1853 Documented reliquary theca with relic of the Blessed Bernard of Offida

Oval brass glass-fronted reliquary housing first-class ex praecordis (of the inner organs) relics of Blessed Bernard of Offida. The relic is affixed to the background of red silk ground surrounded by silver wire ornamentation and identified in Latin on a typeset cedula label as B. Berna. Oph. (Blessed Bernard of Offida). On the back, under a protective cap, the theca is secured with a perfectly preserved seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint with a coat of arms of Fr. Giuseppe Maria Pietro Raffaele Castellani O.E.S.A. (†1854), Titular Bishop of Porphyreon (1839-1854), Papal Sacristan and Assistant to the Pontifical Throne of Pope Gregory XVI. The relic is accompanied by the original matching authentics document issued by Fr. Castellani in 1853.

Blessed Bernard of Offida O.F.M. († 1694 ) was Italian Roman Catholic professed religious from the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He entered the Capuchin Order at 23 years of age where he sought to acquire all the most beautiful Franciscan virtues; by competing with those friars, he considered the best. During his long life, he served as a cook, infirmarian, quaestor, gardener, and porter. Through life's many misfortunes, Bernard cultivated a spiritual outlook that transformed every occasion into prayer and spiritual opportunity. He often scourged himself as a penitential act. He was at Fermo from his profession until two decades later and settled in 1650 in Offida for the remainder of his life. He was beatified by Pope Pius VI on May 25, 1795. His feast day is celebratted on August 23.