Monstrance / Ostensorium

In the Roman Catholic church and some other churches, a vessel in which the eucharistic host is carried in processions and is exposed during certain devotional ceremonies. Both names are derived from Latin words (monstrare and ostendere) that mean “to show.” First used in France and Germany in the 14th century, when popular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament developed, monstrances were modeled after pyxes or reliquaries, sacred vessels for transporting the host or relics. The host was shown in a glass cylinder mounted on a base and surmounted by some sort of metal crown. In the 16th century the monstrance took its present shape: a circular pane of glass set in a cross or surrounded with metal rays. The host is placed in a holder called a lunette, which fits into an opening behind the glass.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/390349/monstrance

Monstrance of Belem

The masterpiece of Vicente the goldsmith’s art was the monstrance of Belém made for the Jerónimos Monastery in 1506, which was crafted from the first gold exported from Mozambique. The design of this monstrance resembles the decorations of the southern portal of the church Santa Maria de Belém of this monastery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Vicente#As_a_goldsmith

Polish Rococo monstances.


Monstrance from the museum of the Melk Abbey, Austria.


Monstrance from the museum in Pelplin, Poland.


Reliquary monstrance. Cathedral Treasury, Cologne, Germany.


Ca. 1400. Gift of Władysław Jagiełło to the Corpus Christi Church in Poznań, Poland.