Louisville is a city famous for horse racing, Muhammad Ali, baseball bats, and the nation’s oldest authentic river steamboat. It is also the home of the bones of two 1800-year-old Christian martyrs. Who are they and how did they end up in the River City?
Before we talk about our saintly skeletons, lets talk about the church they call home. Saint Martin of Tours Catholic parish church, located in the Phoenix Hill neighborhood, is one of the few remaining antebellum public buildings in the city. The church is an amazing building, with a massive spire that can be seen from blocks around and amazing stained glass windows.
The church was constructed in 1853 and served a large German immigrant population. Two years after the church opened, armed mobs of anti-immigrant “Know-Nothings” officially the “American Party” – a political movement that believed conspiracy theories about a Catholic takeover of the United States – believed there were weapons hidden inside the church and tried to burn it down. At least 20 people died during the “Bloody Monday” riots. Five people were later indicted, but none were convicted, and the victims were not compensated.
Nearly 50 years later, two packages showed up at Louisville’s U.S. Customs Office. The boxes, sent from Italy, contained the bones of Saints Magnus and Bonosa, Roman martyrs killed around the 3rd or 4th century C.E. Tradition holds that Bonosa was a virgin executed for her Christian belief. As for Magnus, one story is told that while Bonosa was being put to death at the Colosseum, Magnus was so moved by her courage that he converted and eventually was executed. Another tale says that Magnus stepped into the ring, fought to save the Bonosa’s life, and was killed on the spot. Yet even the Catholic Church recognizes it’s not certain who Magnus and Bonosa were.
So how did they end up in Louisville?
In the mid 1800’s, during Italy’s unification, many monasteries were being shut down. The church, fearing the bones would be destroyed, asked Pope Leo XIII if the bones of Magnus and Bonosa could be shipped to the United States. In 1901, the two saints were sewn into purple robes and given crowns to represent the martyrs’ salvation. The bones were then put into glass side altars at St. Martin’s. In 2012, after a Solemn High Mass, the saints were reinterred in new side altars where they remain today.
St. Martin of Tours is one of Louisville’s oldest churches and is open 24/7. You can also watch a live stream and take a virtual tour of the chapel on the church’s website.
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