St. John Chrysostom died 1614 years ago tomorrow. They have a relic of his earthly remains in the Duomo in Florence.
Many saints rest here, in whole or in part, in Florence.
St. Barnabas…
Pope St. Mark (with other martyrs)…
St. Cesonio, martyr…
And hundreds more.
They keep many of the relics in museums, and present the reliquaries as works of art. With the relics in them. Seems disrespectful to me.
But I stopped and prayed anyway, and it didn’t seem totally out of place. Most of the museums of Florence are attached to churches and once were monasteries.
Don’t visit the centro historico of Florence to pray without a few Euros in your pocket; it is not a town where you can just step into a church and pray for free.
…In Pisa, in addition to the patron Saint Raniero, the Duomo holds Blessed Guido della Gherardesca.
The church of St. Martin holds St. Bona di Pisa.
And the town memorializes Blessed Guiseppe Toniolo with his own little piazza.
Father Mark White Blog 