Salerno Cathedral, dedicated to Matthew the apostle and evangelist, claims to hold his relics in its crypt. Tradition says the remains were brought to the city — by way of a wandering journey that medieval accounts trace through Ethiopia and the nearby ruined city of Paestum — and enshrined at Salerno in the 10th century. The Norman-era cathedral was built under Robert Guiscard and consecrated by Pope Gregory VII in 1084, with the crypt rebuilt in Baroque splendor in the early 1600s. Matthew became and remains the patron saint of Salerno, honored with a major annual feast. The relics are still shown in a cavity beneath the crypt's main altar, once said to exude a liquid called the 'Manna of St Matthew.' The shrine and its cult are well documented; the relics' path across the centuries is legend that no historian can trace or confirm.
- Where it is
- Salerno, Italy
- Scripture
- Matthew 9:9 · Luke 5:27-28 · Acts 1:13