Pic of the Head of St. Oliver Plunkett I took in Drogheda, Ireland
Aren’t relics weird? They definitely seem so to our modern sensibilities. Chopping up a person and sending the bits all over the world along with their belongings certainly seems like something out of a horror movie at first glance. But upon closer investigation, the devotion to relics helps us understand the beauty of our faith a little more.
The Church has venerated relics from the beginning. John 20:40 describes the special care Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea took for Christ’s crucified body: “Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with spices, in strips of linen.” This points to a special reverence for the bodies of holy people that the Church had from the very beginning. Beyond this, accounts as early as the martyrdom of Polycarp in AD 156 detail the preservation of the saint’s bones for later veneration and celebration of his witness. There exists no denunciation of this practice among any of the Church Fathers and the practice has continued unabated for the last two millennia. So clearly the Church approves of this practice, but why?
As with all devotions, relics can help us grow closer to God. It’s sort of like keeping mementos of a deceased family member. In fact, because we all belong to the family of the Church, it’s the same exact thing. Mementos remind us of our loved ones and help us to recall the reasons we loved them. Likewise, relics remind us of holy people and help us to reflect on what made them holy. The physical presence of the saint’s body increases the tangibility of their stories. It reminds us that the saints really lived and glorified God with their bodies and that we can live our lives in similar ways. Relics also remind us of our hope in God’s promise of eternal life by showing us that the saints, like us, were ‘embodied persons’ who had a body and a soul which will be reunited in the resurrection.
Relics show us that God has given our bodies not just to us, but to the Church, and that we ought to use them to glorify him. If we live a life of holiness worth remembering, maybe our bodies can continue to witness to God’s love even after we are dead!
A cross made of bones from the Sedlec Ossuary in Czechia.
Chris Tarantino is the Communications Director for TOBET. He studied History at The University at Texas A&M and has written for the Tennessee Register and Nashville Catholic.
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