Reliquary of Saints Peter and Paul

1579-1581

Name(s) currently unknown

Tepozotlán, MEX, Museo Nacional del Virreinato (current location)

Reliquaries were specially designed containers for holy relics. In this case, a wealthy donor commissioned the work to hold some precious relics the Pope had given to the Jesuits of New Spain.

While the gilded silver of the reliquary would certainly have been valued in New Spain, it was the relics of the saints that lent this object its preciousness. Valuable crystal was used to allow the viewer to see the relics. The frame on the upper left is identified above with the name of San Pedro (Saint Peter), while the one on the right is San Pablo (Saint Paul). The relics they hold are probably bone chips. At the reliquary's base, four stands would hold illuminated candles.

The reliquary was commissioned by don Alonso de Villaseca, an ardent supporter of the Jesuits, and founded a Jesuit school in Mexico City, Colegio Máximo de San Pedro y San Pablo. He was also on of the richest men in New Spain, having made his money in mining. After the Pope sent holy relics to the Jesuits in New Spain, as recognition of their role in the colony’s evangelization, Villaseca had this elaborate reliquary built to house them. His name appears on the reverse of the work. The silver marks on the work indicate it was made in New Spain; however, the name of its maker is no longer known.

The piece is carefully worked of silver, which has been gilded. Transparent crystal was used for the panels. The reliquary stands ca. 47 cm in height (ca. 18.5 inches).

The Jesuits became one of the richest and most powerful orders in Spanish America. When they were expelled from the Americas in 1767, they were required to forfeit their worldly and sacred possessions—from land to liturgical objects. This reliquary was turned over to the Mexico City Cathedral. It is now displayed in the Museo Nacional del Virreinato, an extensive collection of works from New Spain housed in an ex-Jesuit college in Tepotzotlán, not far from Mexico City.

The papal gift of these, and other relics, was a cause for solemn celebration in New Spain in 1578. As the precious objects were carried to the Jesuit’s school in Mexico City, the Colegio Máximo de San Pedro y San Pablo, and later displayed in extraordinary holders like this one, viewers were reminded of the powerful support the Jesuits enjoyed—not only in Europe but also the Americas.

Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Tepotzotlán. Do not duplicate. Used by permission of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico; all rights reserved.

Dana Leibsohn and Barbara E. Mundy.
Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820. http://www.fordham.edu/vistas, 2015.

Bolaños de Araiza, Mireya and Beatriz Garza Ríos de Creel. 1999. “Relicario de San Pedro y San Pablo.” In Platería novohispana: Museo Nacional del Virreinato Tepozotlán. Tepozotlán: Museo Nacional del Virreinato.

Esteras Martín, Cristina. 1990. “Reliquary of Sts. Peter and Paul.” In Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 399-401.