Reliquary Monstrance with relic of St. Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop & Doctor of the Church
Small ornate Baroque reliquary monstrance made of wood with silvered front housing inside a glass-fronted compartment a first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of St. Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop & Doctor of the Church. The precious relic is affixed to a background of silk decorated with silver wire ornamentation and identified in Latin on a fancy manuscript cedula label as Ex. Oss. Hilarii Episcopi & Doct. (From a bone of St. Hilary Bishop & Doctor of the Church). On the back, the relic is secured with a crisscrossed silk cord held in place by four perfectly preserved seals of red Spanish wax each with an imprint of a coat of arms of Fr. Francesco Gaetano Incontri († 1781), Archbishop of Florence (1741-1781).
St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310–367) was a Gallo-Roman theologian venerated as Doctor of the Church. A seeker of truth, he converted to Christianity as an adult through reading the Scriptures, which revealed to him the one true God. Already married with a daughter, he and his family embraced the faith together. Elected bishop of Poitiers around 353 against his will, Hilary became a leading defender of orthodox Trinitarian doctrine against the Arian heresy, which denied the full divinity of Christ. Exiled to Phrygia (356–360) by Emperor Constantius II for refusing to condemn St. Athanasius, he wrote his masterpiece De Trinitate (On the Trinity), introducing Eastern theology to the Latin West. Called the “Athanasius of the West” and “Hammer of the Arians,” he returned to combat Arianism in Gaul through writings, hymns, and pastoral work. Declared a Doctor of the Church in 1851 by Pope Pius IX. His feast day is January 13.
