THE VISIT AND VENERATION OF RELICS - PART 2

Fr Billy Swan

The first part of this article was posted last week. Click here for the link:

THE VISIT AND VENERATION OF RELICS - PART 1

Church Teaching on Relics after Trent

In its twenty-fifth session in 1653, the Council of Trent enacted strict guidelines for the proper veneration of relics. In an implicit acknowledgment of the criticisms of the Reformers, it was prohibited for relics to be sold and only those endorsed by the local bishop were to be venerated. These disciplinary decrees from Trent formed the basis of the provisions of the 1917 Code of Canon Law and are still valid today. Trent also clarified that the honour given to a relic, statue, or icon was not to an object, but to the person it represented. Crucially, worship must be given to God alone, whereas veneration may be given to holy people or articles. At the same time, Trent defended the cult of relics in the Church for “the holy bodies of the martyrs and others living with Christ” were “living members of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit, and one day will be awakened and glorified by him to eternal life”.[1]

At the Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium repeated this teaching that distinguishes the veneration of relics, the honouring of saints and the worship of God alone. The veneration of relics is legitimate because the bodies of the saints are the temples of the Holy Spirit, members of the Body of Christ and destined for a final resurrection. “The saints have been traditionally honored in the Church and their authentic relics and images held in veneration. For the feasts of the saints proclaim the wonderful works of Christ in His servants, and display to the faithful fitting examples for their imitation”.[2]

Relics in Ireland

In the early decades of the fifth century, British Christianity faced the crisis of Pelagianism. This crisis was recognised and action was taken. In 429, authorities in the British Church including an elder called Palladius, invited to Britain a certain Germanus of Auxerre in France, to refute the teachings of the Pelagians. He did this successfully by his preaching and teaching that was accompanied by the relics of saints. This detail is included in Bede’s “Ecclesiastical History of the English people” where it states: “Germanus, full of the Holy Spirit, invoked the Trinity. He tore from his neck the little bag which hung down close to his side containing relics of the saints….Germanus had with him relics of all the apostles and various martyrs”.[3] The point to be noted here is that the relics that accompanied Germanus did not substitute for his preaching of the Gospel but rather they gave him authority by showing himself to be in communion with the Apostolic tradition.

In 431, this same Palladius was sent by Pope Celestine to “the Irish believers in Christ”, in order to “draw this pagan nation to the Christian fold”.[4]   It is reasonable to assume that this Palladius, who would have been familiar with the evangelising methods of Germanus, may also have preached the Gospel to the Irish, accompanied by relics.

In Cummian’s letter on the paschal controversy, written around 632, he contends that the relics of the holy martyrs brought back from Rome authenticated the Roman edict regarding the correct dating of Easter, which was of dispute at the time. In case of any doubters, Cummian verified his argument by actually testing the efficacy of the relics that, according to him, duly produced miracles.[5]

In his 'collection' of stories about Patrick, composed around 690, Tírechán, reveals the extent to which the cult of relics had taken hold in Ireland by the late seventh century. He also makes an important claim that Patrick gave his disciple Sachellus, a portion of the relics of Peter and Paul, Stephen, and Lawrence, which are in Armagh.[6]

In the long history of persecution of Irish Catholics, the cult of relics was important as a link to their historical existence and witness. We see this with the execution of Bishop Conor O’Devaney, martyred in Dublin on 1st February 1612,[7] and the death of Oliver Plunkett at Tyburn London whose relics in Drogheda, Downside Abbey and the Irish College in Rome, recall his holiness, courage and witness to a future beyond his own death.

Unfortunately, the history of the veneration of relics in Ireland also contains embarrassing examples of superstitions masquerading as faith and exaggerations that show the extent that the cult of relics can go awry.[8]

Towards a Proper Veneration of Relics

In the light of what we have seen from this brief history of relics, I return to some of the questions posed at the beginning of this article. How can the proper veneration of relics and the spike in religious fervor that accompanies their visit, be translated into a more lasting and consistent Christian commitment? How can the gap be bridged between devotional enthusiasm that emerges with the visit of relics, and sustained sacramental participation?

In grappling with these questions, the last verse of Mark’s Gospel comes to mind where it says that after the Lord’s Ascension, the disciples “preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it” (16:20). Very often, we interpret these ‘signs’ as miracles but what if they are taken to mean the transformed lives of those who have come to faith? Can we describe relics as part of these signs that accompanies the proclamation of the Gospel?

The account of Polycarp’s martyrdom and the account of Germanus’s mission in Britain would suggest a positive answer, namely that the relics of the saints represent their lives as signs that point beyond themselves to the God they witnessed to. Relics can legitimately be called signs to the extent they point to the power of God at work in the life of a saint, incarnate in time and in history.

Therefore, when the visit of relics to a parish or diocese is accompanied by the proclamation of God’s Word, good catechesis and prayerful liturgy, relics can be understood for what they are - signs of the transforming power of God’s love that changed the life of the saint and can change ours too. This was the extraordinary effect of the visit of the relics of St Therese in 2001. Somehow, the relics connected the faithful to the person of St Therese and her spirituality of the ‘Little Way’ that she spoke and wrote about, insisting that God’s love and mercy is available and accessible to all and awaits us at every moment of every day.

And so, for example, in the case of the visit of the relics of St Carlo Acutis, the following might be kept in mind when considering the desired fruits of the visit. What are the wonderful works of Christ that St Carlo’s life proclaims? What were his virtues that we can imitate? How does his life and witness make faith more attractive? In what ways does this saint challenge me to become a more committed Christian today? Does the sign of this person’s life point us to a new horizon as Church? Does the ordinariness of this saint’s life disturb me with the possibility that God is calling me to a life of deeper holiness and change? Is it possible that God has chosen me for a mission I have not yet considered?

Finally, once the visit of the relics is over, it seems imperative that as parishes, schools and dioceses, we might discuss and review its success so as to harness its energy in a way that leads to greater communion, participation and mission. This is absolutely necessary for in the words of the late Pope Francis: “Expressions of popular piety have much to teach us; for those who are capable of reading them, they are a locus theologicus which demands our attention, especially at a time when we are looking to the new evangelization”.[9]

Conclusion

I conclude this article with a personal testimony. Close to where I live here in Rome is the Church of St Bartholemew on the Tiber Island. It contains the relics of modern martyrs who died for the faith in the last century and in recent decades. Among these relics are the breviary and stole of Fr Ragheed Ganni who was killed in odium fidei on 3^rd June 2007 in Mosul, Iraq. Fr Ragheed was a Chaldean priest with whom I lived at the Irish College in Rome from 2002 to 2003. When I visit the Church and see his relics, I don’t ever consider that this breviary and stole contain any inherent powers in themselves. However, they are specific and concrete signs of Ragheed, his historical existence and the witness he gave at a certain time in history. I saw him wear that stole. I was with him when he prayed from that breviary. These relics facilitate a tangibility and evoke a sense of proximity to a man who continues to inspire the same fidelity to the Gospel as he had, even in the face of persecution. The relics are signs that the Christian faith is fundamentally incarnational. The relics ground Ragheed’s life and witness in historical circumstances that were grounded in reality. At the same time, his relics help remove barriers between our world and his. They help collapse the temporal and spatial distance from this Servant of God, uniting us in a deep spiritual bond shared by the communion of saints and making credible what the Letter to the Hebrews states, that “we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1). Here is where the proper veneration of relics bears fruit as we saw also with St Polycarp – when the faithful unite with the saint whose relics are venerated, in bearing witness to the Gospel and worshipping God alone.

In the light of what we have seen, it is imperative to recall the history of the veneration of relics so as to avoid exaggerations of the past and to see the purpose of the visitation on relics as an opportunity to re-propose faith and to open up a new horizon of hope to the faithful. For those involved in the organising the visits of relics and those with relics in Churches and shrines, strong leadership is required to ensure that the proper veneration of relics of the saints honours their witness, inspires faith and leads to right worship of God. With the foreknowledge of history, Church leadership in parishes and dioceses must ensure that sound preaching and proper catechesis accompanies the veneration of relics to avoid any impression that they are intrinsically effective or on a par with Christ’s effective mediation. If that can be successful, then future visits and veneration of relics can be occasions of renewal and rejoicing.

[1] DS 985

[2] Sacrosanctum Concilium, 111.

[3] Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book I, Chap. 18.

[4] Prosper of Aquitaine’s Chronicle, 431; PL 51, 595; Contra Collatorem, 21, 2: PL 51, 271.

[5] See Niamh Wycherley, ‘The Enduring Power of the Cult of Relics’, in C. Jones - C. Kostick - K. Oschema, eds., Making the Medieval Relevant: How Medieval Studies Contribute to Improving our Understanding of the Present, De Gruyter Brill, Germany, 2020; pp. 239-253.

[6] Idem

[7] M. McAleese, The 17 Irish Martyrs, Columba Books, Dublin, 2022, p. 121.

[8] See R. Gillespie, Devoted People: Belief and Religion in Early Modern Ireland, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1997; p. 115, 160 and 162.

[9] The Joy of the Gospel, 126.