Reliquary theca with relic of Blessed Isidore Bakanja, Martyr of Africa

Round glass-fronted yellow-metal reliquary theca housing the first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of Blessed Isidore Bakanja. The relic is affixed to a red silk ground and identified in Latin on a typeset cedula label as B. Isidori Bakanja. (Blessed Isidore Bakanja). On the back, under the protective cap, the theca is secured with a seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint of a crest of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, (known as the Carmelite Order).

Blessed Isidore Bakanja (†1909) was a Congolese layman and martyr born in Belgian Congo. Converted by Trappist missionaries, he was baptized at age 18, embracing fervent devotion to Mary through the rosary and Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. As a catechist on a rubber plantation, he shared his faith despite prohibitions. In April 1909, a colonial overseer tore off his scapular and ordered him to remove it and stop evangelizing; when he refused, he was brutally scourged. Isidore endured months of agony with patience, forgiving his persecutor and praying for him, saying he would pray for him from heaven. He died on August 15, 1909 (Feast of the Assumption), rosary in hand and wearing the scapular. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994, and is venerated as a patron of Congolese laity and youth, symbolizing forgiveness, faith amid persecution, and devotion to Mary.