Passion Nail – Contact Relic With Handwritten Certificate Dated 1858

Nail of the Passion – Contact relic with handwritten certificate dated 1858

Rare contact relic representing a wrought iron nail, preserved in a Gothic frame carved with brambles, surmounted by the instruments of the Passion (cross, crown of thorns, INRI, lance and reed).

Description

The nail, of ancient appearance, is sealed with a red wax seal and a red vitta (ribbon), according to the tradition of “contact” relics (ex contactu), touched to the real Nails of the Cross of Christ preserved in Rome.
This piece is accompanied by its original certificate dated 1858, issued by the Monastery of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem in Rome (official place of conservation of the relics of the Passion, under pontifical authority).

Translation of the certificate (Latin > French):
To all who will see these present letters, we certify and attest that an iron nail, wrapped in a red silk ribbon and bound with our little seal, was affixed and touched to one of the sacred nails with which Our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, and that it is preserved in our chapel of relics at the Monastery of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem in Rome, and that it appears to have been fashioned with fidelity to be a very faithful reproduction.

Given in Rome, in our Monastery of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem, on March 14, in the year 1858

Signed: Dom Maurus Josef Marchini, OSB

Dimensions: 30 cm high x 20 cm x 4 cm wide

Condition:

Excellent overall condition for an ancient religious object: wooden frame with a lack of material on the left (crown of thorns), intact curved glass, preserved seal, period certificate present and legible.
Very rare in this complete condition.

In accordance with canon law (can. 1190 §1), this sale concerns only the reliquary as an object of sacred art. The relics it contains are not the object of the transaction, but are included free of charge for their historical and cultural value.

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