Chasuble from the Red “Jerusalem Cross” Set of Pontifical Vestments

A chasuble is worn by priests during the celebration of Mass. Its color depends on the liturgical time of the year. A red chasuble would have been used for feasts such as Pentecost. The decoration of the chasuble includes the Jerusalem Cross, made of five crosses that symbolize the wounds suffered by Jesus Christ during his Passion. Together with other vestments, this chasuble was sent in the early seventeenth century to Jerusalem from the Commissariat of the Holy Land in Lombardy, in Milan. The gift may have been in commemoration of the Jubilee Year of 1600.