Reliquary theca with relic of St. Felix of Cantalice, OFMCap
Oval glass-fronted brass pendant reliquary theca housing the first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of Saint Felix of Cantalice. The relic is affixed to a red silk ground surrounded by silver wire and gilt paperolle ornamentation and identified in Latin on a manuscript cedula label as S. Filic. Capuc. (Saint Felix, Capuchin). On the back, under a protective cap, the theca is secured with a perfectly preserved seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint with a coat of arms of an unidentified Roman Catholic Bishop.
Saint Felix of Cantalice, O.F.M. Cap. (†1587) was an Italian Capuchin friar of the 16th century. Felix is usually represented as holding in his arms the Infant Jesus, because of a vision he is said to have had, when the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him and placed the Divine Child in his arms. Pope John Paul II observed that Felix is "shown bearing the Infant Jesus in his arms because in bearing the burdens of the needy he had carried in his arms the poor Christ himself." Canonized by Pope Clement XI in 1712, he was the first Capuchin friar in the history of the Order to be canonized. His feast day is celebrated on the Calendar of Saints of the Franciscan Order on May 18.