Reliquary theca with relics of St. Faustinus, Martyr

Oval glass-fronted brass pendant reliquary theca housing a precious first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of Saint Faustinus, Martyr.  The relic is affixed to a ground of red-colored silk and identified in Latin on a manuscript cedula label as S. Faustiniani M. (Saint Faustinus, Martyr). On the back, the theca is secured with a seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint of a coat of arms of an unidentified Roman Catholic Bishop.

Saints Jovita and Faustinus (†120) were Christian martyrs under Hadrian. Tradition states that they were members of a noble family of Brescia in Lombardy (northern Italy). Jovinus, the older brother, was a preacher; Faustinus, a deacon. For their fearless preaching of the Gospel, they were arraigned before the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who at Brescia, Rome and Naples, subjected them to frightful torments, after which they were beheaded at Brescia in the year 120.