[THE FIELD CROSS AND THE BANNER OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT] Breve istoria delle santissime croci orofiamma e campo, gran tesoro della città di Brescia, tratta da' fogli del già Illustrissimo Signor Cavaliere Lodovico Baitelli [A brief history of the most holy Crosses of the Oriflamme and Field, great treasure of the city of Brescia, taken from the papers of the already illustrious Cavalier Lodovico Baitelli].
Brescia: Angelo Pasini, 1799. Octavo (18.5 × 12.5 cm). Contemporary decorative paper-covered card boards; 16 pp. with woodcut frontispis depicting Saints Faustinus and Jovita (in pagination) and 3 large folded leaves containing announcements issued on the date of the procession of relics as well as 1 enclosed, folded invitation to the procession. Light moisture stain affecting text block and folded plates; else about very good. Item #54544
Later edition of the rare work, first published in 1663, on the field cross (del Campo) and the banner (Oriflamme) of Emperor Constantine, as well as the collection of Cross relics likewise preserved in Brescia, which, following Helena's discovery of the True Cross in Jerusalem, are said to have come into Constantine's possession. Apparently, the text was printed on the occasion of three processions that took place in September 1799 for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Along with Ottavia Rossi's treatise “La Crocetta pretiosa et l'Orofiamma glorioso della città di Brescia,” published in 1622, the legal scholar's text is one of the earliest printed works on the Treasure of the Holy Crosses in Brescia.
The banner, which no longer exists today, derived its name (Oriflamme) because of the dazzling effect that the Roman military standard, woven from silk and gold threads and adorned with precious stones, pearls, gold buttons, and silver plaques, is said to have had on enemy troops. The field cross was renowned not only among Catholics but also among the Calvinists. For them, it was a prime example used in arguments against relic veneration. In his 1541 work "Traité des reliques", published in French, Latin, German, English, and Flemish, Calvin mockingly remarked that both Brescia and Cortona were disputing which city housed Constantine’s Field Cross: "Let them therefore dispute among themselves as long as they please about this cross. Whoever emerges as the victor and gains the upper hand, let him come forward and show himself; then a suitable answer shall be given to him." Calvin's argument, however, rested on a straw man, for there were many field crosses and banners in the Roman army. Whether the jurist Lodovico Baitelli took note of Calvin’s text or not remains unclear. He confines himself to stating that Constantine’s standard was carried "in the armies of Emperor Constantine the Great and his successors, as well as later in those of Emperor Charlemagne, and with it the emperors achieved their most glorious victories." It was not until the art-historical research of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that the Field Cross could be dated to the late eleventh or early twelfth century, thereby refuting the legend of the standard of the first Christian emperor.
Closely connected with the legend of the field cross and the banner were the city's patron saints Faustinus and Jovita (frontispiece), whose relics, said to have bled miraculously, persuaded Charlemagne’s military commander and his companions to settle in Brescia and to donate the imperial relic treasury to the city. This treasure is said to have included a relic of the True Cross, which the commander had received from Charlemagne himself. Baittelli then goes on to report that Emperor Henry IV, who had been excommunicated and was later readmitted by Pope Gregory VII after his walk to Canossa, had attempted to steal the field cross and banner, but that this had been thwarted by a miracle. The cross relics had also miraculously survived both a fire set by a heretic and a pillaging.
As of June 2026, KVK, OCLC locate no copies outside Italy; one copy of an edition published in 1732 under the title “Notizia delle Santissime Croci” is listed in a North American library.
Price: €950.00