There is a relic that for over eight centuries has guarded an important part of the history, devotion, and even the identity of Prato: it is the Sacred Girdle, the precious belt that, according to an ancient tradition, the Virgin Mary gave to Saint Thomas at the moment of her Assumption into heaven. A thin strip of very fine wool, with a characteristic greenish color and intertwined with gold threads, around which legends, folk tales, works of art, and decisive moments in the city’s history have been woven over the centuries. On Tuesday, September 8th, the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Prato renews one of its most solemn appointments with the exhibition of the Sacred Girdle, which is shown to the city at the end of the traditional Historical Procession. The relic is kept in the Chapel of the Girdle, inside the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, and has been considered the most precious treasure of the Prato community for centuries. According to tradition, after receiving the belt from the Madonna, Saint Thomas entrusted it to a priest, whose descendants kept it for generations. The story then shifts to the Holy Land, where, around 1140, a young man from Prato named Michele reportedly met and married a girl named Maria, receiving the precious relic as a gift. Upon returning to Prato in 1141, Michele kept the secret of the Girdle throughout his life, revealing its existence only on his deathbed and donating it to the Pieve of Saint Stephen, the current Cathedral, around 1172. From that moment on, the Madonna’s belt became increasingly important, eventually becoming the heart of civic devotion and a symbol so strong that it influenced the civil and artistic history of Prato as well. The Sacred Girdle is in fact much more than a relic kept in a church: for centuries it has been considered a true common heritage of the city, guarded through a system still laden with symbolic meaning today. The casket containing the relic can only be opened using three keys, two of which belong to the Municipality and one to the Diocese, almost as if to represent the inseparable bond between the religious and civil dimensions that the Girdle has held in Prato’s history. Its importance was such that it attracted popes, princes, and illustrious figures over the centuries, but also generated tales worthy of a legend. One of the most famous concerns the attempted theft of 1312, when Giovanni di ser Laudetto, known as Musciattino, managed to take possession of the relic and attempted to flee the city. According to popular legend, a thick fog caused him to lose his way, incredibly leading him back toward Prato, where, convinced he had reached Pistoia, he shouted at the city gates, announcing that he had the ‘Girdle of the Pratesi’ with him, thus unintentionally revealing the theft. The story of the Sacred Girdle has also left a deep mark on art: works and interventions were carried out around the relic that involved some of the greatest protagonists of Italian art history, from the frescoes by Agnolo Gaddi in the Chapel of the Girdle to the famous external pulpit created by Donatello and Michelozzo, from which the relic is still shown to the faithful today. The exhibition on September 8th therefore preserves a significance that goes well beyond a religious gesture. At the end of the Historical Procession, when the costumed groups cross the city center to the Piazza del Duomo, Prato ideally returns to encounter a part of its own history. The Sacred Girdle is shown publicly only five times a year – at Christmas, Easter, May 1st, August 15th, and September 8th – and the Nativity of Mary appointment represents one of the most solemn and well-attended moments. In that thin belt kept for centuries in the Cathedral, a history made of devotion and mystery, but also of art, memory, and civic identity, is concentrated. Perhaps this is the very secret of the Sacred Girdle: being both a relic linked to an ancient Marian tradition and a deeply earthly symbol, capable even today of telling the story of Prato through its past and of gathering the city, every September 8th, around one of its most precious treasures.
