18th-century oval glass-fronted silver reliquary theca housing first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of Saint Blaise, Bishop and Martyr. The relic is affixed to a red silk background decorated with a silver cord and identified on a manuscript cedulae as Oss: S. Blasii Epi & Mar. (From the bone of Saint Blais, Bishop & Martyr). On the back, the theca is secured with a perfectly preserved seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint of a coat of arms of Fr. Alfonso Marsili († 1794), Archbishop of Siena (1792-1794). It is accompanied by the original matching authentics document issued by Fr. Marsili in 1794.
Saint Blaise, also known as Saint Blase, was a physician, and bishop of Sebastea in historical Armenia. According to the Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron combs, and beheaded. He is the patron saint of wool combers. In the Latin Church, his feast falls on 3 February, in the Eastern Churches on 11 February. Patron of animals, builders, choking, veterinarians, throats, infants, Maratea, Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, Dubrovnik, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, Rubiera, stonecutters, carvers, and wool workers.