A relic is an object, especially a piece of the body or a personal item of someone of religious significance, carefully preserved with an air of veneration as a
tangible memorial. Relics are an important aspect of Buddhism, some denominations of Christianity, Hinduism, shamanism, and many other personal belief systems.
The word relic comes from the Latin reliquiae ('remains'). A reliquary is a shrine that houses one or more relics.
Christian relics
Some Christian relics are two thousand years old.
History of Christian relics
One of the earliest sources cited to support the efficacy of relics is found in 2 Kings 13:20-21:
20 Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. 21 Once while
some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When
the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet. (NIV)
These verses are cited to claim that the Holy Spirit's indwelling also affects the physical body, that God can do miracles
through the bodies of His servants, or both. Also cited is the veneration of Polycarp's relics recorded in the
Martyrdom of Polycarp (written 150–160 AD). With regards to relics that are
objects, an often cited passage is Acts 19:11–12, which says that Paul's
handkerchiefs were imbued by God with healing power.
Many tales of miracles and other marvels were attributed to relics beginning in the early
centuries of the church; many of these became especially popular during the Middle Ages. These tales are collected in books of
hagiography such as the Golden Legend or the
works of Caesar of Heisterbach. These miracle tales made relics much sought after
during the Middle Ages.
There are also many relics attributed to Jesus, perhaps most famously the
Shroud of Turin, which is claimed to be the burial shroud of Jesus, although this is disputed. Pieces of the True Cross were one of the most highly sought after such relics; many churches claimed to possess a piece of
it, so many that John Calvin famously remarked that there were enough pieces of the True
Cross to build a ship from[1], although a study in
1870[2] found that put together the claimed relics weighed
less than 1.7kg (0.04m³).
Romano-Christian daemons and the "virtue" of relics
In his introduction to Gregory of Tours, Ernest
Brehaut analyzed the Romano-Christian concepts that gave relics such a powerful draw (see link). He distinguished
Gregory's constant usage of "sanctus" and "virtus", the first with its familiar meaning of "sacred" or "holy", and
the second
"the mystic potency emanating from the person or thing that is sacred. These words have in themselves no ethical meaning and
no humane implications whatever. They are the keywords of a religious technique and their content is wholly supernatural. In a
practical way the second word [virtus] is the more important. It describes the uncanny, mysterious power emanating from the
supernatural and affecting the natural. The manifestation of this power may be thought of as a contact between the natural and
the supernatural in which the former, being an inferior reality, of course yielded. These points of contact and yielding are the
miracles we continually hear of. The quality of sacredness and the mystic potency belong to spirits, in varying degrees to the
faithful, and to inanimate objects. They are possessed by spirits, acquired by the faithful, and transmitted to objects."
Opposed to this holy "virtue" was also a false mystic potency that emanated from inhabiting daemons who were conceived of as alien and hostile. Truly holy virtus would defeat it, but it
could affect natural phenomena and effect its own kinds of miracles, deceitful and malignant ones. This "virtue" Gregory of Tours
and other Christian writers associated with the devil, demons, soothsayers, magicians, pagans and pagan gods, and heretics. False
virtus inhabited images of the pagan gods, the "idols" of our museums and archaeology, and destroying it accounts for some
of the righteous rage with which mobs of Christians toppled sculptures, and smashed classical bas-reliefs (particularly the
faces), as our museums attest.
The transmissibility of this potency, this virtus, is still reflected in the Roman Catholic classifications of relics
in degrees, as mentioned above. By transmission, the "virtus" might be transmitted to the city. When St Martin died, November 8, 397, at a
village halfway between Tours and Poitiers, the inhabitants of these cities were well ready to fight for his body, which the
people of Tours managed to secure by stealth. The story of the purloining of St. Nicholas of
Myra is another example. The Image of Edessa was reputed to render that city
impregnable.
Roman Catholic classification and prohibitions
Saint Jerome declared, "We do not worship, we do not adore, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to
the creator, but we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore him whose martyrs they are" (Ad Riparium, i,
P.L., XXII, 907). `
- First-Class Relics
- Items directly associated with the events of Christ's life (manger, cross, etc.), or the physical remains of a saint (a bone,
a hair, a limb, etc.). Traditionally, a martyr's relics are often more prized than the relics of other saints. Also, some saints'
relics are known for their extraordinary incorruptibility and so would have high regard. It is important to note that parts of
the saint that were significant to that saint's life are more prized relics. For instance, King St. Stephen of Hungary's right
forearm is especially important because of his status as a ruler. A famous theologian's head may be his most important relic.
(The head of St. Thomas Aquinas was removed by the monks at the Cistercian abbey at Fossanova where he died). Logically, if a
saint did a lot of travelling then the bones of his feet may be prized. Current Catholic teaching prohibits relics to be divided
up into small, unrecognizable parts if they are to be used in liturgy (i.e, as in an altar; see the rubrics listed in Rite Of
Dedication of a Church and an Altar).
- Second-Class Relics
- An item that the saint wore (a sock, a shirt, a glove, etc.) Also included is an item that the saint owned or frequently
used, for example, a crucifix, book etc. Again, an item more important in the saint's life is thus a more important relic.
- Third-Class Relics
- Anything which has touched a first or second class relic of a saint.
The sale of relics is strictly forbidden by the Church:
Code of Canon Law, §1190 §1 - "It is absolutely forbidden to sell sacred relics."
Code of Canon Law, §1190 §2 - "Relics of great significance and other relics honored with great reverence by the people cannot
be alienated validly in any manner or transferred permanently without the permission of the Apostolic See."
[see http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4D.HTM The Code of Canon Law]
Importance of Relics in Medieval Christianity
Since the beginning of Christianity, patrons have seen relics as a way to come closer to a person who was deemed divine and
thus form a closer bond with God. Since Christians during the middle ages often took pilgrimages to shrines of holy people,
relics became a large business. The pilgrims saw the purchasing of a relic as a means to bring the shrine back with him or her
upon returning home in a small way, since during the middle ages the concept of physical proximity to the “holy” (tombs of saints
or their personal objects) was considered extremely important (Brown, 89). This is in accordance with Andre Vauchez, who writes
in his book Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages, “[The common people] preferred the saints close to them in space and time”
(Vauchez, 139). Now, instead of having to travel hundreds of miles to become near to a venerated saint, one could enjoy intimacy
with him/her from home.
Pre-Christian relics
At Athens the supposed remains of Oedipus and Theseus
enjoyed an honor that is very difficult to distinguish from a religious cult, while Plutarch
gives accounts of the translation of the bodies of Demetrius (Demetrius iii) and
Phocion (Phocion xxxvii) which in many details anticipate Christian practice. The bones
or ashes of Aesculapius at Epidaurus, and of
Perdiccas I at Macedon were treated with the deepest veneration, as were those of
the Persian Zoroaster, according to the Chronicon
Paschale (Dindorf, p. 67). However; there is no tradition in Zoroastrianism or
its scriptures to support this postulation.
Buddhist relics
-
In Buddhism, relics of the Buddha and various saints
are venerated. Originally, after the Buddha's death, his body was divided for the purpose of relics, and there was an armed
conflict between factions for possession of the relics. Afterward, these relics were taken to wherever Buddhism was spread.
Some relics believed to be original relics of Buddha still survive including the much revered Sacred Relic of the tooth of the Buddha in Sri Lanka.
More relics of bone which were discovered during archaeological excavations of a stupa built in
Peshawar, Pakistan by the Kushan Emperor
Kanishka in the second century A.D. In 1909, three pieces of bone (approx 1½ in. or 3.8 cm
long) were found in a crystal reliquary in a bronze casket bearing an effigy of Kanishka and an inscription recording his
gift.[3][4] They were removed to Mandalay, Burma
by the Earl of Minto, Viceroy and Governor General of India, in 1910, for safekeeping.[5] They were originally kept in a stupa in Mandalay but this has become dilapidated
and is used for housing. The relics are meanwhile being kept safely in a nearby monastery until funds can be found to build a new
stupa to house the relics next to Mandalay Hill. The crystal reliquary holding the bones is now enclosed in a gold and ruby
casket provided by Burmese devotees. The miniature gold stupa in which they were transported to Mandalay may be seen in the photo
to the left of the modern ruby and gold reliquary.
The stupa is a building created specifically for the relics. Many Buddhist temples have stupas and historically, the placement
of relics in a stupa often became the initial structure around which the whole temple would be based. Today, many stupas also
hold the ashes or ringsel of prominent/respected Buddhists who were cremated.
The Buddha's relics serves to prove to people that enlightenment is possible, and to also promote good virtue.
Muslim relics
While various relics are preserved by different Muslim communities, the most important are those known as The Sacred Trusts, more than 600 pieces treasured in the Privy
Chamber of the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul.
Muslims believe that these treasures include the sword and standard of Muhammad, a hair from his beard, and the staff of
Moses. Most of the trusts can be seen in the museum, however, the most important of them can only
be seen during the month of Ramadan. The Quran has been recited
next to these relics uninterruptedly since they were brought to the Topkapi Palace.
Cultural relics
Relic is also the term for something that has survived the passage of time, especially an object or custom whose original
culture has disappeared, but also an object cherished for historical or memorial value (such as a keepsake or heirloom).
References
- ^ Calvin, Traité Des Reliques
- ^ de Fleury, Mémoire sur les instruments de la Passion
- ^ "Two Gandhāran Reliquaries" K. Walton Dobbins. East and West, 18
(1968), pp. 151-162.
- ^ "Is the Kaniṣka Reliquary a work from Mathurā?" Mirella Levi d’Ancona.
Art Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec., 1949), pp. 321-323.
- ^ The Stūpa and Vihāra of Kanishka I. K. Walton Dobbins. (1971) The
Asiatic Society of Bengal Monograph Series, Vol. XVIII. Calcutta.
Bibliography
- Relics, by Joan Carroll Cruz, OCDS, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-87973-701-8
- Reliques et sainteté dans l'espace médiéval [1]
- Brown, Peter; Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity; University of Chicago Press; 1982
- Vauchez, Andre; Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages; Cambridge University Press; 1997
Relics in fiction
- The Relic by Eca De Queiros, Dedalus Ltd, UK 1994. ISBN 0-94662-694-4
- The Translation of Father Torturo by Brendan Connell, Prime Books, 2005. ISBN 0-80950-043-4
See also
External links
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