This is a metal theca
with (painted) front, inside more than 20 relics.All relic in place and wax seal
intact, only the threads are broken (the metal is very sharp and the threads
are very thin). Comes with its original document signed in 1826.The document
was in the back of the pendant, so its wrinkled and it has some tears.The relic
are from : the True Cross of our Lord Jesus, ex Praesepe D.N.J.C (from the
Nativity) ex Colomna Flagellation D.N.J.C (from the column of Flaggelation), ex
palio St Joseph, Sepulcro B.M.V (from the grave of the virgin Mary), Saint Anne
(mother of the virgin Mary), Saint John the Baptist, The Apostles Peter, James
the Lesser, Simon, Andrew, and Paul, Saint Camillis de Lelis, Saint Charles
Borromeo, Saint Francis de Sales, Saint Lawrence of Rome, Saint Stephen the Martyr, Saint Francis de Chantal, Saint Philip Neri, Saint Pascal Baylon, Saint Joseph of Cupertino, Saint
Catharina.Vid, Saint Bridget of Sweden, Saint Frances of Rome, Saint Cecillia, Saint Jerom,
Saint Felix of Cantalice, Saint Chrispinus,
Saint John of the Cross, Saint
Rose of Viterbo. Comes from a convent in
Italy. 3,6x4,6 inch.Shipping and handling US$ 27,00
by insured priority mail and tracking number. All my items are securely packet,
to avoid all possible damage.
Our Non Paying Buyer process is now
automatically managed by Ebay. The
process starts four days after auction end and closes as soon as payment is
received.
As per Ebay
policy,this reliquary does not contain human remains but only objects of
devotion.
Please be carefull when buying relics online. Fake
relics are increasingly more and more of a problem. Most of the relics I sell
are from convents in Belgium and Italy. I have been collecting relics for more
than 25 years. I consider myself an expert. Please contact
me if you have any questions.
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The Most
Holy Wood of the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ
According to several Church historians of the 4th and
5th century, the True Cross was discovered in 325 AD when Emperor Constantine
the Great ordered the removal of a pagan temple built by Hadrian over the site
of the Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre. Beneath the structure, in an old
cistern, three crosses, the title with the inscription "Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews", and three nails were found. In the presence of the
Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, the Cross of Christ was identified by
the 'titulus' and the nail holes, and later confirmed by a miracle. It was laid
upon a sick woman who was immediately miraculously cured.
Helena divided the most precious wood into several
parts, leaving a fragment in Jerusalem, sending a second to her son in
Constantinople and taking a third to Rome. A part of it and half of the title
with the inscription I NAZARINUS R... is still preserved and venerated in the
Basilica di S. Croce, one of the seven main churches of the Eternal City. In
1998, a careful investigation was commissioned by the Holy See and seven
Israeli experts on the dating of inscriptions (comparative
palaeography) dated its letters into the 1st century, the time of Christ.
This suddenly gave the 'legend of the Finding of the Cross' a lot of
credibility.
Already in 349 AD, St. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem,
stated that the True Cross "has been distributed, fragment by fragment,
from this spot (Jerusalem) and has already nearly filled the world",
confirming the early practise of distributing tiny particles of the Most Holy
Wood. When St. Paulinus of Nola sent one to a friend in ca. 401 AD, he wrote:
"Receive a great gift in a little case and take this segment as an
armament against the perils of the present and a pledge of everlasting
safety". He stressed that "even the smallest particle bears in it the
whole power of the Cross of Christ".
The claim of the "enlightened" sceptics,
that all relics of the True Cross would be sufficient to build a ship, was
proven wrong in 1870 by the French scholar Rohault de Fleury, who
mathematically calculated the volume of all relics of the True Cross in all
European Cathedrals and found them all together having the mass of only one
third of a Roman cross!
Saint Peter the Apostle
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Professional fisherman.
Brother of Saint Andrew the Apostle, the man who led him to Christ.
Apostle. Renamed “Peter” (rock)
by Jesus to indicate that Peter would be the rock-like foundation on which the
Church would be built. Bishop. First Pope. Miracle worker.
Born
Died
Canonized
Name Meaning
Patronage
Saint James the Lesser
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Cousin of Jesus. Brother
of Saint Jude Thaddeus. Raised is a Jewish home of the time with all
the training in Scripture and Law that was part of that life. Convert. One
of the Twelve Apostles. One of the first to have visions of the risen Christ.
First Bishop of Jerusalem. Met with Saint Paul the
Apostle to work out Paul‘s plans for evangelization. Supported
the position that Gentile converts did not have to obey all Jewish
religious law, though he continued to observe it himself as part of his
heritage, may have been a vegetarian. A just and apostolic man known for
his prayer life and devotion to the poor. Martyr.
Having been beaten
to death, a club almost immediately became his symbol. This led to
his patronage of fullers and pharmacists, both of whom
use clubs in their professions. He is reported to have spent so much time
in prayer that his knees thickened, and looked like a camel’s. Soon
after the Crucifixion, James said he would fast until Christ returned; the
resurrected Jesus appeared to him, and fixed a meal for James Himself.
Died
Canonized
Patronage
Saint Simon the Apostle
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Apostle. Called the Cananean or Zealot because of his zeal for
the Jewish law; he was not from Cana, nor a member of the Zealot party. Like all
the Apostles, he was a convert, and was trained
by Saint Peter the
Apostle. Evangelized in Egypt and Mesopotamia, though
there are traditions of him being in several other locations. He was
a martyr for the faith, but several places claim to have been
the site of that, too.
Died
Canonized
Patronage
Saint Andrew the Apostle
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
The first Apostle. Fisherman by
trade. Brother of Simon Peter. Follower of John the Baptist. Andrew
went through life leading people to Jesus, both before and after
the Crucifixion. Missionary in Asia Minor and Greece,
and possibly areas in modern Russia and Poland. Martyred on
an saltire (x-shaped) cross, he is said to
have preached for two days from it.
Some
peculiar marriage-related superstitions have attached themselves
to Saint Andrew’s feast day.
·
An
old German tradition says that single women who wish
to marry should ask for Saint Andrew’s help on the eve of
his feast, then sleep naked that night; they will see their future
husbands in their dreams.
·
Another says that
young women should note the location of
barking dogs on Saint Andrew’s Eve: their future husbands
will come from that direction.
·
On the day after
Andrew’s feast, young people float cups in a tub; if
a boy‘s and a girl‘s cup drift together and are intercepted by a cup
inscribed “priest”, it indicates marriage.
There are several
explanations for why Andrew became the patron of Scotland.
·
In 345,
Emperor Constantine the Great decided to translate Andrew’s bones
from Patras, Greece to Constantinople. Saint Regulus
of Scotland was instructed by an angel to take many of
these relics to the far northwest. He was eventally told to stop on
the Fife coast of Scotland, where he founded the settlement of Saint
Andrew.
·
In the 7th
century, Saint Wilfrid of York brought some of
the saint‘s relics with him after
a pilgrimage to Rome, Italy. The Scots king,
Angus MacFergus, installed them at Saint Andrew’s to enhance the prestige of
the new diocese.
·
When
the Pictish King Angus faced a large invading army,
he prayed for guidance. A white cloud in the form of a saltire
cross floated across the blue sky above him. Angus won a decisive victory,
and decreed that Andrew would be the patron saint of his country.
Following Robert Bruce’s victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Declaration of Arbroath officially
named Saint Andrew the patron saint of Scotland. The Saltire became the
national flag of Scotland in 1385.
Born
Died
Patronage
Saint Paul the Apostle
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Jewish
Talmudic student. Pharisee. Tent-maker by trade. Saul the
Jew hated and persecuted Christians as heretical, even assisting
at the stoning of Saint Stephen the Martyr. On his way
to Damascus, Syria, to arrest another group of faithful,
he was knocked to the ground, struck blind by a heavenly light, and
given the message that in persecuting Christians, he was persecuting
Christ. The experience had a profound spiritual effect on him, causing
his conversion to Christianity. He was baptized, changed
his name to Paul to
reflect his new persona, and
began travelling, preaching and teaching. His letters to
the churches he help found form a large percentage of the New Testament. Knew
and worked with many of the earliest saints and fathers of
the Church. Martyr.
Born
Died
Canonized
Patronage
Saint
Lawrence of Rome
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Third-century archdeacon of Rome,
distributor of alms, and “keeper
of the treasures of the church” in a time when Christianity was
outlawed. On 6 August 258, by decree of
Emperor Valerian, Pope Saint Sixtus II and
six deacons were beheaded, leaving Lawrence as the
ranking Church official in Rome.
While
in prison awaiting execution Sixtus reassured Lawrence
that he was not being left behind; they would be reunited in four days.
Lawrence saw this time as an opportunity to disperse the material wealth of the
church before the Roman authorities could lay their hands on it. On 10
August Lawrence was commanded to appear for his execution, and to
bring along the treasure with which he had been entrusted by the pope.
When he arrived, the archdeacon was accompanied by a multitude
of Rome‘s crippled, blind, sick, and indigent. He
announced that these were the true treasures of the Church. Martyr.
Lawrence’s
care for the poor, the ill, and the neglected have led to
his patronage of them. His work to save the material wealth of
the Church, including its documents, brought librarians and
those in related fields to see him as a patron, and to ask for his
intercession. And his incredible strength and courage when being grilled
to death led to his patronage of cooks and those
who work in or supply things to the kitchen. The meteor shower that follows the
passage of the Swift-Tuttle comet was known in the middle ages as the “burning
tears of Saint Lawrence” because they appear at the same time as
Lawrence’s feast.
Born
Died
Patronage
Saint Charles Borromeo
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Born
to a wealthy, noble family, the third of six children, son
of Count Giberto II Borromeo and Margherita de’ Medici. Nephew
of Pope Pius IV. Suffered with a speech
impediment. Studied in Milan, and at the University of Pavia, studying at
one point under the future Pope Gregory
XIII. Civil and canon lawyer at age
21. Cleric at Milan, taking the habit on 13
October 1547. Abbot commendatario of San Felino e San Graziano abbey in Arona, Italy,
on 20 November 1547. Abbot commendatario of San Silano
di Romagnano abbey on 10
May 1558. Prior commendatario of San Maria di
Calvenzano abbey on 8 December 1558. Protonotary apostolic
participantium and referendary of the papal court to Pope Pius
IV on 13 January 1560. Member of the counsulta for the administration of the Papal
States on 22 January 1560.
Appointed abbot commendatario of Nonatola, San Gallo di Moggio,
Serravalle della Follina, San Stefano del Corno,
an abbey in Portugal, and an abbey in Flanders, Belgium on 27
January 1560. Created cardinal on 31
January 1560 at age 22.
Apostolic
administrator of Milan, Italy on 8
February 1560. Papal legate to Bologna and
Romandiola for two years beginning on 26
April 1560. Deacon on 21 December 1560. Vatican
Secretary of State. Governor of Civita Castellana,Italy in 1561. Governor of Ancona on 1
June 1561. Made an honorary citizen
of Rome, Italy on 1 July 1561. Founded the Accademia Vaticana in 1562. Governor of Spoleto, Italy on 1
December 1562. Ordained on 4 September 1563. Helped
re-open the Council of Trent,
and participated in its sessions during 1562 and 1563.
Named prince of Orta in 1563. Member of the Congregation of the Holy Office. Bishop of Milan on 7
December 1563. President of the commission
of theologians charged by the pope to elaborate the Catechismus Romanus. Worked on the revision of
the Missal and Breviary. Member of a commission to reform
church music. Archbishop of Milan on 12
May 1564. Governor of Terracina, Italy on 3
June 1564. Archpriest of the patriarchal
Liberian basilica in Rome in October 1564. Count of
the Palatine in 1564. Prefect of the Tridentine Council from 1564 until
September 1565. Papal legate in Bologna, Romandiola,
legate a
latere, and vicar
general in
spiritualibus of
all Italy on 17 August 1565. Grand penitentiary on 7
November 1565. Participated in
the conclave of cardinals in 1565 to 1566 that
chose Pope Pius V; he asked the new pope to take the name.
Protector of the Swiss Catholic cantons; he visited them all
several times worked for the spiritual reform of both clergy and laymen.
Due to his enforcement of strict ecclesiastical discipline, some
disgruntled monks in the Order
of the Humiliati hired a lay brother to murder him on the
evening of 26 October 1569; he was shot at, but was not hit.
Participated in the conclave in 1572 that
chose Pope Gregory XIII. Member of the Apostolic Penitentiary in May 1572. Worked with
the sick, and helped bury the dead during
the plague outbreak in Milan in 1576. Established
the Oblates of Saint Ambrose on 26
April 1578. Teacher, confessor and parish priest to Saint Aloysius
Gonzaga, giving him his first communion on 22
July 1580. To help the Swiss Catholics he founded the Collegium Helveticum.
Saint Charles
spent his life and fortune in the service of the people of his diocese. He
directed and fervently enforced the decrees of the Council of Trent, fought tirelessly for peace in the wake of the
storm caused by Martin Luther, founded schools for
the poor, seminaries for clerics, hospitals for
the sick, conducted synods, instituted children‘s Sunday school, did
great public and private penance, and worked among
the sick and dying, leading his people by example.
Born
Died
Beatified
Canonized
Patronage
Saint Stephen the Martyr
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
First Christian martyr. Deacon. Preacher.
All we know of him is related in the Acts of the Apostles. While preaching the Gospel in
the streets, angry Jews who believed his message to be blasphemy dragged him
outside the city, and stoned him to death. In the crowd, on the side of
the mob, was a man who would later be known as Saint Paul the
Apostle.
Died
Canonized
Name Meaning
Patronage
Saint Pascal Baylon
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Son
of the pious peasants Martin Baylon and Elizabeth Jubera. From youth
he displayed great devotion to the Eucharist. Worked as
a shepherd from ages 7 to 24, and was a good influence on
his shepherd friends, an often rowdy group. Franciscan lay
brother with friars of the Alcantarine
Reform, often serving as cook or doorkeeper.
His charity to the poor and afflicted, his unfailing
courtesy and humility were remarkable even by Franciscan standards.
While travelling in France, he defended the Real Presence
against the blasphemies of a Calvinist preacher, and narrowly
escaped death at the hands of a Huguenot mob.
Poorly educated, he was still a counselor sought by rich
and poor alike. His cultus is especially strong
in Spain and southern Italy, in Central and South
America.
Born
Died
Beatified
Canonized
Patronage
Saint Joseph of Cupertino
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Joseph’s father,
Felice Desa was a poor carpenter who died before the boy was
born. Creditors drove his mother, Francesca Panara, from her home, and
Joseph was born in a stable. Starting at age eight, he received ecstatic
visions that left him gaping and staring into space. He had a hot temper, which
his strict mother worked to overcome.
Apprenticed to
a shoemaker. At age 17 Joseph applied for admittance to the Friars
Minor Conventuals, but was refused due to his lack of education. He
applied to the Capuchins, was accepted as
a lay-brother in 1620, but his ecstasies made him
unsuitable for work, and he was dismissed. Abused by his family, he continued
his prayers, and was accepted as an oblate at
the Franciscan convent near Cupertino, Italy. His
virtues were such that he became a cleric at 22,
a priest at 25. Joseph still had little education, could barely
read or write, but received such a gift of spiritual knowledge and discernment
that he could solve intricate questions.
His
life became a series of visions and ecstasies, which could be triggered
any time or place by the sound of a church bell, church music, the
mention of the name of God or of the Blessed Virgin or of
a saint, any event in the life of Christ, the sacred Passion, a holy
picture, the thought of the glory in heaven, etc. Yelling, beating, pinching,
burning, piercing with needles – none of this would bring him from his trances,
but he would return to the world on hearing the voice of his superior in the
order. He would often levitate and float (which led to
his patronage of people involved in air travel), and could hear
heavenly music.
Even
in the 17th century, there was interest in the unusual, and
Joseph’s ecstasies in public caused both admiration and disturbance
in the community. For 35 years he was not allowed to attend choir, go to the
common refectory, walk in procession, or say Mass in church. To
prevent making a spectacle, he was ordered to remain in his room with a
private chapel. He was brought before the Inquisition, and sent from
one Capuchin or Franciscan house to another. But Joseph
retained his joyous spirit, submitting to Divine Providence, keeping
seven Lents of 40 days each year, never letting
his faith be shaken.
Born
Died
Beatified
Canonized
Patronage
Saint Bridget of Sweden
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Daughter
of Birger Persson, the governor and provincial judge of
Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter. Her father was one of the
greatest landowners in the country, her mother was known widely for
her piety, and the family were descendants of the Swedish royal
house. Related to Saint Ingrid of Sweden.
Bridget
began receiving visions, most of the Crucifixion, at age seven.
Her mother died c.1315 when the girl was about
twelve years old, and she was raised and educated by an equally pious
aunt. In 1316, at age thirteen, Bridget wed prince Ulfo of
Nercia in an arranged marriage. She was
the mother of eight, including Saint Catherine of
Sweden; some of the other children ignored the Church.
Friend
and counselor to many priests and theologians of her day.
Chief lady-in-waiting to Queen Blanche of Namur in 1335, from
which position she counseled and guided
the Queen and King Magnus II. After
Ulfo’s death in 1344 following a pilgrimage to
Santiago de Compostela, Spain she pursued a religious life,
for which she was harassed by others at the court. She eventually
renounced her title
of princess. Franciscan tertiary. Cistercian. Mystic,
visionary, and mystical writer. She recorded the revelations given
her in her visions, and these became hugely popular in the Middle Ages.
Founded
the Order of the Most Holy Savior (Bridgettines) at
Vadstena, Sweden in 1346. It received confirmation
by Pope Blessed Urban V in 1370, and survives today,
though few houses remain. Pilgrim to Rome, to
assorted Italian holy sites, and to the Holy Lands. Chastened and
counseled kings and Popes Clement VI, Gregory XI,
and Urban VI, urging each to return to Rome from Avignon.
Encouraged all who would listen to meditate on the Passion, and of Jesus
Crucified.
Born
Died
Canonized
Patronage
Saint Rose of Viterbo
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Franciscan tertiary.
At age three she brought a person back from death. Preached in
the streets from age ten and led public processions praising Christ. Prophetess
and subject to visions. Had the friendship of birds. Was repeatedly
refused entrance to the Poor Clares, and in 1250 she
was exiled for supporting the pope against Frederick II.
After her death, Pope Alexander IV ordered her body laid to
rest in the convent that had refused her.
Born
Died
Canonized
Patronage
Saint Frances of Rome
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Born
to the aristocracy, the daughter of Paul Bussa and Jacobella de’
Roffredeschi. Married at age twelve to Lorenzo de’ Ponziani;
her marriage lasted 40 years. Mother of three
in 1400, 1404, and 1407. Widow.
Benedictine.
Foundress of the Oblates of the
Tor de’ Specchi (Collatines).
Said to have been guided by an archangel only she could see. Spent
her life and fortune, both as laywoman and religious, in the
service of the sick and the poor, including the founding of the
first home in Rome for abandoned children. Dictated
97 Visions, in which she
saw many of the pains of Hell.
On
her feast day priests bless cars due to
her patronage of cars and drivers. Frances certainly never
drove, but legend says that when she went abroad at night,
her guardian angel went before her, lighting the road with a
headlight-like lantern, keeping her safe in her travels.
Born
Died
Canonized
Patronage
Saint
Felix of Cantalice
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Born
to pious peasants, he was a shepherd in his youth. At age
nine he was hired out as a shepherd and farm hand at Cotta
Ducale; he worked there over twenty years. A pious youth and man,
Felix spent his free time in prayer.
Having
little education, Felix had a friend read him the lives of the early
Desert Fathers; they left him torn – he wanted to live as a hermit, but
feared he would give in to temptation if he had no superior. He sought entrance
to the Capuchins; they were hesistant, but finally accepted him as
a lay brother in 1543 at Anticoli, Italy near Rome.
Sent to Rome in 1547 as questor for the community; he
stayed there the rest of his life.
Felix’s
reputation for holiness spread quickly. He could not even read,
yet theologians consulted him on spiritualality and Scripture.
Sinners on the street would hide from him when it became obvious he could see
their sins, and knew their hearts. Felix preached in the street,
rebuked corrupt politicians and officials, and exhorted young men to stop
leading dissolute lives. Once during Carnival, a time of open vice in the
streets, Felix and Saint Philip Neri organized a procession
of Capuchin friars right into the middle of the revellers; Fra Lupo,
a well-known Capuchin preacher, spoke to the crowds, and Carnival
ended for the year.
Felix
worked with the children of Rome; his inherent simplicity and lack
of education made him rather childlike, and children trusted him. He
composed simple teaching canticles, and had
the children gather in groups to sing them as a way
to teach them catechism. The canticles became
well-known and popular, and while Felix was begging for his
house, Roman citizens would invite him in to sing for them; he saw
these invitations as opportunities to teach, and always jumped at them.
During
the famine of 1580, the city fathers asked
the Capuchins for the loan of Felix as a fund raiser; he was tireless
in the work. His friend, Saint Philip Neri, considered Felix the
greatest saint then living. Saint Charles
Borromeo sought Saint Philip‘s help to draw up the constitutions
of the Oblates of Saint Ambrose; Philip referred
him to Felix as a the best advisor.
Felix
slept little, ate what came to hand, attended Mass every morning. He
had a great devotion to Our Lady,
frequently prayed the rosary, and was sometimes swept away
in ecstacy, unable to finish the prayers. Received a vision of the Virgin
Mary during which he was allowed to hold the Christ Child in his arms.
Acclaimed a saint by the people of Rome immediately after
his death.
Born
Died
Beatified
Canonized
Patronage
Saint Jerome
Also known as
Memorial
Profile
Born
to a rich pagan family, Jerome led a wild and misspent youth. Studied in Rome, Italy,
and became a lawyer. He converted and joined the Church in
theory, and was baptised in 365, but it was only when he began
his study of theology that he had a true conversion and
the faith became integral to his life.
He
became a monk, then, needing isolation for his study of Scripture, he
lived for years as a hermit in the Syrian deserts. There he
is reported to have drawn a thorn from a lion‘s paw; the animal stayed
loyally at his side for years.
Priest.
Student of Saint Gregory of Nazianzen. Secretary to Pope Damasus
I who commissioned Jerome to revise the Latin text of the Bible. The
result was 30 years of work which we know as the Vulgate translation, the standard Latin version for over a
millenia, and which is still in use today.
Friend
and teacher of Saint Paula, Saint Marcella,
and Saint Eustochium, an association that led to so much gossip that
Jerome left Rome to return to desert solitude. He lived his last 34
years in the Holy Land as a semi-recluse, writing and translating works
of history, biography, the writings of Origen, and much
more. Doctor of the Church and Father of the Church. Since his
own time, he has been associated in the popular mind with scrolls, writing, cataloging, translating,
which led to those who work in such fields taking him as their patron –
a man who knew their lives and problems.
Born
Died
Canonized
Patronage