True Cross Relic, Santo Toribio de Liébana

True Cross Relic, Santo Toribio de Liébana

The Roman Catholic Church holds that this section of the cross (vertical bar measuring 63.5 cm long; cross bar measuring 39.3 cm, with a thickness of 38 mm) is the largest relic of the True Cross. As with all other accepted relics of the True Cross, this section is said to come from the Cross found by Helena in the 4th century. According to tradition, it was brought to Spain my Saint Turibius of Astorga in the 5th century. The silver gilt cross into which the relic has been embedded was made in 1679. According to a study done in 1958, the relic is a Mediterranean Cyprus wood (Cupressus sempervirens), which is common in Israel, and could be more than 2,000 years old.

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