Within the Mastrillian silver casket placed on the Florentine mausoleum, a crystal urn now holds the sacred relics of what was once the incorrupt body of St Francis Xavier. Following the 1952 Exposition, D. José da Costa Nunes, Patriarch of Goa, decided that the sacred relic should no longer be directly handled by pilgrims due to its fragile condition. An order was then placed with Casa Brandizzi in Rome for a crystal or highly transparent glass urn to encase the relics.
On January 30, 1955, engineer Ettore Brandizzi arrived in Mormugão aboard the ship ‘India’ from Lisbon, bringing with him the crystal urn set in a silver frame, reportedly costing Rs 60,000.
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On February 2, the old wooden coffin, which had housed the sacred relic since 1744 within the Mastrillian casket, was moved to the upper hall of the Professed House of Bom Jesus. It was opened with three keys held by the Patriarch of the East Indies, the Governor-General of Portuguese India, and the Administrator of the Basilica.
For ten days, Brandizzi focused on transferring the holy relic from the wooden coffin into the crystal urn, following strict instructions not to use any wax or plastic materials, as had been done for other relic displays. On February 13, 1955, the crystal urn’s lid was sealed with the seals of the Patriarch, D. José Vieira Alvernaz, and the Governor-General, Paulo Bernard Guedes.
The sealed urn, encased in a silver frame, was transported to the Florentine Mausoleum. However, the silver frame was too large for the Mastrillian casket, so it was removed, and only the crystal urn was placed inside. The discarded silver frame is now on display just outside the Sacristy.
After the Exposition of 1964-65, the seals were broken to allow cleaning of the inner surfaces of the urn’s glass. Due to the high transparency of the glass, pilgrims can view the holy relic while being protected from direct contact. Consequently, during subsequent expositions in 1964, 1974, 1984, 1994, 2004, 2014, and 2024, the sacred relic was displayed within the crystal urn for pilgrims’ veneration.
