the
most highly prized relics. It is of chalcedony, and its form seems to
indicate that it was at one time set with a precious stone. On only
four days in the year, March 19, the second Sunday in July, July 30,
and August 2, can this unique ring be seen by the public.
The
betrothal ring of the Virgin is in the Capella del Santo Anello, in the
left aisle of the Cathedral, where the celebrated painting by Perugino,
the Spozalizio, now at Caen in Normandy, was preserved until 1797, when
it was taken off by the French invaders. The ornate tabernaculum was
executed by the goldsmith Cesarino del Roscetto in 1519.
The
espousal ring of St. Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, was preserved in
the monastery of St. Sylvester, at Rome. It is of unwrought silver,
with a clear crystal set in the middle, surrounded by black spots and
opaque at the back, so that it reflects images, just as does a mirror.
On the festival of the betrothal of St. Anne, the eyes of those whose
sight was weak were touched with the ring.18 The curative
results of this application were doubtless all that could be desired,
more especially as weak sight is often caused by nervous depression, or
nervous derangements.
The body of St. Caius, martyred in 296 a.D., was
exhumed from the Cemetery of Calixtus, in Rome, on the anniversary of
the sainted pope's birth, April 21, 1622, in the reign of Pope Gregory
XV. Within the sepulchre were found three coins of Diocletian, in whose
reign St. Caius (283-296 a.D.) received the papal crown, and also the pope's ring, probably his signet, although no exact description of it has reached us.19 In the suc-
18 Giacinto Gimma, " Della storia naturale delle gemme," Napoli, 1730, vol. i, p. 39.
19 Pauli Aringhi, " Roma subterranea," Romae, 1651, p. 701.
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