The celebrations of the Feast of the Holy Nail are traced back to 1576, the year when Saint Charles Borromeo carried the relic in procession through the streets of a Milan ravaged by the plague.
Since then, every year on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in memory of this event, rituals and celebrations take place in both Milan and Monza.
In Monza, on the third Sunday of September, the Iron Crown is placed inside a reliquary cross, which, accompanied by the Archpriest of the Cathedral and guarded by the Halberdiers, processes through the streets of the city, eventually returning to the Chapel of Theodolinda for the veneration of the relic by the faithful.
Similarly, in Milan, the Holy Nail, now preserved in the apse of the Cathedral at a height of 40 meters, is brought down during the Nivola ritual. In this ceremony, the Archbishop, ascending a structure – in the shape of a cloud, as the name suggests – designed in the 17th century and decorated with papier-mâché, is raised by a winch until reaching the tabernacle.
Here too, the relic remains exposed for the adoration of the faithful for 40 hours before being placed back.
