r/Catholicism • u/ru_tabega • 1d ago

Reliquary Crucifix

I spotted this crucifix in a two dollar bag at a thrift store and thought it might open. Imagine my shock when I opened it at home to find thirteen relics inside! Twelve of them have saint names (including St. Agnes) written on slips of paper.

This is such a treasure to me and I'm in total awe to have stumbled across it. I'm wondering if there's a way to tell what class the relics are? I know the crucifix was made in Germany (it has a small inscription on it), and my research online tells me these kind of reliquaries can contain first, second, or third class. All are precious, I'm just curious if there's a way to tell? Does anyone have experience with or knowledge about these types of reliquaries? The relics are tucked under the slips of paper, and the paper is fairly old and fragile. I want to be as careful with it as I can.

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u/Straggler117 1d ago

My advice would be to ask your bishop for help with this

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u/ru_tabega 20h ago

Good idea! I do work in a diocesan office so I'll see if someone knows more. My pastor was super intrigued and we're going to check if anyone local specializes in relics.

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u/Constant_Patience334 1d ago

Fantastic find

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u/DeepValueDiver 1d ago edited 1d ago

WOW!