What are relics? Relics are broken down into three categories:
First Class Relics – Actual body part (bone, blood, hair, skin, etc.)
Second Class Relics – Article of clothing or item that was owned or used a lot by the saint.
Third Class Relics – an item that was blessed or briefly used by the saint
Where in Scripture does it talk about relics? What is the history of them? Many non-Catholics freak out or are “ooky” by the thought of keeping and even venerating relics. However, this practice has been around for thousands of years. “for it was the pious custom even in the very earliest times of the Church, and God Himself has, at all times, confirmed this veneration by great miracles. Moses, filled with reverence, took the bones of the Patriarch Joseph and carried them with him on his journey to the Promised Land, where they were finally preserved (Ex. 13:19; Ecclus. 49:18). Eliseus divided the waters of the Jordan with the mantle of Elias (IV Kings 2:14). By touching Eliseus’ bones, a man came to life (IV Kings 3:21). Jesus did not rebuke the woman troubled with the issue of blood, who in faith touched the hem of His garment and was healed (Mt. 9:20). All kinds of diseases were cured by St. Peter’s shadow and by St. Paul’s handkerchief (Acts 5:15; 19:12). The veneration of the relics of Saints, thus approved by the Holy Scriptures, is also sanctioned by the continual practice of the Church. Even the first Christians visited regularly the graves of the martyrs, there to pray and make offerings. The bones of St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch and pupil of St. John, were gathered up with the greatest care by the faithful, and as the most precious treasures were carried in a triumphal procession on the shoulders of the Christians of the towns on the road to Antioch. This took place in the year 107 after Christ. In like manner the faithful of Smyrna preserved the bones of St. Polycarp, Bishop, who was martyred b fire in the year 166. They preserved them, as something more valuable than gold or precious stones, in a sacred place where every year his martyrdom was commemorated. In sermon on the Saints Juventius and Maximus, St. Chrsostom says: ‘Let us visit them often, let us touch the little case, (in which these bones are kept and approach their relics with the greatest confidence, so that we may receive blessings through them.’ An immense number of testimonies could still be quoted concerning the veneration of saints’ relics, and of the miracles that have occurred through them, by which is clearly shown that this pious custom has always been practiced in the Church.”[i]
Why do we venerate relics? Council of Trent explains this the best, “Because they are the precious remains of bodies that were, in life, members of Christ and temples of the Holy Ghost, and will one day rise and be glorified; God gives us a great many favors through them, and they, therefore, deserve to be held in honor by us.”[ii] “Veneration is nothing more than an outward sign of the esteem which we have for the dignity and merits of others. If we bow before the pictures of Christ and the saints, before their relics, or bend the knee to them, these external honors refer to those who represented by the pictures, or whose relics are present. Princes and their portraits are venerated in the same manner in our days, without being worshipped.”[iii] When someone kneels in front of a tomb stone they are not kneeling in reverence to the piece of granite, they are kneeling for the bones that lie below the stone. We see the veneration of relics in our neo-pagan society in places like Hard Rock Café where guitars, shoes, jewelry, and clothing of the celebrities is gawked at and even in a sense venerated. This veneration is made clear when items such as these are auctioned off and people pay thousands of dollars to obtain the relic. In the world of sports, the same phenomenon occurs in our Halls of Fame and even in sports cards which sometimes contain “relics” of a superstar on the cards itself. Even a signature is a type of relic coming from the hand of the one who signs.
Can we venerate statues, religious images, crucifixes, etc.? Yes. The Council of Trent says “that we must have the pictures of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and the saints, especially in the temples, retain them there and show them due honor, not as if we believed there is divinity or power in them to which we must pay honor, nor as if we demanded aught from them, or as if we put our trust in the pictures, as in olden times did the heathens who put their trust in idols: but we venerate pictures because the honor shown them refers to the original which they represent, so that through the picture which we kiss and before which we uncover our head and prostrate ourselves, we adore Christ and venerate the saints”[iv].
How can we venerate pictures and relics if God forbid graven images? God forbids the worship of engrave images. He did not say we could have images. There is a difference. In fact, soon after God had ordered Moses and the people to not worship any engrave image, He instructs Moses to make the image of two cherubs on the Ark of the Covenant facing each other (Ex. 25:18). “He also erected a brazen serpent by the same command which for many centuries was reverently preserved (Numbers 21:8), until the time of Ezechias who destroyed it because abuses had crept in (IV Kings 18:4). The walls and doors of Solomon’s temple were decorated with many figures and carvings, and God Himself solemnly consecrated this temple (III Kings 6:29). Consequently, God did not forbid absolutely the use of images or pictures, and we find them in the earliest times of the Church. Tertullian (about the year 160 AD) makes mention of the picture of the Good Shepherd on the chalice (De pudicit. C.10). The pictures of the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God, and of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul from the second century are still in good state of preservation in the great cemetery of the first Christians at Rome.”[v] Is God contradicting Himself? No, of course not. He is showing that there can be beauty and images even in temples and churches, but they can not be worshiped or adored like the pagans.
Why do we use images? St. Gregory the Great said, “They are for the unlearned a book in which they can study the mysteries and graces of God; that they may take to heart the things which Christ has done for us, and the Saints have done for heaven, and may thus incited to gratitude, to love of God, and to the imitation of the saints. It is most important that all improper and scandalous pictures, by which innocence is often led astray, be removed from every Christian dwelling, and sacred and edifying ones put in their place.”[vi] For hundreds of years many of the general public was illiterate. They did not have books. However, if they had stain glass windows, statues, or paintings of people or events then they could learn about their faith, and understand them better.
ACTIVITY - Pictures around the house, wallet, phone, car, etc.
Ask the group to think of how many pictures they have in their house. Ask how many pictures they may have in their wallet? There phone? Car? Count them all up. Why would people want pictures of other people up in there house, in there car, in there wallet, and on there phone? Why do we make statues of some of the greatest leaders? Because the country loves them dearly, and wants to be reminded of them as often as they can. People know that it is just a picture, and not really that person, but it reminds them of that person. It is no different than to have images, stain glass windows, statues, and other objects. They are to remind us of them, and we love them dearly. We know that the statue is just that, a statue, but it should remind us of the person.
VIDEO – Destroying St. Therese statue
An anti-Catholic pastor tries to accuse the Catholic Church for worshiping Mary and statues. Ironically he keeps saying the statue is of Mary when in fact it is a statue of St. Therese of Lisieux. He makes the absurd belief that statues have feelings or power. Statues are just marble, plaster, or wood. If anything happens regarding a miracle with a statue it is because God did it, not the statue. If anyone is kneeling before a statue that does not mean they are praying to the statue. It is the same if someone is kneeling while reading the Bible; they are not worshiping the Bible. The saddest part of the video is actually him hammering the image of Jesus on the cross. If we are to honor God, and Jesus is the Son of God, why would we want to destroy an image of God? Finally, it was also ironic the man condemns any carved images yet in his church he his carved images of crosses, including one right in the middle of the video.
Can we go too far in honoring images, relics, and other devotions? Absolutely. When people begin to honor saints, pictures, relics, statues, Mary, etc. more than God, they are not following the Catholic faith. The Church in several councils has spoken against idolatry. Idolatry is “someone who ‘transfers his indestructible notion of God to anything other than God’”[vii]. “By worshiping idols and images as God, or believing that they possess any divinity or virtue entitling them to our worship, by praying to , or reposing confidence in them”[viii]. When we are “placing them a presumptuous confidence, as if they could and must of themselves assist us; if we promise ourselves from the saints a happy death and heaven, on account of certain prayers and pious exercises, without taking care to lead a pious life; if we ask nothing but temporal goods, money, and riches, etc., from them, and perhaps use to obtain our requests some suspicious and superstitious prayer and devotions not introduced by the Church, but by the devil and impious men, even calling upon the saints to aid in some vicious deed; and when we represent the saints improperly, or in scandalous pictures; if we expose for veneration relics that are doubtful and have not been declared authentic by the bishops, or when we traffic with them.”[ix]
[i] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 478
[ii] XXV. De invoc. Et venerate. Reliqu. Sanct.
[iii] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 473
[iv] Sess. XXV.
[v] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 479
[vi] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 479-480
[vii] CCC 2114
[viii] The Catechism of the Council of Trent 374
[ix] Goffines, The Church’s Year, pg. 480-481