A tale of two foreskins

Relics continue to play a huge role in Catholic worship around the world. But be they knuckles, hanks of hair or even livers, none is more weird that The Holy Prepuce, or Holy Foreskin, most humorous of all the relics derived from Jesus himself.

Holy Prepucae (from the Latin præputium or prepucium) hit a peak of popularity in the Middle Ages when as many as 18 foreskins of Christ could be found on display in European cities.

Perhaps the most famous of these came to prominence in the 9th century. It was claimed that it was originally owned by the Emperor Charlemagne and that it had been delivered to him by an angel (though it seems more likely that it was a wedding gift from the Byzantine Empress Irene). Despite these regal beginnings, controversy and confusion would dog the holy top piece for next 800 years.

After going missing for a few centuries, Charlemagne's foreskin re-surfaced at the Abbey of Charroux who claimed it had been presented to them by the Emperor. The Holy Prepuce of Charroux was then taken - in procession - to Rome and presented to Pope Innocent III, who promptly refused to rule on its authenticity. Two hundred year later Pope Clement VII has no such qualms when he issued a bull granting indulgences to anyone who made a pilgrimage to Charroux. At this point, the relic went missing until 1856 when it was re-discovered by a workman repairing the abbey who found its reliquary hidden inside a wall. That's when the trouble really started.

The return of the Charroux relic led to a theological clash with another foreskin, the Holy Prepuce of Calcata, which had also been attributed to Charlemagne but had been officially venerated by the Church. It was claimed that this foreskin had been given to the Pope Leo III by the Emperor but stolen by a German soldier during the Sack of Rome in 1527. The soldier was captured and imprisoned in the Italian village of Calcata where the reliquary containing the foreskin had remained.

In 1900, the Vatican suggested that the obsession with foreskin relics of any kind encouraged “irreverent curiosity”. If that wasn't clear enough they further ruled that anyone writing or speaking of the Holy Prepuce of Charroux would be excommunicated. In the more enlightened times of 1954, after much debate, this punishment was upgraded to excommunication and vitandi (to be avoided by the faithful).

Despite the ruling The Holy Prepuce of Calcata continued to be venerated in the town as recently as the 1980s on the Feast of the Circumcision. However the practice ended suddenly in 1983 after thieves stole the jewel-encrusted reliquary and the foreskin inside.

Its whereabouts are currently unknown.