Pope Leo XIV, the first Augustinian pope in centuries, has something hidden in his pectoral cross: relics of five saints. The pontiff wore this cross, which he was given in September 2023 upon being named a cardinal, when he was introduced to the world after his election.
The relics in the cross were chosen by Fr. Josef Sciberras, Postulator General of the Augustinian Order, said an article from Vatican News.
“The day before the conclave,” Fr. Sciberras told Vatican News, “I sent him a message, encouraging him to wear the cross we had given him, for the protection of Saints Augustine and Monica. I don’t know whether it was because of my message or not, but when I saw he was wearing it when taking the oath – and again when he stepped out onto the balcony of the basilica – I was deeply moved.”
Mother and son
At the center of his cross is a relic of St. Augustine, one of the greatest saints in the history of the Catholic Church. Above that one is a relic of St. Monica, St. Augustine’s mother. St. Monica prayed for her son to convert.
The cross also contains the relics of three lesser-known saints who are connected to the Augustinians.
College connection
To the left of the relic of St. Augustine is a relic of St. Thomas of Villanova, the archbishop of Valencia, Spain, in the 15th and 16th century. St. Thomas of Villanova, like Pope Leo XIV, was a member of the Order of St. Augustine.
Thomas of Villanova founded a seminary in Valencia, and was known for his care for the poor and his embrace of missions to the New World. Villanova University, Pope Leo XIV’s alma mater, is named after Thomas of Villanova.
Modern martyr
To the right of the relic of St. Augustine is a relic of Bl. Anselmo Polanco, bishop of Teruel, Spain, who was martyred during the Spanish Civil War on February 7, 1939. Polanco joined the Augustinians as a young man and was later named Prior Provincial in 1932.
Four years later, when the Spanish Civil War began, Polanco remained in the diocese, despite mounting anti-Catholic persecution. He himself would be arrested in 1938, and was executed just days before the war ended. Polanco was beatified on October 1, 1995, by Pope St. John Paul II.
A servant of a pope
The final relic in Pope Leo XIV’s pectoral cross, located below the relic of St. Augustine, is a relic of Ven. Giuseppe Bartolomeo Menochio, an Augustinian teacher, preacher, and bishop.
Menochio, who was born in Turin, Italy, in 1741, and became a coadjutor bishop of Reggio Emilia when he was about 55 years old. Shortly after, he was forced to leave the diocese by the French occupying forces.
After Pope Pius VII was elected, Menochio became the Papal Sacristan and Confessor to the Supreme Pontiff. He did not leave Rome, even after the pope was deported in 1809, and refused to swear an oath of fidelity to Napoleon.
Menochio was declared “venerable” in 1991.
