Editing Simon of Trent (section)

==Veneration== 
[[File:Simonino_Trento.jpg|thumbnail|upright=1.3|School of [[Niklaus Weckmann]],<br> ''The Martyrdom of Saint Simonino'']]
Simon became the focus of attention for the local Catholic Church. The local bishop, Hinderbach of Trent, tried to have Simon canonized, producing a large body of documentation of the event and its aftermath.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kristeller |first=Paul Oskar |author-link=Paul Oskar Kristeller |date=1993 |title=The Alleged Ritual Murder of Simon of Trent (1475) and Its Literary Repercussions: A Bibliographical Study |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3622714 |journal=Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research |volume=59 |pages=103–135 |doi=10.2307/3622714 |jstor=3622714}}</ref> Over one hundred miracles were attributed to Simon within a year of his disappearance, and his cult spread across Italy, Austria and Germany. However, there was also skepticism from the beginning, as Giudici's investigation showed.

[[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]], a future Holy Roman Emperor, was a strong proponent of Simon's veneration and commissioned a silver monument of the child.<ref name="getty">{{cite journal |last1=Kohl |first1=Jeanette |year=2018 |title=A Murder, a Mummy, and a Bust: The Newly Discovered Portrait of Simon of Trent at the Getty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAldDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 |journal=Getty Research Journal |volume=10 |publisher=[[Getty Research Institute]] |issue=10 |pages=37–60 |doi=10.1086/697383 |isbn=978-1-60606-571-6 |s2cid=192405280 |via=Google Books}}</ref> He also had Simon's relics carried in procession when he was made emperor in 1508.

The veneration received wider liturgical impetus in the 16th century. [[Joannes Molanus]] included a footnote on Simon of Trent in his 1568 edition of [[Usuard]]'s martyrology,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Usuard |title=Usuardi Martyrologium |title-link=Martyrology of Usuard |year=1568 |location=[[Leuven]] |translator-last=Molanus |translator-first=Joannes |oclc=902173278 |author-link=Usuard |translator-link=Joannes Molanus}}</ref> and this was then incorporated into the new official edition of the [[Roman Martyrology|''Martyrologium Romanum'']] in 1583,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baronius |first=Caesar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0R-nnwQeXj8C&pg=PA139 |title=Martyrologium Romanum ad nouam Kalendarii rationem et ecclesiasticae historiae veritatem restitutum, Gregorii XIII. Pont. Max., iussu editum; accesserunt notationes atque tractatio de martyrologio Romano |publisher=[[Plantin Press]] |year=1589 |location=[[Antwerp]] |page=139 |author-link=Caesar Baronius |oclc=319912070}}</ref> with 24 March having the additional text: ''Tridenti passio sancti Simeonis pueri, a Judaeis saevissime trucidati, qui multis postea miraculis coruscavit.'' ("At Trent, the suffering of the holy boy Simeon, barbarously murdered by the Jews, who was afterwards glorified by many miracles.")<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lW88AAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA50 |title=Martyrologium romanum : ad nouam kalendarij rationem & ecclesiasticae historiae veritatem restitutum : Gregorii XIII Pont. Max. iussu editum |publisher=[[Guillaume Rouillé]] |year=1583 |location=[[Venice]] |page=50 |author-link=Pope Gregory XIII |oclc=645647197}}</ref> In 1584 the use of this martyrology became obligatory in the [[Roman Rite]]. Furthermore, in 1588 [[Pope Sixtus V]] gave recognition to the local veneration of Simon as an established devotion, functionally equivalent to a decree of [[beatification]].<ref name=getty/>

In 1758, Cardinal Ganganelli (later [[Pope Clement XIV]], 1769–1774) prepared a legal memorandum which, to the exclusion of all other allegations of ritual murders of infants the records of which were thoroughly made available to him, expressly admitted as proven only two: that of Simon of Trent and that of [[Andreas Oxner]].<ref>{{Jewish Encyclopedia |no-prescript=1 |title=Clement XIV. (Lorenzo Ganganelli) |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4411-clement-xiv-lorenzo-ganganelli |last1=Jacobs |first1=Joseph |author1-link=Joseph Jacobs |last2=Broydé |first2=Isaac |author2-link=Isaac Broydé |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408155008/https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4411-clement-xiv-lorenzo-ganganelli |archive-date=8 April 2023}}</ref> At the same time, he extolled the glories and accomplishments of the Jewish people across history, writing that the murder of Simon of Trent did not suffice to injure the reputation of the entire Jewish people.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lobe |first=Isidore |author-link=Isidore Loeb |date=January–March 1889 |title=Un Mémoire de Laurent Ganganelli sur la Calomnie du Meurtre Rituel |journal=[[Revue des Études Juives]] |language=fr |publisher=[[Peeters Publishers]] |volume=XVIII |pages=179 et seq |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oWN90c7PbO8C&pg=PA179}}</ref>

Simon's cultus was permitted by the Popes for local public liturgical observance (effectively [[beatification]]) within the Diocese of Trent.<ref name=getty/> In a letter to {{ill|Benedetto Veterani|it}}, Promoter of Faith, [[Pope Benedict XIV]] recognised that this was the case, but was careful to distinguish such authorization from canonization.<ref>{{Citation |last=Melzer |first=Gottfried |title=Excerpts from The Bull ''Beatus Andreas'' of Pope Benedict XIV of 22 February 1755 [with comments] |url=https://jrbooksonline.com/HTML-docs/The%20Bull%20Beatus%20Andreas.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613233933/https://jrbooksonline.com/HTML-docs/The%20Bull%20Beatus%20Andreas.htm |quote=As We have shown in Our work ''De Canonisatione'', Book 3, Chapter 15, Nr. 6, Pope Sixtus IV by a Papal brief thereupon approved the Mass celebration and the Office in his [Simon's] name, to be read on the fixed day in the city and the entire bishopric of Trent, to the honor of the Blessed Simon, and (the Pope) moreover granted a plenary indulgence to all those who, having had the Sacrament of Confession and Communion, visit the church in which his relics are venerated on his day of the year." (S.5.) "And if, nevertheless, as we have further said above, at the behest of Pope Gregory XIII, the name of the Blessed Simon has been added to the Roman Martyrology, it can however not be inferred that because of this the latter has been canonized." (S.21.) |archive-date=13 June 2023 |translator-last=Belser |translator-first=R.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Pope Benedict XIV |url=http://archive.org/details/bub_gb_0-dSGrVURo0C |title=Sanctissimi domini nostri Benedicti papae XIV. Bullarium. Tomus primus decimus Tomus octavus, in quo continentur constitutiones, epistolae, aliaque edita ab initio pontificatus usque ad annum 1755 |date=1782 |publisher=Bartholomaei Occhi |others=[[National Library of Naples]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_0-dSGrVURo0C/page/n215/mode/2up?q=de+pago 215] |language=la |chapter=Beatus Andres de Pago |author-link=Pope Benedict XIV}}</ref>

As was stated in one publication, "It is simply untrue to say that the Church has ''canonized'' little Simon of Trent. A decree of beatification was issued by Sixtus V, which took the form simply of a confirmation of cultus and which allowed a Mass to be said locally in honour of the boy martyr. Everyone knows that beatification differs from canonization in this, that in the former case the infallibility of the Holy See is not involved, in the latter it is."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pollen |first=J. H. |author-link=John Hungerford Pollen (Jesuit) |date=January–June 1914 |title=The Centenary of the Restoration of the Society of Jesus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEEaAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA78 |journal=[[The Month]] |publisher=[[Longman|Longmans, Green, and Co.]] |volume=CXXIII |page=78 |oclc=1589103 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Following studies on the case, on 28 October 1965 (the same day as the publication of ''[[Nostra aetate]]'' by [[Pope Paul VI]]) archbishop of Trent {{ill|Alessandro Maria Gottardi|it}} abolished the cult of Simon, and the yearly procession with his relics was suppressed.<ref>{{cite journal|language=it|url=https://journals.openedition.org/laboratoireitalien/592|title=In margine al caso Simonino Di Trento. Aspetti istituzionali e morali della questione|journal=Laboratoire Italien|date=2011|doi=10.4000/laboratoireitalien.592 |last1=Rogger |first1=Iginio |issue=11 |pages=221–230 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rogger |first=Iginio |date=8 February 2007 |title=Interventi sul caso Toaff di storici italiani che si sono occupati dell'accusa del sangue: mons. Iginio Rogger (Avvenire, 8 febbraio 2007) |language=it |work=[[Avvenire]] |url=https://www.cesnur.org/2007/toaff_01.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201211925/https://www.cesnur.org/2007/toaff_01.htm |archive-date=1 February 2023 |via=[[CESNUR]]}}</ref> Simon of Trent is not in the new Roman Martyrology of 2000, nor on any modern Catholic calendar.<ref name=getty/> His relics, removed from their resting place in {{ill|Saints Peter and Paul church in Trent|it|Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo (Trento)}} upon the cult's suppression, were returned there in 2021, together with an exhibit about him curated by the ''{{ill|Museo diocesano tridentino|it}}''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Franchi |first=Fabrizio |date=19 January 2021 |title=Le reliquie del Simonino torneranno alla cappella di San Pietro |language=it |work=[[l'Adige (newspaper)|l'Adige]] |url=https://www.ladige.it/cultura-e-spettacoli/2021/01/19/le-reliquie-del-simonino-torneranno-alla-cappella-di-san-pietro-1.2831492 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130210827/https://www.ladige.it/cultura-e-spettacoli/2021/01/19/le-reliquie-del-simonino-torneranno-alla-cappella-di-san-pietro-1.2831492 |archive-date=30 January 2023}}</ref>