Vero Ligneo (True Cross) reliquary, which was donated to the Confraternity of the Crucifix of Cospicua by the Inquistor Mgr. Rammuccio Pallavicino, later created cardinal, in 1675. Pieces of wood from the Cross unearthed by St. Helena are displayed in the center of a silver cross. At the end of the Great-Romano-Persian War of the 6th century, the victorious Byzantines demanded that the return of the Relic of the True Cross as one of the fundamental articles of the peace treaty. The Silver Cross wherein the pieces of the True Cross are venerated is stamped by numerous official seals attesting to the veracity that the wood comes from the True Cross found by the Empress Helena.
During the Episcopal visit of Bishop Cocco Palmieri (1694), in his report, the Reliquary is described as part that found by Saint Helen; the Bishop writes that it is inventionis Sanctae Crucis and it was to be carried during the procession in the Feast of the Holy Cross. Bishop Fra Gaspare Gori Mancini (1722-1771) declared that the Reliquary contains without any doubt parts of the True Cross. This precious and priceless Silver Cross is still in the Cospicua Church, an object of devotion and prayers. In the Maltese Islands many ancient parish churches have Vero Ligneo reliquaries. For instance, the Basilica of St. Helena in Birkirkara has an ancient history related to a True Cross relic | Photo taken by Martin Dimech on behalf of the Malta Tourism Authority.
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