Wedding ring given by St Joseph to the Blessed Virgin Mary

[Alan]

This quartz ring (the Santo Anello) is the wedding ring given by St Joseph to the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to an 11th century account, a Jewish dealer in precious stones in Rome gave it to a jeweler from Chiusi called Ainerio in the late 10th century. He doubted its authenticity until his newly deceased young son was temporarily restored to life in order to vouch for it. It was then transferred to the Basilica di Santa Mustiola, outside the walls of Chiusi. In 1251, it was moved for greater security to the Duomo of Chiusi, which was administered by the canons of Santa Mustiola. It was moved again, this time to San Francesco, Chiusi in 1420.

Courtesy of Christopher Perretti

[Dawn Marie]

Which is the ring?  Is it the part with the crown or the part that hangs from it which looks like ivory?  Or is it the whole piece?

I can't tell.  EDITED HERE:  Never mind I looked around to find the answer and the part that is hanging from the crown piece is the wedding ring :)

Anyway, can you believe that was on her actual finger!  Her teeny tiny little beloved finger wore that!  If only we could see it in real life, how incredible would that be!!!!!!!!!

[Dawn Marie]

Santo Anello, the Blessed Virgin’s Wedding Ring, Perugia, Italy.

Rumor has it that Joseph gave the mother of Jesus Christ a wedding ring on the day of their betrothal. Such was the widespread belief among Catholic communities in the mid-to-late 1800s. This rumor appears to have two separate sources. The first source comes from the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, a mystic seer and Augustinian nun who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004.

Between 1813 and 1819, the sickly nun began experiencing the sainted sign of stigmata. A series of investigations took place, and her piety and sanctity were confirmed by a number of inquirers. Soon after, she was visited by several figures prominent in the emerging Church renewal movement. One such visitor, the poet Clemens Brentano, made it his mission to record their discussions about her visions.

It is within a series of these visions, dated between July 29 and August 3, 1821, that Sister Catherine saw the wedding ring of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is said to have reported that the ring was “neither of silver nor gold, nor of any other metal; it is dark in color and iridescent; it is not a thin narrow ring, but rather thick and at least a finger broad. I saw it smooth and yet as if covered with little regular triangles in which were letters. On the inside was a flat surface. The ring is engraved with something. I saw it kept behind many locks in a beautiful church. Devout people about to be married take their wedding-rings to touch it.”

Nearly simultaneously, in 1823, William Hone wrote a book titled Ancient Mysteries Described. In it, he also describes the Virgin Mary’s wedding ring, though he reported that it was said to be of onyx and amethyst, representing the budded rod of Joseph.

So, did Mary have a wedding ring? Was it amethyst and onyx, or was it the larger quartz version eluded to in Sister Catherine’s visions?

Even Mr. Hone holds his tongue in his cheek as he comments on the ring’s miraculous powers. Not only was the ring capable of healing the sick and bringing fortune to those whose wedding rings touched it on St. Joseph’s Day, but the ring also held “miraculous powers of multiplying itself” {1}. Apparently, there were several churches claiming to possess the precious relic during the mid-1400s.

Legend has it that the ring was acquired by a traveling jeweler and lapidary, Ranerius. In 966 AD, Judith, wife of Hugo, Marquess of Etruria, hired Ranerius to travel to Rome in search of beautiful jewels for her. While in Rome, Ranerius met a jeweler from Jerusalem who offered him an onyx and amethyst ring as a token of their friendship.

Ranerius appears to have been somewhat callous about the gesture, considering the ring to be of little value despite the Jewish man’s insistence that the jewel was the betrothal gift given to the Virgin Mary on her wedding day. The Italian tossed the ring in a chest, clearly unconvinced by the Jewish lore surrounding the ring. Ten years later, the man’s son lay in a coffin, borne upon a hearse toward a cemetery.

In a moment of mystical mayhem, the young boy suddenly rose up and called for his father, claiming a visitation from the Blessed Virgin. The story goes that the boy described the ring and its location in the forsaken chest and insisted that Mary desired her wedding band to receive its full due. When the chest was brought to the boy, he pulled out the ring and kissed it, just as the bells began to peal spontaneously. The onlookers were moved to worship as the scene unfolded, and the boy delivered the ring to church officials. Satisfied with his task, the boy lay back down in his coffin and breathed (again) his last. He was buried that day.

The ring remained in church custody for the next 500 years, rumored to bring relief to women in labor, to heal sciatica and diseases of the eye, to bring about reconciliation between married couples, and to exorcise demons. In 1473, it was handed over to the Franciscans in Clusium, where it was shown by appointment to visitors. On one such occasion, some say in 1488, a visiting priest, described by Mr. Hone as “a crafty German” named Wintherus, faked the ring’s return to its cherished box, hiding it instead beneath his sleeves. He fled to the countryside, where he encountered trouble in the form of a mysteriously deep darkness supposedly created by the disgruntled relic {2}.

Failing in his efforts to smuggle the ring out of the country, he made his way to Perugia where he convinced the resident church leadership that he had rescued the relic from the Clusiums. Realizing he would not make it out of the country under the thick veil of darkness, he willingly exchanged the ring for a modest fortune and a position in the governance of the city of Perugia.

When Sister Catherine saw the ring in her vision, it was housed in a medieval lock box gilt in silver and gold in Perugia’s San Lorenzo Cathedral. The box required seven keys to open, and the ring is neither onyx nor gold. Today, a wide band of pure quartz with a flattened bottom hangs from a golden crown at the apex of an elaborate statue.

[Alley]

I have a dumb question. Does anyone know did Our Lady actually wear Her wedding ring

on Her right hand??

We wear ours on the left, just wondering.

[Sarah Louise Rita Armstrong]

Wow! That's amazing!!!!

[Sue K]

What a wonderful discovery.  Does anyone remember reading the story of a nun who tried on the ring and either her finger or hand withered?

[Cathleen]

My guess is the right, as I think that it how it is worn in the East.  I don't remember the reason why the right hand (nor the left in the West)

Alley said:

I have a dumb question. Does anyone know did Our Lady actually wear Her wedding ring

on Her right hand??

We wear ours on the left, just wondering.

[Kate Jackson]

Precious St. Joseph and Our Lady pray for the protection of all marriages. Amen