'Thorn from Jesus's crucifixion crown' goes on display at British Museum
- Relic has been kept at UK public school for 200 years
It was plundered in the Fourth Crusade, sold to French royalty and has spent the past 200 years in safekeeping at a British public school.
Now a relic claimed to be a thorn from Jesus's crown is to go on display at the British Museum.
And while no one can doubt the item's rich history, there is less evidence to support the claims of its provenance.
Precious: The relic, said to be a thorn from Jesus's crown, has been kept at Stonyhurst College, in Clitheroe, Lancashire, for the last 200 years. The thorn has Mary Queen of Scots's pearls twined around it
The Crown of Thorns is said to have been seized from Constantinople, the imperial capital of the Roman Empire, in the Fourth Crusade - around AD 1200
The Crown of Thorns is said to have been seized from Constantinople, the imperial capital of the Roman Empire, in the Fourth Crusade - around AD 1200 - and was later sold to King Louis IX of France while he was in Venice.
King Louis kept the religious relic in the specially-built Saint Chapel and thorns were broken off from the crown and given to people who married into the family as gifts.
The thorn at Stonyhurst College - a 400-year-old Jesuit boarding school - was said to have been given to Mary Queen of Scots who married into the French royal family and she took it with her to Holyrood in Edinburgh.
And following her execution in 1587, it was passed from her loyal servant, Thomas Percy, to his daughter, Elizabeth Woodruff, who then gave it to her confessor - a Jesuit priest - in 1600.
The Jesuits brought it with them to the college and it has been kept at the Ribble Valley college ever since.
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Now it is to be loaned to the British Museum in London for a new exhibition, Treasures of Heaven, inspired by saints, relics and devotion in medieval Europe.
Jim Caviezel portraying Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. Jesus was made to wear a Crown of Thorns during his crucifixion
Jan Graffius, curator at Stonyhurst, said: 'It is an incredible object and we are really delighted that it will form part of the British Museum exhibition. It is a priceless treasure.'
Catriona Graffius, a sixth former at the college, was invited to take part in the production of a podcast guide for the exhibition.
She was interviewed to give a pupil's perspective on her school's precious possession, and said: 'I was asked to describe the thorn, which has Mary Queen of Scots's pearls twined around it.
'The thorn is placed in a chapel at Stonyhurst every year in Holy Week.'
The British Museum exhibition features sacred treasures of the medieval age, which have been collected from more than 40 institutions and many of which have not been seen in the UK before.
The thorn will sit next to rare loans from the Vatican, including from the private chapel of the popes and the Sancta Sanctorum.
While the majority of objects date from between AD 1000 to 1500, some of the earliest pieces include a late Roman sarcophagus dating from between AD 250 and 350.
The exhibition will open in June 23 and run until October 9.
RELICS AND OTHER RELIGIOUS ARTEFACTS
Perhaps the world's most famous religious artefact is the Shroud of Turin (pictured) - a linen cloth bearing the image of a man who appears to have been crucified.
Some believe it is the burial cloth of Jesus and that his image was etched on its fibres at his resurrection. Others say it is simply a medieval hoax.
It is kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy.
Catholic churches around the world claim to have other relics of Christ, such as the loin cloth he wore on the cross, pieces of the cross itself and even the 'holy prepuce' - Jesus's foreskin.
Two separate churches, in Genoa and Valencia, claim to have in their possession the Holy Chalice - the cup with which Jesus served wine at the Last Supper.
Archaeologists have dated the Valencia chalice as having been made between the 4th century BC and the 1st century AD.
