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1783 Jesuit reliquary with relics of the True Cross of Jesus Christ

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1783 Jesuit reliquary with relics of the True Cross of Jesus Christ

An unusual large open-front French Jesuit cruciform box reliquary housing sizable particle relics of the Precious Wood from the True Cross of Jesus Christ. The precious relics are displayed in a cruciform shape in the center of the cross surrounded by an intricate pattern of gilt paperolle ornamentation with a christogram IHS made out of rolled paper directly under the relic forming a symbol of the Society of Jesus (commonly known as the Jesuit Order). Under a christogram is affixed a single pearl signifying the Bleeding Heart of Christ.  In the lower part of the reliquary is a seal of red Spanish wax with an imprint of a coat of arms of Fr. Alexandre-François-Amédée-Adonis-Louis-Joseph de Lauzières de Thémines (†1829), Bishop of Blois, France (1776 – 1801). On the back of the reliquary is affixed a letter of testimony in French stating the following:

"Alexandre Amédée swears by the mercy of God and the grace of the Holy Apostolic See that the relic of the Holy Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ was given to us by Monsignor Leclerc de Juigné and sealed with my seal in Blois on June 30, 1783."

The True Cross is the name for physical remnants that, according to 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 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.

IHS Jesuit refers to the IHS christogram, an abbreviation of the Greek name of Jesus, which is the official symbol and seal of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a Roman Catholic order founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The symbol represents the name Jesus in Greek (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ) and was adopted by the Jesuits in the 16th century.



Additional Info

  • ID#: 21-RSGA-1
  • Size: The reliquary cross is approx. 13 x 8 inches (33 x 20 cm)
  • Age: ca. 1783
  • Origin: Blois, France
  • Materials: Paper. wood, velvet, pearl, Spanish wax
  • Price: Price upon request
  • Silver
  • Orthodox Cross
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