EULOGIA. — Originally, this term referred to the bread offered by the faithful for the Eucharistic sacrifice and, not being used for that purpose, was blessed and distributed to those who had attended the rite but had not received Communion, or to catechumens, who could not receive Communion, as a sign of fraternal communion (Antiochene Council of 341; St. Augustine, *De peccatorum remissione*, ch. 26).
Later, the term came to denote any food blessed by a bishop or priest, or any voluntary gift made by priests to their respective bishops when visiting them (Council of Meaux, can. 14).
A broader use of the term developed to indicate relics of contact, taken from the Holy Places or from the tombs of the most venerated saints.
Indeed, pilgrims who traveled from distant regions to visit the tombs of the most celebrated martyrs, to venerate their remains and implore their aid, were accustomed to return home with some token of the blessing of the martyr they had visited, taken from his tomb. Such a token usually consisted of a little oil taken from the lamps burning before the martyr and poured into suitable flasks (v.).
The most sought-after oil of this kind was certainly that which had flowed directly over the relics of St. Martin, as recounted by Gregory of Tours (*De vita s. Martini*, I, 2-32; MGH, *Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum*, I, 559; Paulinus of Périgueux, *Vita Martini* V: CSEL, XVI, 112-12, vv. 125-8).
This oil was often used to anoint the sick (John Chrysostom, *Hom. in Martyres*: PG 50, 664; *Vita Boniti episc. Averri*, ch. 27; MGH, *Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum*, VI, 133).