Reliquary theca with relic of St. Joachim of Nazareth, Father of Blessed Virgin Mary

Oval glass-fronted silver pendant reliquary theca housing the first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of St. Joachim of Nazareth.  A sizable relic is affixed to a gilt-paper starburst on a ground of salmon-colored silk, surrounded by silver wire ornamentation and identified in Latin on a fancy manuscript cedula label as Ex Oss. S. Joachim, Pat. B.M.V.  (of the bone of  St. Joachim Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary). On the back, the theca is secured with a seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint of a coat of arms of Fr. Francesco Maria Ginori (†1775), Bishop of Fiesole, Italy (1736–1775).

Saint Joachim of Nazareth was the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus, according to the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the apocryphal Gospel of James. He is a holy patron of fathers, grandfathers and the island of Poerto Rico and his feast day is July 26.