What is a relic?

Answer 1

A relic, in the Catholic sense, is a body or body part of a saint or an item used by the person during life, such as an article of clothing, book, rosary, etc. A third class relic is an item, usually a piece of cloth, that has been touched to a first class (body) relic of a saint.

Answer 2

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A religious relic is an object of veneration usually associated with the Roman Catholic Church, alleged to be either the remains of a saint's body or some other object associated with Christ or a saint, and used as a focus for devotion.

Protestant churches reject veneration of relics, comparing the practice to idolatry. A great deal of superstition and corruption grew up around relics, especially during the Middle Ages, when most of the relics we have today were manufactured.

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Catholic AnswerA religious relic is something to do with a saint. First class relics are actual pieces of a saint's body. Those of martyrs are interred in altar stones on all Catholic altars. The practice comes from Mass celebrated in the catacombs in the first centuries on the tombs of the martyrs. Relics are our family history, these are from those who have gone before us to heaven.

from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980

Relic. An object connected with a saint, e.g., part of the body or clothing or something the person had used or touched. Authentic relics are venerated with the Church's warm approbation. They may not be bought or sold. Those of a martyr are placed in the altar stone at the consecration of an altar. Relics are of three classes: the first is part of the saint's body and is the type placed in the altar stone; the second is part of the clothing or anything used during the saint's life; and the third is any other object, such as a piece of cloth, that has been touched to a first-class relic. (Etym. Latin reliquae, remains.)

Answer 3

"Một thánh tích" là một đối tượng, vật phẩm hoặc di tích được coi là thiêng liêng và có giá trị tín ngưỡng trong tôn giáo. Trong các giáo phái Công giáo và Chính thống giáo, thánh tích thường được hiểu là một đối tượng, như một mảnh xương, tóc, hoặc vật phẩm liên quan đến một thánh hoặc vị thần được coi là linh thiêng và có khả năng cầu nguyện và ban phước. Thánh tích thường được bảo quản trong các nơi thờ cúng, như các nhà thờ hoặc các đền thờ, và được coi là một phần quan trọng của tín ngưỡng.

Answer 4

for those of you not writing in the Catholic sense(such as me) heres the other definition:an object surviving from an earlier time, especially one of historical or sentimental interest.