Cleveland Museum of Art

Monstrance with a Relic of Saint Sebastian

Date

1484

Medium

gilded silver, rock crystal, bone, parchment

Culture

Germany, Lower Saxony, Brunswick, Gothic period, 15th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This Late Gothic monstrance (from the Latin monstrare, "to show") is mentioned in the earliest inventory of Saint Blaise as "a large new monstrance containing relics of Saint Sebastian the martyr." Judging from surviving receipts, the reliquary was made by Werner Korff, a local goldsmith, who received payments for silver and gilding at the end of 1484. The reliquary was first displayed on the altar of the church of Saint Blaise in a solemn penitential mass on June 4, 1484, in an effort to ward off the plague. A recent examination revealed that the relic is a human metatarsal bone (one of five long bones of the human foot) and that its owner seemed to have suffered from periostitis, a medical condition that affects the connective tissue surrounding the bone. In the Middle Ages, people suffering from diseases might make a journey, or pilgrimage, to venerate relics such as this one. The faithful believed that the remains of saints and holy people like Saint Sebastian could help those seeking aid such as relief from the plague.

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