Caravaca Cross, Bronze, Spain 17th/18th Century

Caravaca cross, bronze, Spain late 17th/early 18th century. Perfect condition.

Presence of a skull (Memento Mori), Virgin in prayer, two "IHS" cartouches, Christ presented perizonium on the left surmounted by the inscription "INRI".

Caravaca de la Cruz is a municipality in the autonomous community of the Murcia region, Spain. It is the fifth holiest city in the world after Jerusalem, Rome, Santo Toribio de Liébana, and Santiago de Compostela.

"La Cruz de Caravaca is a reliquary in the shape of a cross with two crossbars containing a fragment of the cross of Christ. According to tradition, it belonged to Patriarch Robert, the first bishop of Jerusalem, conquered from the Muslims by the First Crusade (1099). According to tradition, the cross miraculously appeared in Caravaca on May 3, 1232. At the time, Caravaca was ruled by a Moorish king who held many Christians in prison, including a priest. The priest made it known that his function was to say mass "during which God himself offers himself as a victim for mankind and descends on the altar at the prayer of his minister". The king was very interested to hear this, and ordered him to celebrate mass in his presence in his palace. The priest replied that certain objects were needed for the celebration. The king then dispatched a messenger to Cuenca with orders to bring back whatever was required. The priest began the service in the presence of the king and his court. But as he approached the altar, he realized that a cross was missing, and that it was impossible to celebrate mass without a cross on the altar. Then suddenly, in a dazzling light, a double-beamed cross appeared, carried by two angels. It later turned out that the cross was that of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The festivities commemorating this prodigious event are celebrated every year from May 1 to 5 in Caravaca. Since this miracle, the town of Caravaca has become an important place of pilgrimage in Europe. It is likely that the pilgrims who went there brought back these crosses as a souvenir of their pilgrimage."

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