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Spectacular silver reliquary with a large relic of the True Cross of Jesus Christ with case

An opulent cruciform reliquary monstrance profusely decorated with filigree silver housing extremely large particles from the wood from the True Cross of Jesus ChristThe relics are in the cruciform shape and identified in Latin in red ink on a manuscript cedula label as Lingo SS-mae Crucis D.N.J.C. (Wood from the Most Holy Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ).  On the back, the reliquary is secured by three undisturbed seals of red Spanish wax with clear imprints of a coat of arms of Monsignor Luigi Del Drago, the Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (1839-1845). Comes housed in the perfectly preserved original tooled leather-clad silk-lined case of issue.

The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by the Church tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, traveled to the Holy Land in 326–28, where she discovered the hiding place of three crosses that were believed to be used at the crucifixion of Jesus and of two thieves, St. Dismas and Gestas, executed with him, and a miracle revealed which of the three was the True Cross. Fragments of the Cross were broken up, and the pieces were widely distributed; in 348, in one of his Catecheses, Cyril of Jerusalem remarked that the "whole earth is full of the relics of the Cross of Christ." Most of the very small relics of the True Cross in Europe came from Constantinople after the city was captured and sacked in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade. They were carved up by the present bishops and divided with other very precious relics among the knights; who, after their return to the homeland, donated them to churches and monasteries.

Additional Info

  • ID#: 242-RSCR-13
  • Size: 147 x 87 mm (5 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches)
  • Age: ca. mid-19th century (ca. 1839-1845)
  • Origin: Rome, Italy
  • Materials: silver, silk, paper, Spanish wax
  • Price: SOLD!
  • Silver
  • Orthodox Cross
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