Reliquary theca with a relic of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, S.J., patron of students & AIDS patients

Oval glass-fronted brass reliquary theca housing first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of ​Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. The relic is affixed to a red silk ground surrounded by silver wire ornamentation and identified in Latin on a manuscript cedula label as S. Aloy. Gonz. (Saint Aloysius Gonzaga). On the back, under the protective cap, the theca is secured with a seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint of a coat of arms of Fr. Antonio Cantoni (†1781), Bishop of Faenza, Italy (1742–1767) and Archbishop of Ravenna, Italy (1767–1781).

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, S.J. (Italian: Luigi Gonzaga; † 1591) was an Italian aristocrat who became a member of the Society of Jesus. While still a student at the Roman College, he died as a result of caring for the victims of an epidemic. He was beatified in 1605, and canonized in 1726. He is a patron of students, Christian youth, Jesuit scholastics, the blind, AIDS patients, AIDS caregivers.