1783 Необычный французский мощевик с реликвиями от Честного Древа Истинного Креста Господня

An unusual large open-front French Jesuit cruciform box reliquary housing sizable particle relics of the Precious Wood from the True Cross of Jesus Christ. The precious relics are displayed in a cruciform shape in the center of the cross surrounded by an intricate pattern of gilt paperolle ornamentation with a christogram IHS made out of rolled paper directly under the relic forming a symbol of the Society of Jesus (commonly known as the Jesuit Order). Under a christogram is affixed a single pearl signifying the Bleeding Heart of Christ.  In the lower part of the reliquary is a seal of red Spanish wax with an imprint of a coat of arms of Fr. Alexandre-François-Amédée-Adonis-Louis-Joseph de Lauzières de Thémines (†1829), Bishop of Blois, France (1776 – 1801). On the back of the reliquary is affixed a letter of testimony in French stating the following:

"Alexandre Amédée swears by the mercy of God and the grace of the Holy Apostolic See that the relic of the Holy Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ was given to us by Monsignor Leclerc de Juigné and sealed with my seal in Blois on June 30, 1783."