​Written by  Fr. Dennis O'Neill
Referred to as the “Three Hierarchs”, these three Fathers of the Church contributed greatly to the theological discourse which was seminal to the formulations of the great creeds of the fourth century. Basil (c. 379) was bishop of Neo-Caesarea in Pontus and a great friend of Gregory the Theologian (d.390), whom Basil appointed to succeed his father as bishop of Nazianzus. Later in life, Gregory became patriarch of Constantinople. When he died, he was buried there in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Basil had been buried in his own cathedral when he died, but eventually several of his relics were transferred to St. Peter’s in Rome. The third hierarch is St. John Chrysostom, who came from Antioch but was patriarch of Constantinople until his death in exile in 407. His remains were brought back to Constantinople and interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles. The remains of Gregory and John were part of the massive amount of loot stolen from Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. These bones ended up in St. Peter’s in Rome until they were returned to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople by Pope St. John Paul II on November 27, 2004.

The reliquary which has just come to the Shrine of All Saints is from the city of Bologna. Bishop Ottaviano II degli Ubaldini (1214-1273), having been appointed to the see of Bologna, brought this reliquary with him. It had probably been given to him by Pope Gregory IX, who ordained him in 1240. These relics were present at the thirteenth Ecumenical Council, the First Council of Lyon in 1245. This would make sense, since one of the goals of the council was the reunion of the Eastern and Western Churches. When Cardinal degli Ubaldini died, he was buried in the church of Santa Maria della Fagna in Mugello, and the reliquary was placed on one of the altars in the nave of that church. 
In 1516, Cardinal Giovanni Salviati, during a visit to Mugello, resealed the relics of Sts. Basil, John, and Gregory from the church into an updated reliquary and transferred them to the Cathedral of Ferrara. He became Administrator of Ferrara from 1520 to 1550, succeeding Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, who had been a great relic collector and would have welcomed Salviati’s depositing the relics there.

There was a great fire in the Cathedral of Ferrara and its library in the seventeenth century. The reliquary was destroyed, but the relics survived. In 1698, Cardinal Fabrizio Paolucci was appointed Archbishop of Ferrara. In 1699, took the relics of the Three Hierarchs to Rome. Pope Clement XI was elected the next year and appointed Paolucci his Secretary of State during his reign, which ended with his death in 1721. The relics were briefly kept in Rome in the church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini (which is still the oldest church building within the walls of Vatican City) for 15 years.

Then Archbishop Tomasso Ruffo was instructed by Pope Clement XI to return the relics of the Three Hierarchs to Ferrara, of which he was subsequently appointed Cardinal/Archbishop from 1717 to 1738. The relics remained in the Cathedral of Ferrara until the nineteenth century.

In 1884, Cardinal Francesco Battaglini of Bologna visited his close friend Cardinal Luigi Giordani of Ferrara, who was struggling with health problems (though they both died in 1892). Cardinal Giordani gave Cardinal Battaglini the relics of the Three Hierarchs, which he brought back with him to Bologna. On July 3, 1883, resealed the relics in the present reliquary. In the subsequent time, already in the 20th century, these relics were twice seen in the hands of private owners. The last time they changed hands was in 2016, in France.
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Sources: 
Webb, Matilda, “Santo Stefano degli Abissini.//The Churches and Catacombs of Early Rome: A Comprehensive Guide”) Sussex, Academic, 2001.

Balboni, Dante, “Cavalieri ed edivici dell’Ordine di Malta a Ferrara” Ferrara: Lions Club Ferrara, 1989.​
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