The Basilica di San Nicola (Basilica of Saint Nicholas) is a church in Bari, southern Italy, that holds wide religious significance throughout Europe and the Christian world. The basilica is an important pilgrimage destination both for Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians from Eastern Europe.
The basilica was built between 1087 and 1197, during the Italo-Norman domination of Apulia, the area previously occupied by the Byzantine Catapan of which Bari was the seat. Its foundation is related to the stealing of the relics of St. Nicholas from the saint’s original shrine in Myra, in what is now Turkey.
When Myra passed into the hands of the Saracens, some saw it as an opportunity to move the saint's relics to a more hospitable location. According to the justifying legend, the saint, passing by the city on his way to Rome, had chosen Bari as his burial place. There was great competition for the relics between Venice and Bari. The latter won, the relics were carried off under the noses of the lawful Greek custodians and their Mohammedan masters, and on May 9, 1087, were safely landed at Bari. A new church was built to shelter Nicholas' remains and Pope Urban II was present at the consecration of the crypt in 1089.
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| The tomb of Saint Nicholas in Bari, as it appears today. |
Feast days
December 6 is Saint Nicholas Day, the main feast day of Saint Nicholas. On this day, it is traditional for the clergy of the basilica to lower a flask into the suberranean tomb of Saint Nicholas to extract some of the myrrh which is believed to exude from the relics. Containers of this myrrh are sent all over the world, and believers have reported numerous miracles as a result of being anointed with it. For those Orthodox Churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, December 6 falls on December 19 of the Gregorian Calendar, so there will actually be two celebrations of the same holy day: one according to the New Calendar (December 6) and one according to the Old Calendar (December 19). Both are celebrated with great solemnity at Bari.May 9 (May 22) is celebrated annually in the Russian Orthodox Church as the feast day of the "Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari".
Pilgrimages to the basilica from Eastern Europe have increased dramatically since the fall of the Iron Curtain, not only for the feast days, but throughout the year.
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