Silver ‘lance point’: It touched the Holy Lance of Ancona.

[Holy Lance] / [Contact Relic]. Prosper Miseratione Divina Tituli S. Crucis in Hyerusalem Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Praesbiter Cardinalis Lambertinus Episcopus Anconae, & Humanae Comes. Universis, & singulis, ad quos nostrae hae literae pervenerit testatum volumus [Argentea] Lanceae aciem vitta… S.l. [Ancona]: s.n., signed 13 May 1729. [20.5 x 15.1 cm], [1] f. letterpress form, completed in manuscript, with wax seal, and with sliver ‘lance point’ attached with red ribbon carrying red wax seal. Folded, toning and staining, with some separation at the folds, small losses to wax seal.
 
 
Silver ‘lance point’ attached with a red ribbon to its authenticum—or certificate of authenticity for a relic—which states that the item, “touched the Sacred Point of the Lance, by which the side of the Redeemer of human salvation, hanging on the Cross, was pierced” (“tetigisse Sacrosanctam Cuspidem Lanceae, qua salutis humanae Reparatoris in Cruce pendentis Latus apertum fuit”) and which was kept alongside other sacred relics in the cathedral of St. Cyriacus in Ancona.
 
The Ancona Holy Lance is one of a handful of competing Lance relics, the most famous being those now in Rome (S. Pietro in Vaticano) and Vienna (Kaiserliche Schatzkammer in der Hofburg).
 
The document was signed on 13 May 1729 by relevant officials on behalf of Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini (1675-1758), Cardinal of Ancona & Numana and Cardinal-Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome. Lambertini later became Pope Benedict XIV (1740-58).
 
This silver ‘lance point’ is a ‘touch’ relic (also called a ‘contact’ relic), i.e., an item that contacted or was in the vicinity of a saint’s primary relic (e.g., a body part or personal item) or another holy item (e.g., the Holy Lance).
 
 
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