Relics of St Crescentia placed for veneration in St Margaret's Chapel
The relics of the little-known St Crescentia were today placed for veneration in St Margaret's Chapel at the Gillis Centre, Edinburgh.
We don't know very much about the saint, other than that she was a Roman girl Canonized by Pope Gregory XVI as a Virgin Martyr.
Her tomb was opened in Rome in 1781, and in 1839 - along with St Veronica Giuliani (a poor Clare nun) - the remains were deemed to be unquestionably those of one of the first witnesses of Christianity.
By special permission of Pope Gregory, her feast day is kept on 10th October, when traditionally the relics are exposed.
They were obtained for the then convent at St Margaret's by Mrs Colonel Hutchison, who had been received into the church there.
While granting Mrs Hutchison an audience, Pope Gregory asked what she would like as a gift. Mrs Hutchison replied that she would like the relics of a saint for her “eldest daughter", meaning the community of St Margaret's.
The reliquary of St Crescentia was designed by Augustus WN Pugin and made by Messrs Bonnar and Carfraw under the supervision of Bishop Gillis.
The Latin on it reads: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones."
St Crescentia, pray for us!