The formal opening of the vault on the afternoon of that day and the examination of its contents are minutely described in the notarial document drawn up on the occasion:
"In the City of Santo Domingo on the tenth of September of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-seven. At four o'clock in the afternoon upon invitation of the most illustrious and reverend Doctor Friar Roque Cocchia, Bishop of Orope, Vicar and Apostolic Delegate of the Holy See in the Republics of Santo Domingo, Venezuela and Haiti, assisted by presbyter Friar Bernardino d'Emilia, secretary of the bishopric, by the honorary penitentiary canon, presbyter Francisco Javier Billini, rector and founder of the College of San Luis Gonzaga and of the charity asylum, apostolic missionary and acting curate of the holy cathedral, and by presbyter Eliseo J'Andoli, assistant curate of the same, there met in the holy cathedral General Marcos A. Cabral, Minister of the Interior and Police; Licentiate Felipe Davila Fernandez de Castro, Minister of Foreign Relations; Joaquin Montolio, Minister of Justice and Public Instruction; General Manuel A. Caceres, Minister of Finance and Commerce; and General Valentin Ramirez Baez, Minister of War and the Navy; and the citizens General Braulio Alvarez, Civil and Military Governor of the Province of the Capital, assisted by his secretary Pedro Maria Gautier; the honorable members of the illustrious municipal council of this capital, citizen Juan de la C. Alfonseca, president, and citizens Felix Baez, Juan Bautista Paradas, Pedro Mota, Manuel Maria Cabral and José Maria Bonetti, members; General Francisco Ungria Chala, military commandant of this city; citizens Felix Mariano Lluveres, president of the legislative chamber and Francisco Javier Machado, deputy to the same chamber; the members of the consular corps accredited to the Republic, Messrs. Miguel Pou, Consul of H.M. the Emperor of Germany, Luis Cambiaso, Consul of H.M. the King of Italy, Jose Manuel Echeverri, Consul of H. Catholic M. the King of Spain, Aubin Defougerais, Consul of the French Republic, Paul Jones, Consul of the United States of North America, José Martin Leyba, Consul of H.M. the King of the Netherlands, and David Coen, Consul of H.M. the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain; the citizens licentiates in medicine and surgery Marcos Antonio Gomez and Jose de Jesus Brenes; the civil engineer Jesus Maria Castillo, director of the work in this cathedral; the chief sexton of the same, Jesus Maria Troncoso, and the undersigned notaries public, Pedro Nolasco Polanco, Mariano Montolio and Leonardo Delmonte i Aponte, the first also being the acting notary of the curacy and the second the titular notary of the municipal council of this capital.
"The most illustrious Bishop, in the presence of the gentlemen above designated and of a numerous concourse, declares: that the holy cathedral being undergoing repairs under the direction of the reverend Canon Francisco Javier Billini, and it having come to his notice that according to tradition and notwithstanding what appears from public documents with reference to the transfer of the remains of the Admiral Christopher Columbus to the city of Havana in the year seventeen hundred and ninety-five the said remains might still be in the place where they had been deposited and as such place the right side of the sanctuary was designated, under the spot occupied by the archbishop's chair; with the desire of clearing up the matters which tradition had carried to him, he authorized the reverend Canon Billini, upon his request, to make the necessary explorations; and as the latter was doing so with two workmen on the morning of this day, he discovered at a depth of two palms, more or less, the beginning of a vault which permitted part of a metal box to be seen; that immediately the said Canon Billini ordered the chief sexton, Jesus Maria Troncoso, to go to the archiepiscopal palace and inform His Grace of the result of the investigations, also informing the Minister of the Interior, requesting their presence without loss of time; that immediately His Grace proceeded to the holy cathedral where he found Jesus Maria Castillo, civil engineer, in charge of the repairs to this temple and two workmen who, in company with Canon Billini, guarded the small excavation which had been made, and at the same time Luis Cambiaso arrived, called by the said Canon Billini; that having personally made certain of the existence of the vault as well as that it contained the box to which Canon Billini made reference and an inscription being discovered on the upper part of what appeared to be the lid, he ordered that things be left as they were and that the doors of the temple be closed, the keys being confided to the reverend Canon Billini; proposing to invite, as he did invite, His Excellency the great citizen, President of the Republic, General Buenaventura Baez, his Cabinet, the consular corps and the other civil and military authorities named in the beginning of this certificate, in order to proceed with all due solemnity to the extraction of the box and give all required authenticity to the result of the investigation; and having advised the authorities, by their order municipal policemen were stationed at each one of the closed doors of the temple.
"His Grace, stationed in the sanctuary, near the started excavation and surrounded by the authorities above mentioned and a very numerous concourse, all the doors of the temple having been opened, had the excavation continued, and a slab was removed, permitting the raising of the box, which was taken and shown by His Grace and found to be of lead. The said box was exhibited to all the authorities convoked, and thereupon was carried in procession through the interior of the temple and shown to the people.
"The pulpit of the left nave of the temple being occupied by His Grace, by the reverend Canon Billini, who carried the box, the Minister of the Interior, the president of the municipal council and two of the notaries public who sign this document: His Grace opened the box and exhibited to the people a part of the remains it encloses; he also read the several inscriptions on the box, which prove beyond controversy that the remains are really and in fact those of the illustrious Genovese, the great Admiral Christopher Columbus, Discoverer of America. The truth of the matter being irrefutably ascertained, a salute of twenty-one guns, fired by the artillery of the fort, a general ringing of bells and strains of music from the military band, announced the happy and memorable event to the city.
"Immediately the authorities convoked met in the vestry of the temple and proceeded in the presence of the undersigned notaries public, who certify thereto, to an examination and expert investigation of the box and its contents; the result of the examination being that the said box is of lead, has hinges and measures forty-two centimeters in length, twenty-one centimeters in depth and twenty and a half in width; containing the following inscriptions: on the upper side of the lid 'D. de la A, Per. Ate.'—On the left headboard 'C.' On the front side 'C'—On the right headboard 'A.' On raising the lid the following inscription was found on the inner side of the same carved in German Gothic characters: 'Illtre. y Esdo. Varon Dn. Cristobal Colon,' and in the said box human remains which on examination by the licentiate of equal class Jose de Jesus Brenes are found to be: A femur deteriorated in the upper part of the neck, between the great trochanter and its head. A fibula in its natural state. A radius also complete. The os sacrum in bad condition. The coccyx. Two lumbar vertabrae. One cervical and two dorsal vertabrae. Two calcanea. One bone of the metacarpus. Another of the metatarsus. A fragment of the frontal or coronal bone, containing half of an orbital cavity. A middle third of the tibia. Two more fragments of tibia. Two astragoli. One upper portion of shoulder-blade. One fragment of the lower jawbone. One half of an os humeri, the whole constituting thirteen small and twenty-eight large fragments, there being others reduced to dust.
"In addition a leaden ball weighing about an ounce, more or less, was found and two small screws belonging to the box.
"The examination mentioned having been terminated, the ecclesiastical and civil authorities and the illustrious municipal council resolved to close and seal the box with their respective seals and deposit it in the sanctuary of the church of Regina Angelorum, under the responsibility of the aforesaid penitentiary canon Francisco Javier Billini, until otherwise determined; His Grace, the Ministers, the consuls and the undersigned notaries immediately proceeding to affix their seals; and finally they determined to transfer the box in triumph to the said church of Regina Angelorum, accompanied by the veteran troops of the capital, batteries of artillery, music, and whatever else might give impressiveness and splendor to so solemn an act, for which the town was prepared as was noted from the great multitude which filled the temple and the cathedral plaza, to which we certify, as we do also that the present was signed by the gentlemen above named and other distinguished persons.
"Friar Roque Cocchia, of the Order of Capuchins, Bishop of Orope,
Apostolic Delegate to Santo Domingo, Haiti and Venezuela, Apostolic
Vicar in Santo Domingo—Friar Bernardino d'Emilia, Capuchin, Secretary
of His Excellency the Apostolic Delegate and Vicar—Francisco X.
Billini—Eliseo J'Andoli, assistant curate of the cathedral—Marcos A.
Cabral, Minister of the Interior and Police—Felipe Davila Fernandez
de Castro, Minister of Foreign Relations—Joaquin Montolio, Minister
of Justice and Public Instruction—M. A. Caceres, Minister of Finance
and Commerce—Valentin Ramirez Baez, Minister of War and the
Navy—Braulio Alvarez, Governor of the Province—Pedro Ma. Gautier,
Secretary—Juan de la C. Alfonseca, President of the Municipal
council—Members, Felix Baez—Juan Bautista Paradas—Manuel Ma. Cabral
B.—P. Mota—Jose M. Bonetti—Francisco Ungria Chala, Commandant of
Arms—Felix Mariano Lluveres, President of the Legislative
Chamber—Francisco Javier Machado, Deputy of the Legislative
Chamber—The Consul of Spain, Jose Manuel Echeverri—Luigi Cambiaso,
R. Consul of H. M. the King of Italy—Miguel Pou, Consul of the German
Empire—Paul Jones, United States Consul—D. Coen, British
Vice-Consul—J. M. Leyba, Consul of the Netherlands—A. Aubin
Defougerais, Vice-Consul of France—Jesus Ma. Castillo, Civil
Engineer—M. A. Gomez, Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery—J. J.
Brenes, Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery—The chief sexton, Jesus
Ma. Troncoso—A. Licairac—M. M. Santamaria—Domingo Rodriguez—Manuel
de Jesus Garcia—Enrique Peinado—Federico Polanco—Lugardis Olivo—P.
Mr. Consuegra—Eujenio de Marchena—Valentin Ramirez, Jr.—F.
Perdomo—Joaquin Ramirez Morales—Amable Damiron—Jaime Ratto—Pedro
N. Polanco, Notary Public—Leonardo Delmonte I Aponte, Notary
Public—Mariano Montolio, Notary Public."
[Illustration: Inscription on lid of lead box. (2/5 actual size)]