Reliquary of Saint James (Santiago de Compostela Cathedral)
From Kook Science
Detail of urn containing the remains of St. James, featuring Christ Pantocrator at centre.
The Reliquary of Saint James at the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral is a chased-silver urn in Romanesque style, designed by José Losada and cast by Ricardo Martínez in 1886, which houses relics of the Apostle Saint James the Greater and his disciples, Saint Theodore and Saint Athanasius. The relics of St. James were rehoused in the reliquary following excavations in 1879 by order of Cardinal Miguel Payá y Rico, Archbishop of Toledo, and Vatican authentication by Pope Leo XIII in 1884, after having been hidden and lost in 1589.
Description
From left the right, the front of the reliquary features the following figures:
- St. Theodore (S THEOD.)
- St. Matthew (S MATHEVS)
- St. John (S IOHANES)
- St. James the Greater (S IACOBVS ZF)
- Christ Pantocrator
- St. Peter (S PETRVS)
- St. Andrew (S ANDREA)
- St. Paul (S PAVLVS)
- St. Athanasius (S ATHAN.)
Reading
- The Reliquarian (9 March 2013), The Way of Saint James: Pilgrimage to the Tomb of a “Son of Thunder”, reliquarian.com, https://reliquarian.com/2013/03/09/the-way-of-saint-james-pilgrimage-to-the-tomb-of-a-son-of-thunder/
- Klimczak, Natalia (18 April 2016), Who is Buried in the Famous Shrine of St James in Santiago de Compostela?, ancient-origins.net, http://www.ancient-origins.net/history/who-buried-famous-shrine-st-james-santiago-de-compostela-005730?nopaging=1