San Vitale, again?

During our visit to Ravenna in September we were all a bit awestruck by the Justinian-era (and earlier!) mosaics in the various buildings. The centerpiece of it all is the Church of San Vitale, built on the supposed site of the martyrdom of Vitalis of Milan. San Vitale himself appears in the apse mosaic, being presented to Christ by an archangel.

Vitalis was a Roman soldier, was discovered to be a secret Christian, and was buried alive in Ravenna in the first or second century (during Nero's reign? Or maybe Marcus Aurelius's? No one knows.). Pretty much nothing else is known about Vitalis, his life, or his death, though it didn't much matter to us at the time because the church is so spectacular.

Becca in the Church of San Vitale, in Ravenna, with Justinian in the background mosaic.

Vitale himself, on the far left of the apse mosaic.

Well, now it matters. Today we visited the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City and stumbled onto a new mystery. In a small chapel along the east aisle, behind bars and glass, is a large reliquary with a skull, a couple of femurs, and a few other bones. And on the front is a large sign that says "San Vital". The smaller sign contains a brief description indicating that the bones are of the Italian Saint "Vital" who was buried alive. There is no mention of Ravenna, nor of the history of how these relics appeared in Mexico City, and my usual internet sleuthing has so far only turned up blogs of other travelers who are also wondering..."Is this THE San Vitale?"...and all of which conclude with uncertainty.

Excerpt from Opera di Religione della Diocese di Ravenna with more info on the uncertainty around San Vitale's life and the confusion between him and another, later, San Vitale from nearby Bologna: 

Some scholars are convinced that Saint Vitale revered in Ravenna was confused with Saint Vitale, servant of the farmer Agricola, both martyred in Bologna during the emperor Diocletian’s persecution (late III – early IV century AD) and celebrated on 4th November. In this way, was created a sort of splitting between the Bologna’s Saints Vitale and Agricola and the Saints Vitale and Ursicino of Ravenna. Ravenna’s bishop Saint Pietro Crisologo (426-450) affirmed that the proto-Bishop Apollinare was the only saint of the local Church who shed blood for Christ and he did not mention Saint Vitale. For this reason, the letter of the pseudo-Ambrogio about the legend the saint soldier from Milan, has to be considered as a later document². It is also stated that the splitting would have been generated in 409, when Galla Placidia decided to move the relics of Saint Vitale and his sons Gervasio and Protasio from Milan to Ravenna, favoring a cult in the new capital that did not exist before³.

On the other hand, other scholars dispute the thesis of the doubling: the distinction of the cult of the soldier Vitale and the doctor Ursicinus with the saints Vitale and Agricola from Bologna was very ancient and clear in the calendars of Churches in Milan and in Ravenna and, also, in the Roman Martyrology. The poet, bishop and saint Venanzio Fortunato, who lived in Ravenna between 550 and 565, wrote in his poems: “… Head quietly to the beloved city of Ravenna and passing by the sacred memories of the Saints, venerate the tomb of the blessed martyr Vitale and mild Ursicinus, blessed with the same fate…“. The devotion in Ravenna for Vitale from Milan and his family – together with Ursicino – is also shown in the two large mosaics of Saint Apollinare Nuovo’s church. The mosaics, dating back to the times of the archbishop Agnello (556-569), represent  the martyrs’ processions: Vitale, Gervasio, Protasio and Ursicino are depicted on the right and Vitale’s wife Valeria on the left in the procession of holy saints⁴.

Gervasio and Protasio are also depicted in the mosaics of San Vitale’s church, in the under-arch that leads to the presbytery. Vitale, instead, is shown in the apse.