1164
The Magi are moved
The unnumbered and unnamed magoi or “wise men” who visited the baby Jesus and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, disappear from Scripture after they are warned in a dream not to report to Herod but to return to their own country by a different way. After centuries of imaginative story telling about their deeds, we learn that the Magi numbered three and were called Balthazar, Melchior and Kaspar (or Gaspar) — they represented the three ages of man (young, middle-aged and elderly) and came from the three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe). They became Christians and according to legend met one last time whereupon they died and were buried, miraculously retaining the appearance they showed at the time of the Nativity. Their remains were discovered by the mother of the emperor Constantine, St Helena, who moved them to Constantinople; from there they went to Milan, an imperial capital. When the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa conquered that city he had the bodies “translated” to Cologne Cathedral. Observers noted that the bodies, wrapped in silk and embalmed with balsam and other spices, were uncorrupt and appeared to be men aged 15, 30 and 60 years old. “And all the people of the country roundabout, with all the reverence they might, received these relics, and there in the city of Cologne they are kept and beholden of all manner of nations unto this day.”
To this day one of the treasures of Cologne cathedral is the largest reliquary in western Christendom, the sarcophagus that holds the bodies of the Magi. It is constructed of gold, silver, enamel and jewels and is built to resemble three joined basilicas. When it was opened in 1864 on the 700th anniversary of the translation, it was found to contain the bodies of three men — an adolescent, a man of middle years and an older man. In 2004, the skulls, each wearing a gold crown, were examined by a scientific team who confirmed the relative ages of the bones.