Important French reliquary with a massive bone relic of St. Eucherius, Bishop of Lyon

A large round convex glass fronted wood reliquary housing historically important ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of Saint Eucherius, Bishop of Lyon. A massive bone relic is placed on the background of red velvet in a quatrefoil cavity trimmed with a gilt silver wire cord and identified in Latin on a typeset cedula label as Ex Oss. Sti. Eucherii L. Ep. (from the bone of St. Eucherius of Lyon, Bishop). The relic is held in place with a red silk ribbon with a perfectly preserved seal of red Spanish wax with an imprint of a coat of arms of a Fr. Jean-Émile Fonteneau (†1899), Archbishop of Albi, France (1884-1899). The back of the reliquary is secured with a red silk ribbon with three perfectly preserved seals of red Spanish wax also with imprints of a coat of arms of Archbishop Fonteneau. The glass has a crack going horizontally from side to side and minor damage to the outer wooden frame as pictured.

Saint Eucherius of Lyon (†c. 449) was a noble Gallo-Roman senator, theologian, and bishop. Born into a distinguished Christian family, he married Galla, a woman of similar rank. They had at least two sons — Veranus (later bishop of Vence or Lyon) and Salonius (bishop of Geneva) — who were educated at the renowned monastery of Lérins. With his wife’s consent, Eucherius renounced his senatorial dignity and worldly honors. He first entered Lérins as a monk around 422, then lived as a hermit on the nearby island of Lero, devoting himself to prayer, fasting, and asceticism. Renowned for his holiness and learning, he was elected bishop of Lyon around 432–434. He attended regional councils, wrote influential letters and treatises promoting self-abnegation and monastic ideals, and authored the earliest surviving account of the martyrdom of the Theban Legion (St. Maurice). He died peacefully around 449 and is venerated as a confessor bishop. His feast day is November 16.