RARE AGNUS-DEI BY SAINT POPE V (1504-1572) Rare circular Agnus Dei in white wax mixed with moulded and painted polychrome and gilded chrism. One side shows the victorious Paschal Lamb carrying the cross from which hangs the standard of the Resurrection surmounted by the papal coat of arms of Saint Pius V. Caption: "ECCE A (...) (...)I QUI TOLLIT P M". On the other side is a Crucifixion framed by the sun and moon with the Blessed Virgin and Saint John at the foot of the Cross. Legend: "PIVS V ALEXA PONT MAX". Rome, 16th century, 1566 or 1572. Diameter: 13.5 cm (Accidents, small missing pieces, broken and glued back together, wear) In an adapted circular turned wood frame topped with an original gilded copper hoop. Total diameter: 19.2 cm Provenance reputedly given by the Marquise de Laubespin to Monseigneur Georges Audollent (1867 - 1944), Bishop of Blois. Through successive inheritances to the present day. Bibliography: Anne Lepoittevin, "Picciolini, picolini et piccioli: La fabrique romaine des Agnus Dei (1563 - 1700)" in Archives de sciences sociales des religions 183 | July-September 2018. Notice: An Agnus Dei is a Roman Catholic sacramental that was formerly solemnly blessed by the pope every seven years. Made of wax from the pontifical Paschal candle mixed with holy chrism this sacramental is an object of devotion associated with many graces. Whole Agnus Dei are very rare, especially if they are very old. They were often broken into a multitude of fragments, all of which carried the same sacramental benefits. Agnus Dei from the sixteenth century are extremely rare. The only other two comparable Agnus Dei found are in the Musée National de la Renaissance d'Ecouen [Inv. No. E.Cl. 13328] Fig. 1 and in the Galleria Colonna, Appartamento Principessa Isabelle in Rome [Inv. No. 351] Fig. 2 which, like ours, are set in circular frames with bezels. The Agnus Dei in the Colonna Gallery is probably from the same mould, as the legends and subjects on both sides are identical. Our Agnus Dei was also richly and completely painted and gilded, which makes it all the more interesting as this colouring practice was abolished by Gregory XIII's bull forbidding the masking of the whiteness of Agnus Dei, issued on 25 May 1572, the very day of his enthronement (Magnum Bullarium, 1742: 389). The conservation of this exceptional piece is probably due to its status. After the canonisation of Pius V in May 1712, the sacramentals blessed by this Holy Father were considered to be a contact relic of the pontiff. This relic was all the more precious in that it was precisely an Agnus Dei that had been the instrument of one of the two miracles required for the canonisation of the new saint. In fact, in 1678, a doctor's wife, a devotee of an Agnus blessed by Pius V, miraculously recovered from childbirth that should have killed her. Both Sixtus V and Benedict XIV had no hesitation in asserting that the Agnus performed prodigies of a supernatural nature through the grace of God, the prayers of men and the blessings of the pontiff who consecrated them. Ecclesiastical history is full of prodigious feats, and it is worth recalling a few examples: St Pius V distributed them to the troops embarking for Lepanto. On another occasion, the Tiber, in furious flood, devastated several districts of Rome; an Agnus Dei thrown into its waters by the same Pius V, and the river returned to its bed. In 1558, another Agnus consecrated by him was thrown into the Adige, saving Verona from a terrible flood. In 1585, another Agnus stopped the fire in Messina. And what about 1690, when Vienna was engulfed in flames? Emperor Leopold had an Agnus consecrated there by Innocent XI: the flames were extinguished immediately! The following year, at the conclave in the Quirinal, the cardinals, threatened by a fire that ravaged five chambers and lasted for more than six hours, had no idea how to contain the blaze. However, as soon as an Agnus by Innocent XI was thrown into the flames, they immediately ceased. The Agnus was found intact, although the silver cassette containing it had melted!