Fine reliquary monstrance with relics of the True Cross of Jesus Christ

A small cruciform reliquary monstrance of gilt brass standing on three lion-claw feet decorated with twelve red-colored crystals and the image of the Crown of Thorns. A central glass-fronted round cavity is housing particles from the Wood from the True Cross of Jesus Christ. The relics are displayed in a cruciform shape on the ground of red silk and are identified on a manuscript cedula label as S.S. Crucis D.N.J.C. (The Most Holy Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ). On its back, under a protective cap, the theca is secured by an undisturbed seal of red Spanish wax with an imprint of a coat of arms of an unidentified Roman Catholic Archbishop.

The True Cross is a significant Christian relic that is believed to contain physical remnants of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, according to Church tradition. In 326-28, Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, traveled to the Holy Land and discovered what was believed to be the hiding place of three crosses used in the crucifixion of Jesus and two thieves, St. Dismas and Gestas. A miracle then revealed which of the three was the True Cross.

Over time, fragments of the True Cross were broken up and distributed widely. In fact, Cyril of Jerusalem noted in 348 that the "whole earth is full of the relics of the Cross of Christ." Many of the small relics of the True Cross found in Europe were obtained from Constantinople after the city was sacked during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. These relics were divided by the present bishops and distributed among knights who then donated them to various churches and monasteries. Today, these fragments remain important symbols of faith for many Christians.