monstrance

thumb|right|A traditional "solar" monstrance

A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for ostension, e.g., 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. A monstrance may also serve as a reliquary for the public display of relics of some saints. The word monstrance comes from the Latin word , while the word ostensorium comes from the Latin word . 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.