More Liturgical Treasures from Milan Cathedral (Part 2)

Following up on recent posts in December and January, here are some more items of liturgical interest from the museum of the cathedral of Milan, photographed by Nicola de’ Grandi.

This two-sided painting, known as the Madonna dell’Idea, was made in the 2nd quarter of the 15th century by Michelino and Leonardo da Besozzo, and is still carried every year in the procession on Candlemas.

A gilded and silvered copper head of God the Father, by Beltramino da Rho, 1416-25, originally mounted on the crossing of the ribs in the apse, (now replaced by a copy in the church itself).

A painting of St Charles Borromeo carrying in procession the nail of the Crucifixion, which is one of the most precious of the cathedral’s many relics; by Fede Galizia, 1628-29. Originally commissioned for the Theatine church of St Anthony, and used a processional banner during the plague of 1630, since St Charles had done the same during a severe outbreak of the plague that hit Milan in 1576. 

An altar frontal made for the canonization of St Charles, which took place on All Saints’ Day of 1610. This and the two items that follow, a chalice veil and an orphrey for a cope, both made for the same occasion, are largely the word of a famous master-embroiderer of the early 17th century called Ludovica Antonia Pellegrini. 

A throne for exposition of the Holy Sacrament, made ca. 1600-30 by Giovanni Battista Perego, of silver sculptures mounted on a rock-crystal base.

Silver reliquary busts of St Charles, St Thecla (the patron of the cathedral parish) and of St Sebastian,  a native son of Milan, made in 1585-1586, with bases and halos added in 1777-78.

An episcopal crook made at the end of the 17th century...

and another of the year 1606.