Philadelphia Museum of Art

Title: Arm Reliquary of Saint Babylas

Year: 1467

Material: Silver, gilded silver, enamel, glass paste stones, rock crystals, and one amethyst on an oak core.

Creator: Unknown German artist

Collection: Philadelphia Museum of Art, European Decorative Arts & Sculpture Collection

This object is an ornate arm reliquary (c.1467) that contained a bone of Saint Babylas who was Bishop of Antioch. St. Babylas died in 250 A.D. as a Christian martyr during the persecution of Christians by Roman Emperor Decius. The arm is making a blessing gesture, which was a popular display form of reliquaries. St. Babylas was the first Saint to have his relics transported to a higher church.This reliquary was acquired with museum funds in 1950 from the Guelph Treasure at Brunswick Cathedral in Germany.

St. Babylas at the Cathedral of St. Mary,
Pamplona, Spain

This arm reliquary is important to many people. Reliquaries are very important to devout Catholics. A relic is considered to be an object that helps an individual became closer to God and the Holy Spirit, therefore making it an important religious object. A relic is also an element that is needed for a church to become a cathedral. This object is also important to the art and history communities. This particular reliquary shows ornamentation of the time period, such as the rings, that give us a glimpse into popular styles of the late 15^th century. This object also gives historians a look at how much importance was placed in relics during the 1460s. This object might also be important to silver smiths as a piece of study.

Although this object is important to many people it may not interest people that aren’t religious or Catholic. It may also not interest people who don’t like that time period of art or history. People that enjoy modern art, for example may not have interest in this object.

This object is on display in a period room made to look like a church or chapel area. Within the room there are important religious books such as the Book of Hours. The arm reliquary is on display as part of a group of objects that include other religious items. The other items in the group range from box reliquaries, a pilgrim badge, a processional cross, and religious statues. The other objects help the viewer see a wide variety of religious artifacts that tie together. Relics were generally collected (or stolen) while people were on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Therefore the pilgrimage badge begins the story. The processional cross would have been used on pilgrimage, in battles, or in church processionals. Religious statues were also popular collector items of the time from pilgrimage. The arm and box reliquary are the end result of the story the other objects tell. The room itself also adds to the display since you feel like you are in a church, which is where most reliquaries are housed and viewed.

In the case the objects are numbered and the label is located to the left on the wall beside the case. The label is written from a passive point of view. It simply states what the object is and what saint is associated with it. There was no other context that would suggest the importance of a relic as an important religious object.

 An art historian and a Medieval history may have different ideas about why a reliquary is important. A non-religious or non- catholic person may also have a different point of view. They may not feel that the object is important at all. From the point of view the story about the saint may be down played or even challenged. Both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church recognize St. Babylas. Each church may have a different story about him and his relics as well.

Fields of study for this object might include; Crusades, Medieval history, religious history, art history, silver smiths, hagiography, Catholic Church, Vatican, archeology, anthropology, and forensics.

Photo of a hand reliquary I took at the
British Museum.

There are so many ways to engage viewers with this object. One interesting experience is to have the visitor (high school and older) become a relic themselves. Take any object, like a cloth that has touched the relic and once the visitor touches the cloth they become a third degree relic. By doing thing you would expose your audience to the complex nature of relics, their importance at the time, and it would create curiosity. This was also a popular activity through out the middle ages.

Another interesting experience would be to tell some stories about Furta Sacra or Holy theft. Although this object may have never been stolen it would be an interesting way to tie in all of the objects in the case that deal with pilgrimage and relics. I would also include photos of other reliquaries to show the many different variations.

Story of Adam of Eynsham

An activity that would work well at the PMA would be to have kids count how many paintings have the same hand gesture as the reliquary to show them how popular it was in art.