‘Custódias’

Devotional miniatures of the ‘Santíssimo’

They have this name because in the middle there is a piece that resembles the object in which the Santíssimo (=Most Holy) is shown to the Christians; they’re also called ‘relicários’, ‘relicairos’, ‘lábias’ and ‘Brasileiras’ (=Brazilian). These jewels are made with a little opened filigree, not very refined (the most popular ones), although now some new ones are starting to appear, in Gondomar, made with a thinner filigree.

They’re called ‘lábias’ because they resemble the upper lips (=lábios); they’re also known as Brazilian because at that time, the men from Castelo do Neiva that had emigrated to Brazil used to , when they came to Portugal to visit their family or girlfriend, buy this piece (even if the sacrifices to purchase it were tremendous, because some of these men that went to those places returned even poorer…). The ‘custódia’ was then proudly shown in Sunday mass. At the end the people, faced with such exhibition would say: “Look! There goes the Brazilian!” that’s the reason why this piece became known as ‘Brazilian’.