A Latin cross whose arms and upright have trefoil ends and an architecturally structured node.
On the fronte, in the centre of the area where the arms cross the upright beam, there is a figure of the crucified Christ, which was attached later.¹
On the reverse, there is a Christ Redentor Mundi giving a blessing, holding in his left hand a globe on which sits a cross.
The field of the upright and the arms is filled with vegetal elements that are perforated and in relief. The perimeter of the cross is decorated with a lacy border, also perforated, resulting in a very decorative effect. At the ends of the cross, on quadrifoil surfaces, on the front, in low relief, are depicted scenes of the Flagellation, Judas's Kiss, Christ in the Garden, and Ecce Homo. The four evangelists - St. Mark, St. John, St. Luke and St. Matthew - are on the reverse of these areas, also in low relief. At the base of the cross, on the two sides, the royal coat of arms is held by two angels.
On the surface and defining the quadrifoil areas, there is a laurel motif with sashes that extends almost the entire length of the cross from one quadrifoil to the next. This laurel motif is not the same on the two sides. A cord goes around the base of the cross as well as that of the node.
The node of the cross, architectural in structure, calls to mind a late-Gothic cathedral and has an oblong, cut-out base. Divided into three tiers, with fenestrated faces and a perforated vegetal decoration, the node is marked with decorative and structural elements such as buttresses, pinnacles, spires, etc. Some of these elements contain sculpted statuettes. The half figures represent the prophets and apostles and are set on corbels with baldachins above.
On the lower tier, there are full-figure representations of Our Lady of the Assumption, St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalene, which were added in the 19th century in Lisbon.
The upper part of the node is finished off with the coat of arms of D. Manuel I, held by angels and flanked by two spheres. Beneath the node, there is a profusion of perforated foliage in relief, very decorative in effect, from which hang four tintinnabula.
The lower part of the staff of the processional cross, shaped as a hexagonal prism, has a vegetal decoration with multifoils at each end. The edges of the prism are bordered by a cord.
This cross came to the Cathedral in Funchal in 1528, together with other gifts from the King, D. Manuel I, who had died in the meantime in 1521. Reference is made to the cross: a large gilded cross, in silver, weighing eighty-two marks, twenty and two-eighths ounces.²
This Manueline cross was part of the exhibition of Ornamental Art held at the National Museum of Lisbon in 1882; at the exhibition Janelas Verdes in 1949; Sacred Goldsmithery at the Santa Clara Convent in 1951 and at Seville, in the pavilion of the Holy See, in 1994.

¹ A Sé do Funchal, Padre Manuel Juvenal Pita Ferreira, JGDAF, Funchal, 1963, pp. 162 e 163
² Idem, pp. 159 e 160