Almost saintly: 'Relic' piece of clothing of Abbess Maria Chiara Totti.

[Relic] / [Nuns] / [Abbess Maria Chiara Totti]. Particella dell’ Abito della Serva di Dio Suor Maria=Chiara della Madre di Dio Totti Monaca Cappuccina, Abbadessa nel Monastero di Monte Castrilli Diocesi di Todi in Umbria, morta con fama di Santità il Giorno 2. Gennaro 1778. S.l. [Todi]: s.n., s.a. [1778 or shortly thereafter]. [9.6 x 8.3 cm], [1] f. letterpress sheet, with small square of fabric attached with red string and sealed with red wax on verso. Folded, minor toning.
 
 
Unrecorded letterpress leaf describing the textile ‘relic’ attached to it with string and wax, i.e., a piece of fabric from the habit of Maria Chiara Totti (1695-1778), Abbess of the Capuchin convent in Montecastrilli (Umbria). 
 
Maria Chiara Totti is little remembered today (see F. Da Mareto, p. 92), but the text of this item suggests that at her death rumors of the sanctity swirled (“morta con fama di Santità”). Bits of relic textile from her clothing were no doubt distributed with the hope of advancing her candidacy to sainthood, but canonization was a high hurdle to clear, and little became of it.
 
This textile square is thus similar to a ‘touch’ relic (also called a ‘contact’ relic), i.e., an item that contacted or was in the vicinity of a saint’s (or a proposed saint’s) primary relic (e.g., a body part or personal item) or another holy item. Because Totti was never beatified or canonized, the fabric square never became ‘energized’ in the manner of a proper relic.
 
 
OCLC, KVK, and OPAC/SBN/ICCU locate 1 other example of this letterpress sheet with Totti’s habit (Harvard).
 
*F. Da Mareto, Le cappuccine nel mondo (1538-1969): Cenni storici e bibliografia, p. 292.