Small oval glass-fronted silver pendant reliquary theca housing the first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of Saint Blaise. The relic is affixed to a silk ground surrounded by silver wire and paperolle ornamentation and identified in Latin on a manuscript cedula label as Ex Blasii Ep. M. (Saint Blaise, Bishop and Martyr). On the back, the theca is secured with a perfectly preserved seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint of a coat of arms of Monsignor Giuseppe Maria Cardinal Spina (†1828), the Archbishop of Genova. The theca is accompanied by the original matching authentics documents issued and signed by Monsignor Spina in 1813.
Saint Blaise, also known as Saint Blase, was a physician, and Bishop of Sebastea in historical Armenia. According to the Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron combs, and beheaded. He is the patron saint of wool combers. In the Latin Church his feast falls on 3 February, in the Eastern Churches on 11 February. Patron of Animals, builders, choking, veterinarians, throats, infants, Maratea, Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, Dubrovnik, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, Rubiera, stonecutters, carvers, and wool workers.