Antique reliquary made of solid wood covered with silver leaf.

Antique reliquary made of solid wood covered with silver leaf. It contains relics of three saints ( Saint Serena, Saint Leonard, and Saint Alberti ). Decorated by Carmelite nuns, it comes from a convent in Turin, Italy.

Italy end of 1700s early 1800s, very rare.

Size: 22 cm L x 14 cm W x 4 cm H

SAINT SERENA of ROME:
Is celebrated on August 16. She died in Rome, Italy. Saint Serena of Rome, Empress and wife of the Emperor Diocletian. Converted and baptized by Saint Cyriacus, she practiced the Catholic religion in the emperor’s palace and saved the lives of many Christians, intervening in the face of that monster of cruelty.

SAINT LEONARD of NOBLAC:
Also Leonard of Limoges ; died 559, is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin region of France. He was converted to Christianity along with the king, at Christmas 496. Leonard became a hermit in the forest of Limousin, where he gathered a number of followers. Leonard or Lienard became one of the most venerated saints of the late Middle Ages. His intercession was credited with miracles for the release of prisoners, women in labour and the diseases of cattle.

SAINT ALBERTUS MAGNUS:
The saint and doctor of the Church who would be known as Albertus Magnus was born sometime before the year 1200. He was probably born in Bavaria, a fact we infer because he referred to himself as “Albert of Lauingen,” a town which still stands today in southern Germany.
We do not know for sure all the details of his family origins, but we know he was well educated. He attended the University of Padua where he learned about Aristotle and his writings. This instruction in philosophy would become the foundation of his later work.