Ostensorium with "Paten of St. Bernward", Lower Saxony (silver & silver gilt)

This unusual ostensorium (from the Latin ostendere: to show) was made to facilitate the display and veneration of ten relics, most prominent among them an elaborate liturgical paten—a shallow plate for the elevation of the Eucharist during Mass—associated with St. Bernward of Hildesheim (d. 1022), and a relic of the True Cross. Eight more relics, wrapped in small silk pouches, are visible on the reliquary's reverse. They are identified as the remains of Sts. Godehard, Nicholas, Auctor, Silvester, Servatius, John Chrysostom, Alexis, and Lawrence by accompanying inscriptions on parchment.