I’m not even going to try to tell you how I arrived at this spot, but how can you resist a website dedicated to antique spectacles which contains a web page about "famous religious leaders and their spectacles?"

On the sides of a Reliquary (photo 1) there are two niches. The one on the left holds a pair of arc spectacles (photo 2) made of leather and a label (photo 3) which says, “Hisce conspicillis diu usus e S.Philip Nerius dum praesertim Sacrum faceret .etc. St Philip Neri usually used for a long time those spectacles particularly when saying Mass.” We can suppose that for the specific use they allowed St Philip to read the missal at a certain distance, higher than the one of normal reading (nowadays in Italy one calls them “music spectacles” because they help the presbyopic pianist read the score on piano’s music stand). They are still in a good state, but one of the lenses is broken.

Who can resist? Not me…there’s more. Thank God for the enthusiasts – they uncover such interesting stuff!