1951 Documented Theca with Relic of St. Emily de Vialar, Founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition

Ornate round glass-fronted white-metal reliquary theca with a scalloped openwork border housing a first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of Saint Emily de Vialar. The relic is affixed to a red silk ground and identified in Latin on a typeset cedula label as S. Aemiliae Vialar (Saint Emily de Vialar). On the back, the theca is secured with red threads and a seal of red wax, its impression insufficiently distinct for a confident identification. The relic is accompanied by a matching authentics document issued in Rome by Andreas Manescau, Postulator of the Cause of Saint Emily de Vialar, bearing his signature and a stamp inscribed Sigillum Postulatoris Betharram. The document specifies the relic as ex ossibus and bears the date as June 24, 1951, the very date of her canonization.

Saint Emily de Vialar (†1856) was a French religious foundress devoted to caring for the sick and poor and educating girls. In 1832, she established the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition at Gaillac, developing a missionary congregation whose charitable work extended beyond France. Pope Pius XII beatified her on June 18, 1939, and canonized her on June 24, 1951. Her congregation celebrates her feast on June 17; she is also commemorated on August 24, the anniversary of her death.