Everything about Relic totally explained
A
relic is an object or a personal item of
religious significance, carefully preserved with an air of
veneration as a tangible memorial. Relics are an important aspect of
Buddhism,
Christianity,
Hinduism,
shamanism, and many other religions.
The word
relic comes from the
Latin reliquiae ('remains'). A
reliquary is a
shrine that houses one or more relics.
Christian relics
History of Christian relics
One of the earliest sources that show the efficacy of relics is found in :
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 regard 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, although a study in 1870 found that put together the claimed relics weighed less than 1.7kg (0.04m³).
Romano-Christian demons 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's 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 don't worship, we don't 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're 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 : Any object that's touched to a first class relic.
The sale of relics is strictly forbidden by the Church. The
Code of Canon Law states:
§1190 §1 - "It is absolutely forbidden to sell sacred relics."
§1190 §2 - "Relics of great significance and other relics honored with great reverence by the people can't be alienated validly in any manner or transferred permanently without the permission of the Apostolic See."
Importance of Relics in Medieval Christianity
Since the beginning of
Christianity, individuals 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. Instead of having to travel hundreds of miles to become near to a venerated
saint, one could venerate the relics of the saint within his or her own home.
Pre-Christian relics
At Athens the supposed remains of
Oedipus and
Theseus enjoyed an honor that's 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's no tradition in
Zoroastrianism or its scriptures to support this postulation.
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, but 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).
Further Information
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