Vatican reliquary theca with relic of St. Lucia of Syracuse, Martyr & patron of the blind

Round glass-fronted white-metal reliquary theca housing the first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of St. Lucia of Syracuse. The relic is affixed to a red silk ground and identified in Latin on a typeset cedula label as S. Luciae V.M. (Saint Lucia, Virgin & Martyr). 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 Monsignor Ugo Poletti, the Vicar General of Rome (1973-1997).

St. Lucia of Syracuse (†304), also known as Saint Lucy, or Saint Lucia (Italian: Santa Lucia), was a young Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution who is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Churches. She is one of eight women, who along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. She is a patron of the blind; martyrs; Perugia, Italy; Mtarfa, Malta; epidemics; salesmen, Syracuse, Italy, throat infections, and writers.