Reliquary of Saint Paul
A small head with great radiance – The bust of St. Paul as an item of national cultural significance.
This reliquary bust is the oldest surviving example of its kind in Christian art. It has been housed at the cathedral for nearly a thousand years. While reliquary busts existed in other churches prior to this one, none of those have survived to the present day. It was followed by others, such as the St. John reliquary in Cappenberg (formerly known as the Barbarossa Head) and the Charlemagne bust in Aachen.
Its exquisite craftsmanship suggests that it was intended from the outset to house particularly precious relics. Such valuable relics of the Apostle Paul likely reached Münster through kings or emperors; thus, the bust also symbolizes the connections between the ecclesiastical and secular spheres.
The bust cannot be attributed to any known workshop, though its style points to a Northwest German origin. The design of the chest area was reworked at a later date, and—according to tradition—the relic(s) contained within were also altered. Through its external form (depicting a head and bust), the object represents the specific body part from which the relic (skullcap or tooth) originates. This classifies it as a so-called "speaking reliquary."
By virtue of its age, history, and style, it remains unique and serves as a testament to the innovative nature of Christian art.
The Mystery of the Relic(s) of Saint Paul
The bust reliquary was last opened in the 1960s. At that time, skull bones belonging to Paul were discovered. Were they inside from the very beginning? The inventory of relics from 1622 serves as the primary source regarding the relics of Paul; however, it makes no mention of the skull bones. Instead, it refers to an inscription on the bust of Paul—now lost—which stated that a tooth of Paul had once been contained within it before being transferred to a monstrance. Today, no trace remains of either the tooth or the monstrance.
The inscription links Bishop Gerhard (who served from 1261 to 1272) to the tooth. It remains unclear where he obtained the tooth relic. Two of the other Paul reliquaries in the cathedral treasury proudly highlight the fact that their relics originated from the imperial family. Another mystery remains: what was inside the bust during the two centuries prior to the tooth? Could it have been the skull bones all along?