Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Arma Christi. (oil on canvas)

Arma Christi ("Weapons of Christ"), or the Instruments of the Passion, are the objects associated with Jesus' Passion in Christian symbolism and art. They are seen as arms in the sense of heraldry, and also as the weapons Christ used to achieve his conquest over Satan; Monastery of Santa Maria de Salzedas In its time, this was one of the largest Cistercian monasteries in Portugal, having been given vast areas of land in the surrounding region with the express duty of tilling and populating them. Construction work began in 1155, immediately after the Order had been given the lands by Egas Moniz, the tutor of D. Afonso Henriques, and his wife Teresa Afonso. It was consecrated in 1255, when the complex of monastic buildings was complete;