Fancy reliquary theca with relics of St. John Joseph of the Cross

Large fancy silver reliquary theca housing  large first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) and second-class ex panniculis (of the rags) pre-cannonization relics of Saint John Joseph of the Cross. The relics are affixed to a gold silk background, surrounded by beads and silver cord ornamentation and identified on a manuscript cedula label as Ex  Panniculis / Ex Ossib. / B. Joh. Jo. a Cru (from the bone and rags of the Blessed John Joseph of the Cross). On the back the theca is secured with perfectly preserved seal of red Spanish wax bearing a faint imprint of a coat of arms of unidentified Catholic Bishop.

Saint John Joseph of the Cross (†1739) was an Italian priest and a professed member from the Order of Friars Minor who hailed from the island of Ischia off the coast of Naples. He had a reputation for austerity and for the gift of miracles.He was beatified under Pope Pius VI in 1789 and was later canonized as a saint on 26 May 1839 under Pope Gregory XVI. His feast day is commemorated on March 5th.