Unknown Artist
The early Christian saints of Ancient Rome have long excited interest, and St. Balbina, whose story is somewhat unclear, unites many of the most fascinating aspects of the faith’s earliest lore. Balbina’s father was Quirinus, a tribune, who imprisoned Pope Alexander I for his faith early in the 2nd century. When Quirinus later found that the Pope’s chains had been miraculously unlocked, he promised to become a Christian if the Pope could heal his daughter of a growth on her neck. Pope Alexander instructed Quirinus and Balbina to seek out the chains that had, before his death, held St. Peter, and after touching them, Balbina was cured. Quirinus and his family were eagerly baptized thereafter, but Quirinus himself was executed for his new Christian faith in 116. Balbina’s fate is somewhat uncertain—in some accounts she was beheaded along with her father, but many believe that she was arrested in 130 and executed after she became a dedicated virgin.
Reliquaries are essentially containers intended to hold parts of saints’ bodies and occasionally other items that either belonged to them or were associated with them. Reliquaries were sometimes cast in the shape of the body part they contained, as in this case: this reliquary was intended to hold St. Balbina’s skull. Reliquaries like this one were almost always on display, often in a church or a family chapel, and were venerated by the faithful, many of whom took on lengthy pilgrimages to visit their shrines. This reliquary, despite its dedication to an ancient Roman saint, was clearly carved and painted with sixteenth-century style and fashion in mind, and its beautiful coloring was intended to recall the vibrant life of the subject. St. Balbina’s reliquary is a testament to late medieval devotion to Christian saints and the remarkable pieces of art their lives inspired.
- Stephanie Skenyon
If you would like to see another interesting reliquary, have a look at the one of Thomas Becket in the article "Thomas Becket: The Imagery of an Unexpected Saint".