Relics

Catholics do not talk very much about relics nowadays. This is a shame as relics are a gift of God that we should treasure as we would the most valuable jewels or precious stone; more so, in fact, because relics are infinitely more valuable. Indeed, they are utterly priceless.

 

What are relics? Relics can either be a part of the skeleton of a Saint or an item that was associated with them, for example, a piece of clothing or a book or some other object. A skeleton is called a primary relic because it is of the Saint himself; any other object is called a secondary relic.

 

The teaching of the Church was summed up at the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century and has not changed to this day. The Fathers of Trent solemnly declared that,

 

"the holy bodies of holy martyrs and of others now living with Christ—which bodies were the living members of Christ and 'the temple of the Holy Ghost' (1 Cor. 6:19) and which are by Him to be raised to eternal life and to be glorified are to be venerated by the faithful, for through these [bodies] many benefits are bestowed by God on men..."

 

What are these benefits that have been bestowed by God? To find out, we turn back to the Bible. Our first stop is the Old Testament and the following miracle,

 

Elisha died and was buried. Bands of Moabites were making incursions into the country every year. Some happened to be carrying out a man for burial; at the sight of one of these bands, they flung the man into the tomb of Elisha and made off. The man had no sooner touched the bones of Elisha than he came to life and stood up on his feet.

(2 Kings 20-21)

 

This miracle of healing is replicated again in the New Testament:

 

... there was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years; after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she had spent all she had without being any the better for it; in fact, she was getting worse. She had heard about Jesus, and she came up through the crowd and touched his cloak from behind, thinking, 'If i can just touch his clothes, I shall be saved.' And at once the source of the bleeding dried up, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint. And at once aware of the power that had gone out from him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, 'Who touched my clothes?' His disciples said to him, 'You see how the crowd is pressing round you; how can you ask, "Who touched me?"' But he continued to look all round to see who had done it. Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. 'My daughter,' he said 'your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free of your complaint.'

(Mark 5:25-34)

 

And again,

 

'Many signs and wonders were worked among the people at the hands of the apostles so that the sick were even taken out into the streets and laid on beds and sleeping-mats in the open that at least the shadow of Peter might fall across them as he past.'

(Acts 5:14-15)

 

'So remarkable were the miracles worked by God at Paul's hands that handkerchiefs or aprons which had touched him were taken to the sick, and they were cured of their illnesses, and the evil spirits came out of them.'

(Acts 19:11-12)

 

The Bible gives good news about the healing effect that the relics of holy people can have. Unfortunately, they are not easily available for Catholics to touch or hold. Some churches keep reliquaries, which they may expose on the feast day of the saint concerned. But did you know that all Catholic churches contain relics embedded in the altar? This is a tradition that goes back to the early days of the Church when the altar was the shrine of a martyred saint.  This is how St. Augustine described them:

 

...we Christians construct, in honour of our martyrs... memorial shrines, as to men who are dead, but whose spirits are living with God. We do not in those shrines raise altars on which to sacrifice to the martyrs but to the one God, who is the martyrs' God and ours; and at this sacrifice the martyrs are named, in their own place and in the appointed order, as men of God who have overcome the world in the confession of his name.

(City of God, Bk. 20, Chapt. 10)

 

The next time you visit a Catholic church why not see if you can find out whose relics are in the altar there and ask him (or her) to pray with or for you? If you take a moment to venerate the relics of that saint, you will be following a tradition that has its roots in the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. When they flew from Pharaoh's oppressive rule, they took with them the bones of Joseph (Ex 13:19). After St. Polycarp was martyred (c.156 AD) his followers wrote how,

 

'we took up his bones, which are more valuable than precious stones and finer than refined gold, and laid them in a suitable place, where the Lord will permit us to gather ourselves together, as we are able, in gladness and joy, and to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom.'

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