3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Reliquary \Rel"i*qua*ry\ (r?l"?-kw?-r?), n.; pl {-ries}
(-r[i^]z). [LL. reliquiarium reliquiare: cf F. reliquaire
See {Relic}.]
A depositary, often a small box or casket, in which relics
are kept.
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
reliquary
n : a container where religious relics are stored or displayed
(especially relics of saints)
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
RELIQUARY, n. A receptacle for such sacred objects as pieces of the
true cross, short-ribs of the saints, the ears of Balaam's ass, the
lung of the cock that called Peter to repentance and so forth.
Reliquaries are commonly of metal, and provided with a lock to prevent
the contents from coming out and performing miracles at unseasonable
times. A feather from the wing of the Angel of the Annunciation once
escaped during a sermon in Saint Peter's and so tickled the noses of
the congregation that they woke and sneezed with great vehemence three
times each It is related in the "Gesta Sanctorum" that a sacristan
in the Canterbury cathedral surprised the head of Saint Dennis in the
library. Reprimanded by its stern custodian, it explained that it was
seeking a body of doctrine. This unseemly levity so raged the
diocesan that the offender was publicly anathematized, thrown into the
Stour and replaced by another head of Saint Dennis, brought from Rome.
more about reliquary
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