monstrance
/ˈmɒnstr(ə)ns
/noun
(In the Roman Catholic Church) an open or transparent receptacle in which the consecrated Host is displayed for veneration.In accordance with her last wishes, diamond flowers and leaves from her tiara surround the container for the host of a monstrance made in 1874 for the Church of the Sacre Coeur at Issoudon....
- For the last section of the procession, including Macquarie Street past the state parliament, the sacred host in its gold monstrance was enshrined on a silk-lined float drawn by ten deacons from St Patrick's College at Manly.
- In the hill town in the Maremma, though few go to church, they still decorate the pavements with flowers for the Corpus Christi procession, school children still scatter rose petals before the monstrance and the Madonna.
Origin
Late Middle English (also in the sense 'demonstration or proof'): from medieval Latin monstrantia, from Latin monstrare 'to show'.