Oval glass-fronted silvered brass pendant reliquary theca housing five relics of the Instruments of Passion of Jesus Christ. Relics are affixed to the red silk ground surrounded by silver wire and gilt paperolle ornamentation and identified in Latin on manuscript cedulae labels as Ex Col. Flagell. / Ex Fune / Ex Spongia / Ex Sepulcro / Ex Arundine / D.N.J.C. (Of the Column of Flaggellation / of the Holy Rope / of the Holy Sponge / of the Holy Tomb / of the Holy Cane / of Our Lord Jesus Christ). On the back, under a protective cap, the theca is secured with a perfectly preserved seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint of a coat of arms of Monsignor Giulio Maria della Somaglia (†1830), Cardinal-Priest of Santa Sabina (mother church of the Dominican order), Papal Vicar General (1795-1818), and Prefect of the Congregation of Sacred Rites. The theca is accompanied by an original matching authentics documents issued and signed by Monsignor Giulio Maria della Somaglia in 1818.
The Passion of Christ is the sum total of events that brought physical and spiritual suffering to Jesus Christ in the last days and hours of his earthly life. A special place among the Passion of Christ is occupied by the events that occurred after the Last Supper: His arrest, judgment, scourging and execution — the culminating moment of the Christ's Passion. Relics of the Passion, also known as Arma Christi, are the artefacts, preserved by the Catholic Church and venerated by Christians of all denominatins.