A quite lovely and beautifully handcrafted and hand stitched St. Madeleine relic from the 1800's. This handmade piece of French religious history was made by someone with such care and attention to detail. This could have been a souvenir from a pilgrimage or a keepsake from a departed member of a family.
This piece is made with a multi color striped silk on the front with tiny silver square trim and silver leaves. Some of the leaves are long gone but that is to be expected from a piece of this age. The silk is in really great condition except for one small spot on the back. There is an oval framed center with glass. Behind the glass is St. Madeleine inside a paper frame with decorative gilt work on the outside. There appears to have been no cord hanger for this piece which leaves me to believe it might have been a traveling piece or it simple leaned on a shelf. The piece measures approximately 2.75" x 2.25".
St. Madeleine born Sophie Barat was born on December 12, 1779 in Joigny, Burgundy, France. She died in Paris on May 25, 1865 and was canonized in 1925 (feast day May 25). Madeleine Sophie Barat lived in turbulent times. She was only 10 when the Reign of Terror began. In the wake of the French Revolution, rich and poor both suffered before some semblance of normality returned to France. Born to some degree of privilege, Sophie received a good education. It grieved her that the same opportunity was being denied to other young girls, and she devoted herself to educating them, whether poor or well-to-do. She was a Roman Catholic nun and founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart.
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