Editing Holy Prepuce (section)

==Traffic in relics==
Mary Dzon says that for many people during the Medieval period, devotion to the Holy Prepuce reflected a focus on the [[humanity of Jesus]].<ref name=Dzon>Dzon, Mary. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TrX3DQAAQBAJ&dq=Holy+Prepuce&pg=PA221 ''The Quest for the Christ Child in the Later Middle Ages''], University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017, p. 221, {{ISBN|9780812248845}}</ref>
 
According to Farley, "Depending on what you read, there were eight, twelve, fourteen, or even 18 different holy foreskins in various European towns during the Middle Ages."<ref name = Farley/> In addition to the Holy Foreskin of Rome (later Calcata), other claimants included the Cathedral of [[Le Puy-en-Velay]], [[Santiago de Compostela]], the city of [[Antwerp]], [[Coulombs, Eure-et-Loir|Coulombs]] in the [[diocese of Chartres]], as well as Chartres itself, and churches in [[Besançon]], [[Metz]], [[Hildesheim]], [[Charroux Abbey|Charroux]].<ref><!-- quote=Charroux Abbey. --> Remensnyder, Amy Goodrich. [https://archive.org/details/rememberingkings00reme/page/258 ''Remembering Kings Past''], Cornell University Press, 1995, p. 258, {{ISBN|9780801429545}}</ref> [[Conques]], [[Langres]], [[Fécamp]], and two in [[Auvergne (region)|Auvergne]].

One of the most famous prepuces arrived in Antwerp in [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]] in 1100 as a gift from King [[Baldwin I of Jerusalem]], who purchased it in the Holy Land during the First [[Crusade]]. This prepuce became famous when the [[Archdiocese of Cambrai|bishop of Cambrai]], during the celebration of the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]], saw three drops of blood blotting the linens of the altar. A special chapel was constructed and processions organised in honour of the miraculous relic, which became the goal of pilgrimages. In 1426, a brotherhood was founded in the cathedral {{lang|odt|"van der heiliger Besnidenissen ons liefs Heeren Jhesu Cristi in onser liever Vrouwen Kercke t' Antwerpen"}}; ("of the Holy Circumcision of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ in our Beloved Lady's Church in Antwerp"). Its 24 members were all abbots and prominent laymen. The relic disappeared in 1566, but the chapel still exists, decorated by two [[stained glass]] windows donated by king [[Henry VII of England]] and his wife [[Elizabeth of York]] in 1503.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

The [[Charroux Abbey|abbey of Charroux]] claimed the Holy Foreskin was presented to the monks by Charlemagne. In the early 12th century, it was taken in procession to Rome where it was presented before [[Pope Innocent III]], who was asked to rule on its authenticity. The Pope declined the opportunity. At some point, however, the relic went missing, and remained lost until 1856 when a workman repairing the abbey claimed to have found a [[reliquary]] hidden inside a wall, containing the missing foreskin.

According to Farley, the [[Second Vatican Council]] later removed the [[Day of the Holy Circumcision]] from the Latin church calendar, although Eastern Catholics and [[Traditionalist Catholics|Traditional Roman Catholics]] still celebrate the [[Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord]] on January 1.<ref name = Farley>David Farley (December 19, 2006), [http://www.slate.com/id/2155745/ "Fore Shame"], ''Slate''</ref><ref>See the [[General Roman Calendar as in 1954]], the [[General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII]], and the [[General Roman Calendar of 1960]]</ref> In reality, it was more than two years before 11 October 1962, the date when the Second Vatican Council began, that a 25 July 1960 decree of [[Pope John XXIII]]<ref>Pope John XXIII, [http://divinumofficium.com/www/horas/Help/Rubrics/Rubricarum%20Instructum.html Motu proprio ''Rubricarum instructum'']</ref> enacted a [[Code of Rubrics|wide-ranging revision]] of the [[General Roman Calendar]], which included changing the name of the 1 January feast from "Circumcision of the Lord and [[Octave (liturgical)|Octave]] of the [[Christmas|Nativity]]" to "Octave of the Nativity", with no change of the Gospel reading about the circumcision of the child Jesus.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://divinumofficium.com/www/horas/Help/Rubrics/Variationes1960.html |title=Variationes in Breviario et Missali Romano ad normam novi Codicis Rubricarum |website=divinumofficium.com |lang=la}}</ref>