page_title: Crown of thorns
section_title: Third-class relics
hierarchical_section_title: Crown of thorns / Third-class relics
caption_attribution_description: English: Old cast gilt wedding medallion d. = 46 mm. 30,76 g Ag. Portrait r. of Jesus Christ with crown of thorns, curved above: "VERE LANGVORES NROS IPSE TVLIT ET DOLO NROS IP. PO."/ An angel marrying a couple clothed in 16th century style, curved above: "EIN VERNVNFFTIG WEIB KOMPT VOM HERRN *". 2 lines on plate below: "FATO CONV BIA FIVNT·". In exergue: "PROXIX TOBXII CVM IRIVILEGIE VM". Cahn, Kunstmedaillen und Plaketten des XV. bis XVII. Jahrhunderts Frankfurt 1912 No. 91. Habich 209,8. Medallist: VM (Valentin Maler), Mint-master in Nürnberg, about 1540 - 1603 Condition: EXCELLENT old cast.
context_page_description: According to three of the Gospels, a woven crown of thorns was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. It was one of the instruments of the Passion, employed by Jesus' captors both to cause him pain and to mock his claim of authority. It is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John and is often alluded to by the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen and others.
  In later centuries, relics believed by many to be all or part of the crown of thorns have been venerated.
context_section_description: Not all of the reputed holy thorns are first-class relics, that is, relics of the original crown. M. de Mély was able to enumerate more than 700. The statement in one medieval obituary that Peter de Averio gave to the cathedral of Angers, "unam de spinis quae fuit apposita coronae spinae nostri Redemptoris" ("one of the spines which were attached to the thorny crown of our Redeemer") (de Mély, p. 362) indicates that many of the thorns were relics of the third class—objects touched to a relic of the first class, in this case some part of the crown itself. (In Roman Catholic tradition, a relic of the first class is a part of the body of a saint or, in this case, any of the objects used in the Crucifixion that carried the blood of Christ; a relic of the second class is anything known to have been touched or used by a saint; a relic of the third class is a devotional object touched to a first-class relic and, usually, formally blessed as a sacramental.) Again, even in comparatively modern times, it is not always easy to trace the history of these objects of devotion, as first-class relics were often divided and any number of authentic third-class relics may exist.
caption: Nuremberg 16th-century silver medal of Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns by Valentin Maler.
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