BRANDEA. - With this term the early Christians designated those linen cloths or veils which, having been applied directly to the body or the tomb of the saints, were thereafter considered as so many relics. The b. therefore form a category of representative relics and constitute a special class among the eulogia (v.).
The use of b. certainly goes back to the age of the persecutions (Prudentius, Peristephanon, V: CSEL, 61, p. 346). The psychological basis of such a use is to be sought in the common persuasion that the miraculous power of the bodies of the saints is communicated also to objects that have come into contact with them, whether directly or indirectly. The antecedents of this psychology can be discerned in the desire of the crowds to draw near to Jesus just enough to barely touch his garments; or in the press of the first Christians to succeed in touching the garments or the shadows of the Apostles in order to feel uplifted in spirit and often healed in body (Mk. 5:28; 6:56; Acts 5:15; 19:11).
After the age of the persecutions, linen cloths were lowered into the confessions of the martyrs, through the special fenestella, so that they might be imbued with their healing power (Gregory of Tours, Liber Miraculorum, I, 27). These b. were held in such honor and esteem that, in the absence of authentic relics, they were very often used even for those purely liturgical purposes that required their employment (Gregory the Great, Reg. Ep., IV, 50). The use and cult of b. is known and practiced everywhere, although they were designated differently in different places, namely palliola, sanctuaria, etc.
Bibliography
Giuseppe Gagov