Relics

RELICS. - In Greek λαίφανα. Etymologically, it refers to what remains, specifically of the human body or a part thereof; in a broader sense, relics are also called objects that were in contact with a person because they have, as it were, absorbed their outstanding virtues.

I. CULT OF RELICS

From its earliest origins, the Church accepted and permitted the veneration of martyrs' relics as a sign of Christians' piety toward brothers who had shed their blood for Christ. If the relic comprises the entire body, the common designation is corpus; if a part of it, ex ossibus. Relics obtained through contact were called by the ancients brandea (v.), memoria (v.), nomina, pignora, sanctuaria. The Church of Smyrna considered the remains of its martyred bishop Polycarp more precious than gold and intended to celebrate his anniversary at his tomb (Martyrium Polycarpi, 18, 1, 2). In the second half of the 2nd century, the presbyter Gaius, refuting the Montanists, pointed to the "trophies," that is, Pietro (v.) and Paolo on the Vatican and the Ostian Way (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., II, 25), a sign that they were frequented, and thus venerated. From antiquity, the Church placed the altar above the tombs of martyrs. In the Apocalypse, the "souls of those slain for the word of God and for the testimony" are indicated as being "underneath the altar" (subtus altare animas interfectorum propter verbum Dei et propter testimo-).

(from P. Monceaux, Enquête sur l'épigraphie chrétienne en Afrique, Paris 1987, par. 3, n. 321)
RELICS - Marble slab with inscription commemorating relics placed beneath the altar at Calama (Africa) - Paris, Louvre Museum.

of the martyrs (Apoc. 6:9), and St. Jerome exclaims: « Male facit ergo Romanus episcopus, qui super mortuorum hominum Petri et Pauli, secundum nos ossa veneranda, secundum te vile pulvisculum, offert Domino sacrificia et tumulus eorum Christi arbitratur altaria? » (Advers. Vigil., 8: PL 23, 361-62). Prudentius describes the mensa adiposita at the tomb of St. Hippolytus, noting, however, that it is dicata Deo (Peristephanon, XI, vv. 169-74). But the idea is more clearly developed by St. Augustine; speaking of Bishop Theogenes, who occupied the see of Hippo in 255-56, he exclaims: « But when we offer the Sacrifice at the tombs of the martyrs, is it not to God that we offer it? Undoubtedly, the holy martyrs have a place of honor. Note this: in the readings made before the altar of Christ, honorable mention is made of them. Yet they are not adored in place of Christ. Have you ever heard at the memoria of St. Theogenes from me or from one of my brothers and colleagues or from any priest: I offer you the Sacrifice, O St. Theogenes? Or: I offer you the Sacrifice, O Peter; or: I offer you the Sacrifice, O Paul? You have never heard such expressions, because this is not done and is not permitted » (Sermo, 273). And in his treatise against Faustus, he repeats the same concept: « It is not to the martyrs but to God that we raise altars. What bishop, in the presence of holy bodies, has ever dared to say: We offer to you, Peter or Paul or Cyprian? What we offer is offered to God, who crowns the martyrs » (Contra Faustum, 20, 21: PL 42, 384). The basilica built in Milan by St. Ambrose near the Porta Romana, called the Basilica of the Apostles, bore the following dedication: « Conditit Ambrosius templum dominoque sacravit nomine apostolico munere reliquiis » (G. B. De Rossi, Inscript. christ., II, Rome 1888, pp. 161, 3; 177, 1). Paulinus notes that the basilica of St. Felix in Nola was dedicated « in nomine domini Christi Dei » (Ep., 32, 10, ed. CSEL, XXIX p. 286). St. John Chrysostom affirms that the tombs of the servants of the Crucified are more brilliant than palaces, not only for the grandeur and splendor of their construction, which surpass them, but, more importantly, for the devotion of the faithful who frequent them (In ep. II ad Cor. hom., 26, 5: PG 61, 582). All these buildings erected over the tombs of the martyrs may be called basilicae or ecclesiae ad corpus, that is, built precisely on the site

(da P. Weber, Der Denachata zu Trier, Augsburger Colonis 1925, tom. 3) RELICS - Ivory depicting a solemn translation of relics (6th century). Trier, Cathedral Treasury.

of the tomb of the witness of Christ and therefore situated beyond the inhabited enclosure; the faithful even loved to be buried near them, and the basilicas were thus cemeterial.

However, the place of the martyr's burial is not always the original one, as occurs in some cases. Duchesne, Profumo, and many others accept the tradition of a translation in 258 of the relics of the apostles Peter and Paul in Catacumbas. The Liber Pontificalis attests that the bodies of Pope Pontian and the presbyter-doctor Hippolytus, who died in exile in Sardinia, were brought back to Rome; indeed, the Depositio martyrum indicates the respective liturgical stations in Callixtus for the former, where his epitaph was found, and on the Via Tiburtina for the latter; the bodies of Popes Cornelius and Lucius, who also died in exile, were likewise translated to Callixtus, where G. B. De Rossi rediscovered their sepulchral inscriptions, that of the former in 1849 and 1852, and that of the latter in 1854; later, the body of Pope St. Eusebius, who died in exile in Sicily, was translated to Rome in Callixtus, as documented by Pope Damasus (A. Ferrua, Epigrammata Damasiana, Città del Vaticano 1942, p. 129 ff., n. 18); in 555, also from Sicily, the remains of Pope Vigilius, who died in Syracuse during his return journey from Constantinople, were brought to Rome in Priscilla (Lib. Pont., I, p. 299). Furthermore, Pope Damasus testifies to the translation carried out by a pious Lucilla of the remains of the martyrs Marcellinus and Peter in the cemetery inter duas lauros; they had been thrown into two pits that the executioner had ordered the Saints themselves to dig.

In Rome, Pope Damasus sought out and rediscovered many bodies of holy martyrs, embellished their tombs, and promoted their veneration (Lib. Pont., I, p. 212). He himself recalls the discovery of the remains of St. Eutychius (A. Ferrua, Epigrammata Damas., cit., p. 145 ff., n. 21). In the 5th century, the relics of Bishop St. Quirinus and of the Four Crowned Martyrs were translated from Pannonia to Rome to protect them from the profanations of the invading barbarians. In Rome, to avoid disturbing the martyr's body from its tomb, Constantine built the basilica of St. Lawrence al Verano above ground; sometimes architectural norms were sacrificed, as observed in the basilica of St. Alexander (v. ALESSANDRO) on the Via Nomentana, where the tomb and the altar from the early 5th century are not aligned with the building, just as occurred in St. Pancras, where the martyr's tomb, until the time of Pope Honorius I (625-38), "ex obliquo aulae iacebat" (G. B. De Rossi, Inscr. Christ. cit., II, 1, p. 24, n. 28). Also in Ravenna, the body of the martyr-bishop St. Apollinaris was introduced into the basilica in his honor during the time of Bishop Maurus (642-71). St. Ambrose rediscovered the bodies of the martyrs Gervasius and Protasius in Milan and transferred them to the basilica of Fausta and from there to his own, the Ambrosiana (Ep., 22, 2: PL 16, 1063).

The cult of relics spurred the diffusion of the cult of the saints; the place where relics were deposited was considered as the tomb, which led to the multiplication of sanctuaries; moreover, the belief that objects placed in contact with the tombs of saints became like so many holy bodies extraordinarily facilitated the possibility of possessing relics, and these were especially sought for the dedications of churches. H. Grisar emphasizes that "the dedication of churches is nothing but a burial of the saints" (Roma alla fine del mondo antico, II, 3rd ed., Rome 1930, p. 202). In a 9th-century Ordo Romanus preserved in the so-called Codex of St. Amand (Cod. Paris, 974) and in another edited by F. Bianchini (Vitae pontificum, III, Rome 1728, p. 48), the title of the dedication ceremony is "Ordo ad reliquias levandas sive condendas". As L. Duchesne observed, this rite is exclusively funerary; the bishop places the relics in a stone container called a sepulchrum, after anointing its corners with chrism, and seals it with a marble slab on which he repeats the anointings, as was the custom of sprinkling perfumes on tombs. The Gelasian Sacramentary preserves a formula of convocation entitled "denuntiatio cum reliquiae ponendae sunt martyrum". In Africa, however, excesses occurred; altars were erected almost everywhere, in the fields, along the roads "tamquam memoriae martyrum". Therefore, in 401, a Council held in Carthage established that such "memoriae" could be erected only where the body of a martyr or one of his relics was present, or where an absolutely certain tradition (fidelissima origine) established his house, a property of his, or the place of his martyrdom. But altars erected following dreams and "per inanes quasi revelationes" were explicitly reproved. Among the crowds drawn to the divine Master, there were those who sought to touch His garments to obtain healing (Mk 5:28; 6:56); the first faithful did the same with the garments of the Apostles (Acts 5:15; 19:11). Still in the apostolic age, it is learned that the faithful of Ephesus brought to the sick the handkerchiefs and belts of St. Paul, and the sick were healed (Acts 19:12). Eusebius recounts that in Jerusalem the chair of the apostle St. James was shown (Hist. eccl., VII, 19). One of the jailers of St. Cyprian wanted the tunic soaked with the martyr's sweat (Vita Cypriani, in CSEL, III, 3, p. cviii); the faithful of Carthage threw cloths on the spot where St. Cyprian was to be beheaded, to retrieve them soaked with his blood (Acta proconsularia, in CSEL, ibid., p. cxiii). St. Basil warned that "by touching the relics of the martyr, one participates in the sanctity and Grace contained in them" (Hom. in Ps., 115, 4: PG 30, 112); indeed, relics sanctify the place and those who frequent it (Hom. in Martyr. Iulittam, 2: PG 31, 241). St. Augustine recalls a miracle worked through the application of oil from a martyrs' sanctuary (De civitate Dei, 22, 8, 18). The dedication of the Roman basilica of Milan carried out by St. Ambrose before 386 was done by means of pignora of the apostles Peter and Paul, brought from Rome (St. Ambrose, Ep., 22); in the same way, the dedication of the basilica dedicated to the same Apostles by Rufinus near Chalcedon must have occurred. Worthy of note are the brandea or contact relics, as appears from the list of saints' names in the dedicatory inscription of 550 of the basilica of St. Stephen erected in Ravenna by Bishop Maximian (Codex Pont. Eccl. Ravennatis, ed. A. Testi-Rasponi, p. 191). In the region of Constantine, an inscription recalls the "depositio crucis sanctorum martyrum qui sunt passi sub praeside Floro in civitate Melevitana", that is, in Mila in Numidia in the year 304 (CIL, VIII, 1935); P. Monceaux, Enquête sur l'épigraphie chrétienne d'Afrique, Pa-

Relics (in Greek λαίφανα). Etymologically, it signifies what remains, and refers to what is left of the bodies of saints or of objects that have been in contact with them or with places sanctified by their presence or by events of sacred history.

The practice of considering as relics objects placed in contact with the tombs of martyrs is already attested in the 4th century in Roman Africa and Gaul, particularly for basilicas erected in honor of SS. Peter and Paul. In Africa, fabrics and flowers arranged near the tombs of martyrs, earth, wax, fringes from altar cloths, and fragments of wood taken from the doors of basilicas (St. Augustine, De civitate Dei, 22, 8). Pope St. Gregory the Great wrote to Empress Constantina, who had requested the head of St. Paul or at least some other relic of his body, that "it is not the custom of the Romans, when they give relics of the saints, to presume to touch anything of the body. Rather, only a cloth is placed in a box and laid upon the most sacred bodies of the saints. When it is removed, it is deposited with due veneration in the church that is to be dedicated, and through this, such great virtues are manifested there as if their bodies were specially transferred" (Registr., IV, 30, in MGH, Epist., I, pp. 264-65). The same Pontiff sent sanctuaria—that is, fabrics that had touched their relics—to Paul, deacon of Rieti, who had requested relics of the martyrs Hermes, Hyacinth, and Maximus (Registr., IX, 49); he sent other sanctuaria to Constantius, bishop of Milan, who had asked for relics of St. Paul, St. Pancras, and St. John (Registr., IX, 83). A great impulse to the veneration of relics came from the Invention of the Holy Cross, fragments of which spread as most venerable relics throughout the Christian world; from the identifications of the places sanctified by the Redeemer in Palestine, from which pilgrims carried away as precious relics earth, stones, and oils that burned there; and further from the invention of the bodies of martyrs, especially in the East and from the East.

An African inscription from the year 359 attests that the great indigenous leader Alavius Nubel, former commander of the equites armigeri iuniores, had brought from Palestine for the church of Rusguniae, near Cape Matifou in Algeria, which he had built by vow, "de ligno crucis de terra promisionis ubi natus est Christus, apostoli Petri et Pauli" (CIL, VIII, 9255; P. Monceaux, Enquête sur l'épigr. cit., n. 317). The division of relics was such that Theodoret declares that in basilicas the entire body of a martyr is not preserved, but only ἀμυροτάτων λειψάνων—that is, relics of little importance (Ep., 130); elsewhere he adds that the relics, though scant,
RELICS - A small parchment strip, added in the 11th century to the large sack of relics in which the pouch of St. Dominanda was also found - Rome, Church of St. Agatha of the Goths.

Being divided and dispersed in several places, Grace nonetheless remains entirely within them; Gregory of Nazianzus affirmed that a few drops of blood had the same efficacy as the whole body (Contra Iulianum, 1, 69; PG 35, 589). Paulinus of Nola also wrote that "great is the power in the small dust of the saints" (Carm., 27, V. 447). Bishop Gaudentius of Brescia (d. c. 410) received some of the blood found by St. Ambrose in the tomb of the martyrs Gervasius and Protasius and declared: "we hold the blood which is a witness of the Passion" (Sermo, XVII; PL 20, 963). The same, after obtaining relics of St. John the Baptist, the apostles Andrew and Thomas, the evangelist St. Luke, the martyrs Gervasius, Protasius, Nazarius, Sisinnius, Martyrius, and Alexander, and the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, erected a basilica which he called the "council of the saints" (PL 20, 959-71). In Rome, pieces of cloth that had touched the tombs of the martyrs were distributed; ampullae containing oils from the burning lamps (v. AMPOLLA; MONZA) near these tombs, keys from the gates closing the tomb of St. Peter, filings from the chains or the gridiron of St. Lawrence. St. Gregory of Tours reports that whoever managed to reach the tomb of St. Peter would insert a piece of cloth, which they then kept as a relic (In gloria martyrum, 28).

II. TRANSLATION OF RELICS

The practice of translating and distributing the relics of martyrs is of Greek origin; "secundum morem Graecorum" wrote Pope Hormisdas to Emperor Justinian in 519 (Hormisdae epist., 77, in A. Thiel, Epistulae Pontif. Rom. [Braunsberg 1868], pp. 873-75). Constantine himself, however, in the church dedicated to the Apostles in Constantinople, was content with cenotaphs (Eusebius, Vita Constantini, IV, 60, 13). The first mention of the translation of relics of which we have record is that of the relics of St. Babylas to Daphne near Antioch during the time of Gallus Caesar (351-54; Sozomen, Hist. eccl., V, 19; Gregory of Nazianzus, Contra Iulianum, 1, 25; PG 35, 552; P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, in Note agiografiche, fasc. VII, pp. 147-48). This was followed in 356 in Constantinople by the translation of the relics of St. Timothy; in 357 by that of the Apostle St. Andrew and the Evangelist Luke (A. Heisenberg, Grabeskirche und Apostelkirche, II, Leipzig 1908, p. 112); then those of the martyr St. Phocas (St. John Chrysostom; PG 50, 799); under Theodosius (379-95) those of Bishop Paul, who died in exile at Cucusus (BHG, 1172), of the martyrs Terentius and Africanus (Theodore Lector, Hist. eccl., II, 62; PG 86, 213), and of the head of St. John the Baptist (Sozomen, Hist. eccl., VII, 21). Under Arcadius, the body of the prophet Samuel was brought to Constantinople (St. Jerome, Contra Vigilantium, 5; PL 23, 352). In 438, during the reign of Theodosius II, the body of St. John Chrysostom (Socrates, Hist. eccl., VII, 45; Theodoret, Hist. eccl., V, 36); under Leo I, the body of St. Athanasius (Theodore Lector, Hist. eccl., II, 64; PG 86, 216); and still in the 5th century, the relics of St. Thyrsus (Sozomen, Hist. eccl., IX, 2); in 550, under Justinian, the so-called sanctuaria were brought to the basilica of Constantinople; Emperor Justinian wished that Patriarch Menas carry the reliquaries through the city on an imperial golden chariot enameled with precious stones (G. B. De Rossi, La capsella africana, Rome 1888, p. 32). The Martyrologium Hieronymianum records on September 3 the Ingressio reliquiorum of Andrew, Luke, and John, who, together with John the Baptist, were also in the basilica of Concordia (P. Paschini, Note sull'origine della chiesa di Concordia, in Memorie storiche forogiuliesi, 7 [1911], pp. 9-24). Relics of the martyr Euphemia of Chalcedon were translated to Milan, Nola, Aquileia, and Rouen. From the East came the relics of the Apostles Andrew, Thomas, and Luke, received by the bishops Gaudentius of Brescia, Victricius of Rouen, and Paulinus of Nola; the relics of Sts. Andrew and Luke were brought to Fondi (St. Pau-
RELICS - A pouch containing relics of the martyr Dominanda with the inscription "Sca Dominanda" (8th-9th century), discovered in 1932. The pouch was sealed with virgin wax seals, still preserved - Rome, church of S. Agata dei Goti.

Paulinus of Nola, Ep., 32: CSEL, XXIX, pp. 292-93). In Milan, the relics of Luke, Andrew, and John. Paulinus of Nola obtained for the basilica of St. Felix relics of St. John the Baptist (Carm., 27, V. 403). Relics of the same John were venerated in Emesa by the anonymous pilgrim of Piacenza at the end of the 6th century (Itinera Hierosolymitana, ed. Geyer, in CSEL, 39, p. 120). It is not known when the body of St. Ignatius of Antioch was returned from Rome to his see, where St. Jerome saw it in 392 outside the Gate of Daphne (De viris illustr., 16). In Constantinople, translations were performed with great solemnity, and a multitude of the faithful participated, including the Emperor himself (St. John Chrysostom: PG 50, 799; Socrates, Hist. eccl., V, 9; Sozomen, Hist. eccl., VII, 10). For the translation of the relics of the prophet Samuel, St. Jerome wrote that the crowd lined the route without interruption from Palestine to Chalcedon (Contra Vigilantium, 5: PL 23, 338). St. Gregory of Nyssa attests to possessing part of the ashes of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and near them he deposited the bodies of his loved ones (Homilia in XL martyres: PG 46, 784). The relics of St. Babylas were returned to their original tomb in Antioch in 362 and again, a few years later, to the Basilica erected by Bishop Meletius beyond the Orontes. Antioch received in 459 the relics of St. Simeon Stylites (H. Delehaye, Les saints stylites, Bruxelles 1923, pp. 33-34) and in 482 those of Bishop St. Eustathius (BGH, 644). In Caesarea, during the time of St. Basil, the relics of the martyr St. Sabas were brought (St. Basil, Ep., 164-65: PG 32, 633-40); in Alexandria in 396, the relics of St. John the Baptist; in Menuthis, near Canopus, those of SS. Cyrus and John.

The ivory plaque, reproduced in col. 749, from the 6th century preserved in the Treasury of the Cathedral of Trier depicts the solemn translation of relics carried in a casket on a rich carriage preceded by a procession in which the Emperor himself participates among the crowd of people who had even climbed onto the roof of the Basilica, at whose door the Empress awaited (F. X. Kraus, Die Geschichte der christlichen Kunst, I, Leipzig 1872, p. 501). L. Duchesne proposed identifying it as the transport of the relics of St. Irene to Galata in 551, and the two figures on the carriage would be the two patriarchs, Menas of Constantinople and Apollinarius of Alexandria (Les origines du culte chrétien, 5th ed., Paris 1920, p. 437, n. 3). The bodies of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste were thrown into the flames and then their ashes into water, but many seized them, as appears from the homily of St. Basil (PG 31, 521); Gaudentius of Brescia, in fact, received from two nephews of St. Basil himself some of their relics (Serm., 17: PL 20, 965). The relics of St. Stephen were discovered in 415 at Caphargamala near Jerusalem by the priest John and deposited in the church of Lyon (PL 41, 809-15). Already in 417 they arrived on the island of Minorca in the Balearics (BHL, 7859-60: PL 41, 833 ff.); and soon after they spread to Africa, at Uzalum, Calama, Hippo, Aquae Thibilitanae, and Castellum Sinitense near Hippo (St. Augustine, De civitate Dei, XXII, 8: 20-21). They are soon found also in Ancona (id., Sermones, 322-23: PL 38, 1444-45). The head of St. John the Baptist was deposited in Constantinople by Emperor Theodosius in the church of the Hebdomon, which he had built (Sozomen, Hist. eccl., VII, 21).

In Rome, the first translation of entire bodies of martyrs recorded by the Liber Pontificalis (I, p. 342) is that of the bodies of the martyrs Primus and Felicianus, which Pope Theodore (642-49) placed in the basilica of St. Stephen on the Caelian Hill; a few years later, Pope Leo II (682-83) extracted the bodies of the martyrs Simplicius, Faustinus, and Beatrice from the Portuense and placed them in the church of St. Paul near St. Bibiana (ibid., I, p. 349). When the Lombard and later the Saracen invasions began, the popes expanded the translations of the relics of the martyrs from their tombs into the city. Paul I (757-67) transported them not only to the Basilica and monastery erected in his ancestral home in the Campus Martius (today St. Sylvester in Capite), but also to "tituli ac diaconias seu monasteria et reliquae ecclesias" (Lib. Pont., I, p. 464); Paschal I (817-24) to St. Praxedes and St. Cecilia (ibid., II, pp. 54, 56); Gregory IV (827-47) to St. Peter (ibid., II, p. 74); Sergius II to St. Sylvester, and Martin to the Mountains and the Lateran (ibid., II, p. 91); Leo IV (847-55) to the SS. Quattro Coronati (ibid., II, p. 115). But the popes simultaneously transferred to the Lateran Patriarchate, specifically to the chapel dedicated to the martyr deacon Lawrence, the heads of the most distinguished Roman martyrs, that is, of the apostles Peter and Paul, of the martyrs Lawrence, Agnes, Sebastian, Pancras, Praxedes, etc., which were preserved within the great cypress chest offered by Leo III (795-816: V. RELIQUIARIO). However, from the catalogues of relics still found in several ancient churches of Rome, dated from 1072 to 1196, one cannot obtain an exact idea of the translations of relics in them, given that the same names of martyrs appear in multiple locations. The lists are reproduced in A. Silvagni, Monumenta epigraphica christiana saec. XIII antiquiora, I, Rome (Città del Vaticano 1943, tavv. 20-26). The relic of the head of St. John the Baptist was transferred under Innocent II (1130-1143) to the title of St. Sylvester, whence the surname in capite to the church itself. Later still, in St. Peter’s, came the relic of the Holy Lance, during the time of Innocent VIII (1484-92), and that of the head of St. Andrew under Pius II (1458-64).

BIBL.:
H. LECLERCQ, in DACL, XIV, coll. 2294-2350; H. DELEHAYE, Les origines du culte des martyrs, Bruxelles 1933; ID., Les reliques des saints, in Analecta Bollandiana, LXI (1943), pp. 5-31; A. BAUDRILLART, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, IV, Paris 1930, coll. 2306-2318; A. FROLOW, La relique de la vraie Croix, Paris 1961; P. BROWE, Die Verehrung der Eucharistie im Mittelalter, München 1933; A. GRABAR, Martyrium, Paris 1946; A. WILPERT, La fede della Chiesa nascente, Roma 1938; A. SILVAGNI, Monumenta epigraphica christiana saec. XIII antiquiora, I, Città del Vaticano 1943; F. X. KRAUS, Die Geschichte der christlichen Kunst, I, Leipzig 1872; L. DUCHESNE, Les origines du culte chrétien, Paris 1920.

A. AMORE

III. ABUSES AND TRAFFICKING OF RELICS

Already in the Theodosian Code, sanctions appear against the theft and trafficking of relics: « nemo martyrem distrahat, nemo mercetur » (Book IX, Title 17). St. Augustine recalls certain monks who « membra martyrum, si tamen martyrum, venditant » (De opere monachorum, 28; in CSEL, 41, p. 585). The Lateran Council of 1215 imposed severe penalties against relic dealers. The bishop of Toulouse, Exuperius (ca. 410), was authorized by imperial rescript for the translation of St. Saturninus (BHL, 7406). An early theft of relics in Rome was carried out by the Novatian sect; it is documented in the Depositio martyrum for the body of the martyr Silanus: « hunc Silanum martyrem Novati furati sunt », a theft which H. Delehaye deemed to have occurred shortly after the martyrdom (Les origines du culte des martyres, cit., p. 65). Gregory of Tours recounts that an impostor, pretending to come from Spain, traveled around carrying a cross to which were attached vials containing, according to him, oils collected from the tombs of the martyrs Vincent the Deacon and Felix. But the most notoriously infamous forger of relics in Rome, in the first half of the 9th century, was the deacon Deusdona, belonging to the title of S. Pietro in Vincoli; he repeatedly sent to Germany—and brought there himself—bodies taken from the cemetery « inter duas lauros », which he passed off—
RELIQUIAE - Display of relics in the school of S. Rocco on the feast day of the Saint - Venice.

After the discovery of the catacomb galleries on the Via Salaria in 1578, and following the explorations of ancient underground cemeteries initiated by P. Ugonio and A. Bosio, these sites were thoroughly searched for the extraction of "holy bodies," recognized as such by the presence of the vial of blood (v. BLOOD) above or within the tombs themselves, or by the symbols of the palm or the monogram. This extraction was later entrusted to the pontifical sacristan and the custodian of relics in the vicariate; Clement IX established a congregation "indulgentiis sacrisque reliquiis praeposita" on July 6, 1669, after issuing a decree the previous year to regulate extraction and suppress abuses. A truly authentic translation, due to its circumstances and documentation, is that carried out by Fr. G. Marchi (v. MARCHI) on March 21, 1845, of the body of St. Hyacinth from the cemetery of Bassilla. The Congregation of Rites, having heard the opinion of the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology, prohibited the extraction of "holy bodies" from the catacombs starting in 1881.

Such recognition may be performed on the occasion of the renewal of the tomb, the transfer or extraction of the relics, or when the body of a saint, whose trace had been lost, is rediscovered. During the apostolic process on the virtues of a Servant of God, the recognition of his relics is also prescribed (can. 2096), which pertains to the Apostolic Tribunal and is carried out upon remissorial letters from the Sacred Congregation of Rites and based on a special instruction from the Promoter General of the Faith. In this recognition, in addition to the members of the Tribunal,

two physicians act as experts, along with the necessary personnel for opening the tomb (mason, locksmith, plumber). It is at this moment that the relics are extracted, usually to be distributed on the occasion of the beatification.

The cult with which relics are honored is called a relative cult, insofar as the object is venerated for the relationship it had with the person of the Saint. A similar cult is also found in the civil and profane sphere, directed toward the memories and remains of illustrious men and heroes, and it is as ancient and widespread as humanity itself; thus, it is legitimate in its principle and forms part of the laws of humanity.

Nor does it pose a difficulty that these objects are something material and therefore, in themselves, something inferior to us, living beings endowed not only with matter but also with spirit. The object of the cult is not, as it might be in fetishism or idolatry, the res in itself; but if relics are the term of the cult or even, if one wishes, the direct object, they are such only because of the contact they had with the person and thus recall the excellence of the person themselves, to whom, ultimately, our cult is directed.
VI. CURRENT DISCIPLINE REGARDING THE CULT OF RELICS – The current discipline is gathered in the Codex Iuris Canonici and in the decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.

In regulating the cult of dulia due to the relics of saints, the Church, as is natural, concerns itself with public worship. To this end, the jurisprudence of the Sacred Congregations of Holy Indulgences and Relics and of Rites, enshrined and collected in can. 1281 § 2, distinguishes between insigni (notable) and non-insigni relics.

Notable relics of saints or blessed are the body, the head, the hand, the knee, or that part of the body in which the martyr suffered, provided it is whole and not small (can. 1281 § 2). If these relics are notable, those of the Passion and Redemption of Our Lord Jesus Christ and also those of the Most Holy Virgin are even more so.

Given this, here are the norms established for the discipline of the cult of relics:
1) Any non-notable relic, ancient or recent, may be venerated with private cult, not only if it pertains to canonized or beatified saints, but also to those who died in the fama sanctitatis, even if the relic is not officially recognized and approved. It suffices that the one practicing this cult be morally certain both of the sanctity of the person to whom the relic is connected and of the relic’s authenticity. Therefore, non-notable relics may, with due honor, be kept even in private homes and carried by the faithful (can. 1282 § 2). This is not the case for notable relics of saints and blessed, without the permission of the local Ordinary (can. 1282 § 1).

2) For the admission of relics to public cult, the prior intervention of ecclesiastical authority is always necessary, which must pronounce on the authenticity of the relic to be exposed to public veneration. Therefore:
a) With public cult in churches and public oratories, even exempt ones, only those relics may be venerated that are known to be genuine either by an authentic document from a cardinal, the local Ordinary (excluding, however, the vicar general without special mandate), or from some ecclesiastic who has the apostolic indult to authenticate (e.g., general postulators; can. 1283 §§ 1-2).
b) The approval of the local Ordinary must be made according to the mind of the Council of Trent, that is, the Ordinary will make his decisions after consulting theologians and prudent men, always guided by criteria of truth and piety. In doubtful cases, before resolving the controversy, the Ordinary will await the sentence of the metropolitan and the comprovincial bishops in the provincial council. Where this does not take place, recourse must be made to the Holy See (Council of Trent, sess. XXV; AAS, 18 [1926], p. 262).
c) When relics already approved for cult are transferred to another diocese, they must be verified by the local Ordinary not for a new approval but so that he may account for the approval already given; and after this, he will grant permission for their exposition to cult.
d) Local Ordinaries shall prudently remove from cult a relic they know to be certainly inauthentic (can. 1284).
e) Relics whose authenticity document has been lost shall not be exposed to the public unless after the judgment of the local Ordinary, excluding the vicar general without special mandate (can. 1285 § 1).
f) However, ancient relics shall be maintained in cult, as in the past, unless it is certain from certain arguments that they are false or counterfeit (can. 1285 § 2).
g) Whoever knowingly manufactures, sells, distributes, or exposes false relics to the public veneration of the faithful incurs ipso facto excommunication reserved to the Ordinary (can. 2326). The reason for this severity of the Church lies in the intent to preclude the way to abuses that ignorance, self-interest, or superstitious faith might foster in this delicate matter. But if the Church demonstrates such prudence and wisdom in the selection of relics, on the other hand, it cannot but condemn exaggerated and disorderly criticisms against the authenticity of relics, especially if made in books or periodicals intended to foment Christian piety (can. 1286). By this, it does not in any way intend to prohibit scholarly discussions animated by a spirit of healthy, constructive, and prudent criticism.

3) The Church further determines the acts of cult permitted according to circumstances toward the relics of saints:
a) The principal acts of cult are: exposing relics to veneration, showing them to the people, giving them to be kissed, carrying them in procession, blessing the people with them (can. 1287). However, regarding exposition, it must be noted that for it to be licit, relics must be enclosed in sealed cases or boxes to avoid the danger of theft or fraud. They cannot be placed above the tabernacle where the Most Blessed Sacrament is reserved (S. Congr. dei Riti, 31 March 1826 ad 6, Decreta authentica, n. 2613), nor above the altar where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed (id., 2 September 1741 ad 1, ibid., n. 2365), even only with the ciborium (id., 19 May 1838, ibid., n. 2779), nor even before the closed door of the tabernacle (id., 6 September 1845, ibid., n. 2906). Moreover, for the exposition and procession of the relics of the blessed outside the places where Mass and the Divine Office are celebrated for them by concession of the Holy See, a particular apostolic indult is required.
b) Other norms regulate the custody and translation of relics. Thus, the bodies of saints cannot be kept in urns above the altar but under the ground or under the altar’s mensa, and they cannot be clothed in new vestments without the permission of the Sacred Congregation of Rites (Benedict XIV, De servorum Dei beatificatione et beatorum canonizatione, IV, part 2, ch. 26).

The translation of the bodies or notable relics of saints from one place to another within the same church may be done with the permission of the bishop; for translations from one church to another, the license of the Holy See is required (can. 1281 § 1). The same applies to the alienation of notable relics. The relics of the blessed cannot be carried in procession nor exposed except in the place where the Holy See has granted the celebration of Mass and the Office (can. 1287 § 3).
c) Any trafficking or fraud in matters of relics is contrary to cult; the transfer of relics, even authentic ones, for the purpose of simoniacal sale, theft, or robbery is forbidden (can. 1289). These acts incur excommunication reserved to the Ordinary (can. 1289). To prevent such acts, the vigilance of Ordinaries, vicarii foranei, and parish priests is encouraged, who are also exhorted to prevent relics from passing into the hands of non-Catholics in cases of alienation or inheritance (can. 1289). The same applies to the relic of the Cross found in the bishop’s ring at the time of his death (can. 1288). This is one of the ways in which relics may be profaned, but not the only one. Other forms of profanation may include negligence in custody leading to their loss. Avoiding these things falls to the rector of the church and others entrusted with their custody (can. 1289 § 2).

With special care, the Church, through the Vicariate of Rome, oversees the relics extracted from the Roman catacombs (cf. motu proprio 11 December 1925 with the annexed Regulation: AAS, 17 [1925], p. 619). On the use of relics in the consecration of the altar, V. ALTARE.

BIBL.:
A. Boudinhon, Reliques, in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, XIII, coll. 2311-2394; F. Cabrol, Reliques et reliquaires, in Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, XV, coll. 2253-2310; P. Browe, Die Verehrung der Eucharistie im Mittelalter, München 1933, pp. 135-140; A. Vacant, Reliques, in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, XIII, coll. 2297-2311; H. Leclercq, Reliques, in Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, XV, coll. 2149-2253; J. Braun, Die Reliquiare des christlichen Kultes und ihre Entwicklung, Freiburg im Br. 1940; G. Ferrari, Early Roman Monasteries. Notes for the History of the Monasteries and Convents at Rome from the V through the X Century, Città del Vaticano 1957, pp. 359-361; A. Amore, Le reliquie di Pietro sotto la Confessione della Basilica Vaticana, in Antonianum, 34 (1959), pp. 3-31; Id., La questione petrina nei primi tre secoli, Roma 1964, pp. 101-115; P. Jounel, Le culte des saints dans les basiliques du Latran et du Vatican au douzième siècle, Roma 1977, pp. 103-112.

A. AMORE

Primitives believe that wearing on the body, arm, neck, or weapons the hair, teeth, or bones of a powerful figure, or ingesting their heart, liver, kidney, or eye, helps to assimilate their qualities and secure their protection in cases of maleficium and assistance in various endeavors such as hunting, war, or healing from illness. Even places made sacred by the memory of mythical ancestors who left imprints of hands, feet, etc., are venerated to the point of becoming pilgrimage destinations, as occurs among the Arunta (central Australia) for the rocks and stones where mythical ancestors left traces of their passage.

Egypt. — The veneration of the ancient Egyptians for the fourteen fragments of Osiris’s body scattered by his killer Seth throughout Egypt is well known. Sanctuaries were erected at the sites of their discovery; particularly famous was that of Abydos, where the head was kept. The Serapeum of Alexandria contained the mummy of the Apis bull, considered the relic of the ultramundane Osiris (= Serapis).

Greece. — In Greece, the cult of heroes is essentially the cult of their tomb (ἡρῶν), which is the most effective safeguard for the city that possesses II. The exaltation of the tomb-relic is evident in the closing of Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, where Theseus, king of Athens, declares on behalf of Oedipus that if his sepulcher is respected from human footsteps and voices, perpetual safety will derive to the land.

Beyond the heroa, famous relics in Greece included the head of Orpheus in Lesbos and Smyrna, his lyre in various places, the bones of Theseus in Athens, of Orestes in Sparta, and so on; the spear of Achilles at Phaselis, the scepter of Agamemnon at Chaeronea; and then the sandals of Helen, the eggs of Leda, the clay with which Prometheus fashioned Deucalion and Pyrrha, etc.

Rome. — In Rome, notable relics included the Palladium of Aeneas, the tomb of Romulus in the Forum and his house on the Germalus, the tomb of Acca Larentia, the pila Horatia with the armor of the three Curiatii, the tigillum sororium, the sandals and distaff of Tanaquil, etc.

Universal religions that had a historical founder, such as Buddhism and Islam, have greatly emphasized the cult of relics related to the founder.

Buddhism. — The places sanctified by the relics of the Buddha are those where his cult particularly developed. After his death at Kusinara, the ashes, divided into eight parts, were distributed to the peoples who attended the funeral, who then preserved them in special sanctuaries (v. STUPRO). Three have been discovered: at Piprawa in Nepal, at Bimaran near Kabul, and at Peshawar; in Ceylon, a tooth of his is venerated; in Burma and northern India, there are locations where relics of the Buddha are venerated.

Islam. — Even among Muslims, though the religion is opposed to the veneration of relics, these are venerated in countries where such traditions were already established by ethnic custom. Thus, a hair from Muhammad’s beard is venerated at Bijapur in the Deccan, a hair at Rôhri in Sind, the imprints of his feet at Ahmadabad, Gaur, and Delhi; in North Africa, the relics of famous Muslim saints are venerated in special sanctuaries (marabutti).