What is a Catholic relic?

What relics are

A relic is, in the Catholic understanding, a physical link to a person who has entered into the heavenly glory: a fragment of the body, an object owned or used during life, or something that has been brought into contact with a primary relic. The most-venerated modern Catholic relics include the True Cross (whose discovery is attributed to Saint Helena of Constantinople in the fourth century) and the bodily relics of recent stigmatics such as Saint Padre Pio. Relics are venerated as tangible reminders of the lives of the saints and as occasions for the asking of their intercession (see Communion of Saints).

The Catholic Church distinguishes the veneration of relics, which is permitted and encouraged, from the worship of relics, which would be idolatry. The relic itself is not divine; it is a created object connected with a saint or with Christ. The honor offered to the relic passes through it to the person it represents and ultimately to God, who has glorified that person.¹

The three classes of relics

The Catholic tradition distinguishes three classes of relics:

First-class relics

A fragment of the body of a saint. Hair, bone, or ash from the body. The mortal remains of the saint, in whole or in part. First-class relics of the Passion of Christ (the True Cross, the Holy Nails, the Crown of Thorns, the Holy Lance, the Shroud of Turin) are also classified as first-class.

Second-class relics

An object that the saint owned, used, or wore during his or her earthly life. Clothing, a chalice, a manuscript in the saint's own handwriting, a book the saint read.

Third-class relics

An object that has been brought into contact with a first or second class relic. A small piece of cloth or paper that has touched the body or possessions of a saint.

The Catholic faithful most commonly receive third-class relics, since first and second class relics are reserved for cathedrals, parish churches, religious communities, and authorized custodians.

The use of relics in liturgy

Catholic canon law requires that every consecrated altar contain relics of saints, in continuity with the early Christian practice of celebrating the Eucharist over the tombs of the martyrs (Canon 1237 §2 of the Code of Canon Law). This is why every Catholic altar has, traditionally, a small altar stone with relics sealed within it.

Relics are also used in:

• Veneration on feast days, when a major relic of the saint may be exposed for the faithful to venerate after Mass.
• Public veneration on the feast of all relics in a particular church (for those churches that have a notable collection).
• Pilgrimage to shrines containing the principal relics of major saints (e.g., Saint James at Compostela, Saint Peter and Saint Paul at Rome, Saint Thomas at Madras).

The biblical foundation

The biblical witness to the veneration of relics begins in the Old Testament:

• The bones of the prophet Elisha raise a dead man to life when his body touches them (2 Kings 13:21).
• The cloak of the prophet Elijah, taken up by Elisha, parts the waters of the Jordan (2 Kings 2:14).

In the New Testament:

• A woman is healed by touching the hem of Christ's garment (Matthew 9:20-22).
• Handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched the body of Saint Paul healed the sick when applied to them (Acts 19:11-12).
• The shadow of Saint Peter passing over the sick was sufficient to heal them (Acts 5:15-16).

These passages establish, for the Catholic tradition, the principle that physical contact with the body of a saint or with objects associated with a saint can be the occasion for divine grace.

What relics do not do

Relics do not have power in themselves. They are occasions for the divine action through the intercession of the saint, not magical objects whose handling guarantees a result. Catholic theology has consistently insisted on this distinction. The veneration of relics is properly ordered when it leads to the imitation of the saint and to deeper communion with Christ; it is disordered when it becomes superstition or attempts at instrumental control.

Sources

Footnotes

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1674 and 2132, on popular religiosity and the distinction between veneration and worship. See also Council of Trent, Session XXV (December 4, 1563), Decree on the Invocation, Veneration, and Relics of Saints, and on Sacred Images. ↩