Oval glass-fronted metal theca housing pre-canonization first-class relic of Saint Joseph of Cupertino. The relic is affixed to a red silk background surrounded by gilt paperolle and silver wire ornamentation and identified on a manuscript cedula label as Ex Tel[a] Imb[uto]San[guinis] B. Josep. a Cop[ertino] (from the cloth soaked in blood of the Blessed Joseph of Cupertino). On the back, the theca is secured by a partially preserved seal of red Spanish wax with an imprint of a coat of arms of an unidentified Catholic Bishop.
Saint Joseph of Cupertino, O.F.M. Conv. (†1663) was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar who is honored as a Christian mystic and saint. He was said to have been remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstatic visions that left him gaping. Joseph was beatified in 1753 and canonized in 1767. He is a patron of aviation, astronauts, mental handicaps, test-taking, students.