ABSTRACT
On the Monday after Palm Sunday 1462, just north of Rome, Pope Pius II (d. 1464) welcomed a new treasure, the head of the Apostle Andrew, to Rome. The relic was greeted with elaborate ceremony and brought to the walls of the city. Although staged as a singular, unique event, Pius' reception of Andrew drew on a long history of Andrew's mobility, as contrasted to his decidedly immobile brother Peter. Andrew remained a model of sanctity particularly suitable for moments of change. With the Turkish conquest of the Byzantine Empire, the translation of eastern relics took on a further degree of perceived moral urgency. Thomas Palaiologos, Pius emphasized, had rightly chosen to entrust the papacy with the head of Andrew, protecting him from the supposedly ruthless and impious Turks. Peter and Paul, then, did not move, but the arrival of Andrew was staged so as to set all of Rome – and the wider Christian world – into motion.
