Joan Carroll Cruz - Relics: What They Are and Why They Matter

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The veneration of relics is practiced by Christians and non-Christians alike. It is in no way restricted to the Catholic religion, but is, to some extent, a primitive instinct with origins that predate Christianity.

It is known, for instance, that relics of Buddha, who died in 483 B.C., were distributed soon after his death. Although there remain only a limited number of authentic relics, parts of his body, including teeth and hairs, have been carefully preserved and enshrined in various domed, towerlike shrines that are found in cities and in the countryside throughout the Buddhist world. Known as stupas, or pagodas, these shrines are visited by both monks and laymen who walk around them in a practice known as circumambulation, making offerings of food and flowers while meditating on the doctrines taught by Buddha. Since there are only a few authentic relics, some of the millions of stupas in Asia contain only images, prayers or sacred writings as reminders of the prophet. The extreme development of relic worship among the Buddhists of every sect is a fact beyond dispute.

The relics of Confucius have been venerated every year by Chinese and Asian peoples since the year 195 B.C. when Emperor Kao Tsu of the Han Dynasty visited the tomb and offered sacrifices. Although Confucius laid no claim to being more than a man, his system of ethics gradually assumed the aspects of a religious cult. His analects are wise sayings similar to the Proverbs in the Bible. In accordance with tradition there are no statues or images of the sage, only tablets inscribed with his name. The followers of his teachings number more than 300 million, with many paying homage at his tomb.

Relics of Mohammed, who died in A.D. 632, are likewise revered, these being two hairs of the prophet which are kept in a reliquary resembling a domed temple that stands several feet high beside the huge rock in a building in Jerusalem called the Dome of the Rock. This limestone rock, measuring 58 feet by 44 feet, figures in Islamic, Jewish, and Christian traditions and is something of a relic itself, being regarded by Moslems as the rock visited by an angel before the creation of Adam and Eve and the place where Mohammed ascended to heaven. Here Abraham is said to have nearly sacrificed his son, and it is claimed that all the great prophets from Elijah onward prayed beside it. Many Christian churches profess the belief that Christ will descend on the spot at the Second Coming.

Since the early days of the Church the remains of a saint or holy person were called relics, from the Latin Reliquiae meaning remains. Relics are divided into three categories. First-class relics are parts of the bodies of saints and the instruments of Our Lords Passion. Second-class relics are objects sanctified by close contact with saints, such as articles of clothing, objects used in life or, in the case of a martyr, the instruments of his torture. Third-class relics are objects or cloths touched to either first- or second-class relics.

Material benefits obtained through relics of saints have often included miracles, as is witnessed not only by the history of the Church and the lives of the saints, but also by Sacred Scripture. In the Old Testament the relics of the prophet Elisha are mentioned. It is related that:

Elisha died and was buried. At the time bands of Moabites used to raid the land each year. Once some people were burying a man when suddenly they spied such a raiding band. They cast the dead man into the grave of the prophet Elisha, and everyone hurried off. But when the man came in contact with the bones of Elisha, he came back to life and rose to his feet (2 Kings 13:20-21).

The New Testament mentions second-class relics of the Apostle Paul and the wonders the Lord worked through them. The Acts of the Apostles relate that:

God worked extraordinary miracles at the hands of Paul. When handkerchiefs or cloths which had touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases were cured and evil spirits departed from them (Acts 19:11-12).

Other cloths known as branded, after lying for a time in contact with the remains of the holy apostles, were likewise treated as relics.

After the apostolic times, the earliest record of honor paid relics of holy persons was written by the inhabitants of Smyrna about A.D. 156 which described the death of St. Polycarp. After the saint had been burned at the stake, we are told that his faithful disciple, after encountering delays by Roman officers:

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 in gladness and joy and to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom.

The authenticity of this passio is beyond question, since it has been proven that it was written soon after Polycarps martyrdom in the year 156 or 157.

We learn three times from St. Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) that relics of the wood of the cross, discovered about the year 318, were already distributed throughout the world. St. Gregory of Nyssa (d. c. 400), in writing about the forty martyrs, described how their bodies were burned by persecutors and recorded that: