ABSTRACT
In their headquarters in Jerusalem the Templars owned a relic of the True Cross, which was used like a palladium during battles, much as the kings of Jerusalem used the fragment preserved in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Sources also recall several staurothecae in the commanderies of the Order, which are maybe also referred to in the wall decoration of various churches. In this context, the reliquary kept in the Cleveland Museum is extremely interesting, as a long inscription on the frame recounts the story of the cross that was inserted in it in 1214. According to the story, the cross was stolen in the Holy Land by a priest: on the return journey he died, but not before leaving the relic to the Templars, on the Virgin’s exhortation. So divine will delivered the reliquary to the knights, and they surrounded it with thirty relics, visible through openings that form a cross pattée, which is the emblem of the Order. The collection of relics includes those of St George and St Theodore, highly revered in Brindisi, where the reliquary was probably made. Indeed during the 13th century the Templars were increasingly interested in the cult of saints and they were directly engaged in the canonization of St Bevignate.
