Brass reliquary, cross

Product code: URCREL003

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Cross-shaped reliquary with a modern form made of cast brass, gold-plated, protected by varnish. Height: 18 cm

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$156.52

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Product description

Brass reliquary, cross

Cross-shaped reliquary with a modern form made of cast brass, gilded, protected with lacquer.

The cult of relics is one of the main manifestations of Christian piety and the reliquary itself is part of the indispensable liturgical equipment. The function of a reliquary is to store the mortal remains of saints and blessed persons, known as relics. The cross-shaped reliquary housing relics inside is particularly associated with the passion and crucifixion of Jesus.

Sense of the cult of relics

To the believer, relics allow one to cross the threshold of the visible world, to touch the eternal. The deceased, recognized as a saint, ceases to be a dead person. In his relics he continues to live. He is integrated into the personal life of the ordinary person, who looks to him for intercession, mediation or any kind of help, temporal and supernatural. We are beings made of spirit, soul and body. We often come to know higher values through our senses. This is also where the answer to the question about relics fits in. It concerns the fundamental question: what remains of a person who was and lived among us? Only a memory? The bones themselves? It is about something more! It touches on the question of life after life."

We are not surprised, therefore, if a believer wants to supposedly "touch", "see" a heroic follower of Christ, who imitated his Master unremarkably and served his neighbors just as heroically. Kissing the relics in the reliquary, touching or viewing them, their direct physical proximity becomes a sort of "transmission belt" facilitating the transmission of personal requests and concerns to the saint in question. Through relics placed in a reliquary, a believer would like to establish a more personal contact with the saints or even with Christ himself. A vivid and eloquent example of this thinking and attitude is the fact that numerous churches in large cities have sought to distinguish themselves by acquiring relics.

It would be a mistake, even a denial of the cult of relics, to stop only at the material dimension of relics, or even at the sight of even the most beautiful and oldest reliquary. All relics must ultimately lead to the primordial source of holiness, to the standard of holiness, namely Jesus Christ himself. The Church wants to proclaim the paschal mystery of Christ, which was realized in the lives of the saints. The saints reflect the paschal mystery, its shades, struggle and transformation of life. The celebration of Christ's paschal mystery realized in the lives of the saints is the basis of their worship.

The cult of relics

The history of the cult of relics of saints dates back to late antiquity, when, according to tradition, St. Helena, mother of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, obtained numerous relics, including relics of the Lord's Tree, during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 326-328. According to St. Ambrose of Milan and St. John Chrysostom, identification of the Cross was only possible due to the titulus mentioning the name of the First Martyr. Another legend says that St. Helena had an apparition and in it she learned which Cross was real. St. Helena divided the cross of Christ into three parts to offer them to the main centers of Christianity at the time: Jerusalem, Rome and Constantinople.

Repository diameter: 3 cm
Width: 11.5 cm
Height: 18 cm