A Precious Neopolitan Monstrance Gifted to the Holy Land in the Mid-Eighteenth Century

The Terra Sancta Museum is host to numerous liturgical treasures that are of inestimable value, and while these objects value may well also be 'material' in nature, it is actually their cultural, liturgical and spiritual value which is their greatest and most important value of all, because their purpose is not tied to material wealth, but rather to spiritual and liturgical enrichment; they are not financial investments, they are rather investments in beauty and divine worship. 

One piece in particular recently struck me, a monstrance of especial beauty. This particular monstrance was donated by the Kingdom of Naples in the year 1746. The monstrance is itself made of gold -- which, as the Franciscans of the Holy Land note, is a colour and material which has long been considered a "manifestation of the divine." What's more, the monstrance has been augmented with many beautiful precious stones, including amethysts and emeralds. Surprisingly, this combination of gold, purple and green is one that one seldom comes across within liturgical art -- which is a shame as it is a particularly pleasing one.

Of course, the real treasure here is that which the monstrance is intended to hold -- the Blessed Sacrament -- and this is emphasized by the beautiful faces of the cherubs which surround the spot where the luna is placed to allow the Body of Christ to be visible for the purposes of adoration.

Returning to the monstrance itself, however, it is, as the Museum says, "an exquisite example of the Baroque richness of the period."

The monstrance seen from the back

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