relics part of the body of a saint or a thing closely connected with the saint in life. In traditional Christian belief they have had great importance, and miracles have often been associated with them. Members of the Orthodox Eastern Church have generally followed St. John of Damascus in teaching that the earthly body of the saint has a kind of permanent grace, but in the Roman Catholic Church the miracles are held to be performed by the intercession of the saint in heaven on the prayer of the living; relics therefore are only to be revered as memorials, and belief is not required in any particular relic as authentic or miraculous. Roman Catholic altars (even portable ones) contain a relic, a rule coming from the time of the persecutions in Rome, when Mass was said over the martyrs' graves. Protestants have abandoned relics. Veneration of relics as miraculous dates from the 3d cent. Famous relics include the pieces of the True Cross (see cross ); the veronica ; the Holy Nails in the iron crown of Lombardy (Monza, Italy); the Holy Lance (St. Peter's, Rome); the Holy Coat (Trier, Germany); and the Precious Blood of Bruges. These are all called relics of the Passion. Celebrated shrines are often depositories of relics, e.g., of St. Peter and St. Paul at St. Peter's, of St. James at Santiago de Compostela, Spain, of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury, of St. Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey. Many relics are duplicated, i.e., there are rival claims of genuineness. Since the Middle Ages, close accounting of relics has been maintained in Western Christendom; the creation of false relics or the buying or selling of genuine relics is prohibited under penalty of excommunication.

relics. In Christian usage the word is most commonly applied to the material remains of a saint after his death and to sacred objects which have been in contact with his body. The most important relic, however, has been the True Cross (or fragments of it), according to tradition discovered by St Helena in 326. From an early date the bodies of martyrs were venerated; clear evidence comes from the ‘Martyrdom of Polycarp’ (c.156–7). At Rome the cult was linked with the catacombs, where services were held at their tombs. In opposition to the Iconoclasts, who rejected the veneration of relics as well as of icons, the Second Council of Nicaea (787) anathematized those who despised relics and ordered that no church should be consecrated without them. In the W. the cult increased enormously during the Crusades, when quantities of relics, often spurious, were brought back from the Holy Land. They were kept in reliquaries, carried in procession, and often gave rise to superstitious practices.

The theological foundation for the cult of relics was developed in the Middle Ages. Stress was laid on the special dignity of the bodies of saints as temples of the Holy Spirit destined to a glorious resurrection, and on the sanction given by the Godhead in making them the occasion of miracles. The doctrine was confirmed by the Council of Trent against the Reformers. See also SAINTS, DEVOTION TO THE.

Relics

Christianity

The word is applied to material remains of a saint after death, and to sacred objects associated with Christ or with saints. In the W. Church the cult of relics increased enormously, especially during the Crusades when quantities of spurious relics were brought to Europe. They were kept in reliquaries (often elaborate, decorated vessels of formalized shape), carried in procession, and believed to have miraculous powers. Relics of martyrs were placed under the altar stones of all Roman Catholic churches until 1969.

Buddhism

The earliest Buddhist relic (śarīra) was the bo tree (of enlightenment): trees grown from cuttings or seeds (taken from the original tree under which Gotāma achieved enlightenment) became objects of veneration. This reverence involves circumambulation (indicating the centre of one's life) and the offering of flowers or water. The development of the stūpa included the placing of relics.