Shrine

Shrine (Lat. scrinium, a case or chest for books, hence a casket; from scribere, to write, Fr. ecrin, Ital. scrigno), the term given to the repository or chest to hold sacred relics. Sometimes shrines are merely small boxes, generally with raised tops like roofs; sometimes actual models of churches; sometimes large constructions like that at St Albans, that of Edward the Confessor at Westminster, of Ste Genevieve at Paris, &c. Many are covered with jewels in the richest way, such as the example at St Taurin, at Evreux in Normandy, and that of San Carlo Borromeo, at Milan, of beaten silver; the largest series are those which were enriched with enamels. Sometimes the term is given to the chapel in which the shrine is deposited.