to the church of San Martino, which became the cathedral and the bishop’s seat. This legend justified Lucca’s possession of the image instead of Luni and its placement in the cathedral.
The image’s popularity led to many copies and stories to satisfy pilgrims who visited Lucca’s cathedral from across Europe. Like other famous relics, such as the Virgin’s Belt in Prato, the Holy Face was often displayed only on specific days of the year. At times, it was covered in rich textiles and the wooden robe. The phrase “By the face of Lucca” was a common oath used by William II of England. The Holy Face also appears on medieval coins from Lucca. Dante mentions the Volto Santo in his Inferno, Canto XXI, where a demon shouts:
“Here the Holy Face has no place! Here you swim differently than in the Serchio.”
This line refers to swimming in boiling pitch instead of in the Serchio River, which flows through Lucca.
Legend of the fiddler
A story about a fiddler who is a follower of a statue and receives a shoe made of valuable metal has been recorded since the 12th century. The story has many different versions. In some, the statue lets the shoe fall to the fiddler, while in others, the statue kicks the shoe to him. Sometimes, the shoe has a nail through it. The fiddler might be a poor traveler who is rewarded for playing music near the statue, or he might start playing the fiddle after experiencing good fortune. The shoe might contain gold coins, and the fiddler might return it, allowing the gift to happen again. In some versions, the fiddler is accused of stealing the shoe but is not punished. This story also became part of the worship of Wilgefortis, who is known as the Holy Face.
Images of this story often show the fiddler playing music under the statue, which is placed above an altar, as it was in real life. The statue appears to wear real clothing, like other highly honored statues, which were sometimes dressed in "festive clothes" at certain times. On the altar, there is the shoe and a chalice placed near one of the statue's feet. This setup matches how altars were arranged in the Middle Ages, with a chalice-shaped object used to collect offerings. A tube connected the chalice to a box below the altar to store the collected items.
Wilgefortis
In the late 1300s, a holy image inspired miracles and worship in the Low Countries, Bavaria, and the Tyrol, even though its link to Lucca had been forgotten. The long robe worn by the statue suggested the figure was a woman. To explain the beard, a story developed about a young noblewoman who miraculously grew a beard to protect her vow of lifelong virginity. Her father, often said to be the king of Portugal, promised her in marriage to another pagan king. Wilgefortis, who had vowed to remain a virgin forever, prayed to be made unattractive to her future husband. As a result, she grew a long, flowing beard. In anger, her father had her crucified. Wilgefortis became a well-known figure in popular religious traditions. She was known by different names in various regions, such as Kümmernis in Germany or Sainte Débarras in France. She was officially recorded in the Martyrologium Romanum in 1583 and remained widely honored as late as the 1800s.