Monstrance

A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory),[1] is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharistic Sacramental bread (host) during Eucharistic adoration or during the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Either term, each expressing the concept of "showing", can refer to a vessel intended for the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, but ostensorium has only this meaning.

[2] In the Catholic tradition, at the moment of consecration the elements (called "gifts" for liturgical purposes) are transformed (literally transubstantiated) into the body and blood of Christ.

The Corporeal Presence is believed to be real (in Latin: realiter) and of the whole (totaliter) Christ, in Body, Soul and Spirit.

Monstrances of this shape, dating from the fifteenth century, are also not uncommon, and for several hundred years past this has been by far the commonest form in practical use.

Behind this glass is a holder made of gilded metal, called a lunette or lunula, which holds the host securely in place.