ARMA CHRISTI RELIQUARY

Arma Christi ("Weapons of Christ"), or the Instruments of the Passion, are the objects associated with Jesus' Passion in Christian symbolism and art.

They are seen as arms in the sense of heraldry, and also as the weapons Christ used to achieve his conquest over Satan; the prime member, the Cross, had been introduced to Christian art in the 4th century as the Crux Invicta, a symbol of victory.

Relics of the most important items had a long history, dating back to the Empress Helena's discovery of the True Cross in the early 4th century. Relics of the the Holy Lance, Holy Sponge, Holy Chalice and Nails from the Cross were all venerated well before 1000, and were to proliferate in later centuries. 

Since the early Middle Ages and throughout the modern period, these elements are intended as weapons not only in the concrete and literary sense,  as they are instruments of physical torture,   but  are  weapons particularly in the spiritual sense – being instruments through which our salvation was brought into fruition. Because through them, Christ gave His life to redeem man from sin and from them humanity can then likewise seek refuge, consolation and help against the temptations of this world.

As St. Paul points out:  ”In reality, although we are in the flesh, we do not battle according to the flesh, for the weapons of our battle are not of flesh but are enormously powerful, capable of destroying fortresses. We destroy arguments and every pretension raising itself against the knowledge of God…” (2 Cor 10: 3-5).