from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. Roman Catholic Church A receptacle in which the host is held. Also called ostensorium.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. An ornamental, often precious receptacle, either open or with a transparent cover, in which the consecrated host is placed for veneration.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A transparent pyx, in which the consecrated host is exposed to view.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In the Roman Catholic Church, originally, any receptacle in which sacred relics were held up to view; after the fourteenth century, restricted to the transparent or glass-faced shrine in which the consecrated host is presented for the adoration of the people, either while being carried in procession or when exposed on the altar.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. proof by a process of argument or a series of proposition proving an asserted conclusion
- n. (Roman Catholic Church) a vessel (usually of gold or silver) in which the consecrated Host is exposed for adoration
The monstrance is rather new, made in sterling silver by Goudji
Actually it's called a monstrance and it contains a consecrated communion wafer (the big size that only priests get to eat), which by now has magically become the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the form of bread. (there was a time when people chopped each other's heads off over a disagreement about whether it contained any blood) "the abuse took place in the 1970s; the police were informed and acted" - Jack Valero
It seemed to me to be hung up in a kind of monstrance which stood above the Tabernacle.
Among all those things, the first place is given to a great golden monstrance which is worth eleven thousand ducados.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 28 of 55 1637-38 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
Amongst the intricate arabesques little angels'-heads were embossed, and on one side a group of cherubs was bearing a "monstrance" with the sacred Host through silver clouds.
The treasury contains a ten-foot high, 400 lb. shimmering gold "monstrance" that is paraded through the streets of Toledo on Corpus Christi day.
In the aureole above the globe, around which the snake is wound, symbolising his victory over world and sin, Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance would be resereved on Maundy Thursday/Good Friday.
How can you, when every crucifix, monstrance, rosary, statue of the Virgin Mary or picture of the Sacred Heart that you see reminds you of the abuse that you suffered?
Details from a monstrance designed for St. John Cantius church in Chicago by one of their parishioners and realized by Granda.
Here he is flanked by two holy nuns and mystics, St. Lutgardis of Tongeren (a Cistercian) and St. Juliana of Liège with the monstrance.