A
monstrance, also known as an
ostensorium (or an
ostensory), is the vessel used in
Roman Catholic,
Old Catholic and
Anglican churches for the more convenient exhibition of some object of piety, such as the consecrated
Eucharistic host during
Eucharistic adoration or
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. It is also used as
reliquary monstrance for the public display of relics of some saints. The word
monstrance comes from the
Latin word
monstrare, while the word
ostensorium came from the Latin word
ostendere. Both terms, meaning "to show", are used for vessels intended for the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, but
ostensorium has only this meaning.