Relic

A relic is an object, especially a piece of the body or a personal item of someone of religious significance, carefully preserved with an air of veneration as a tangible memorial. Relics are an important aspect of Buddhism, some denominations of Christianity, Hinduism, shamanism, and many other personal belief systems.

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

It has been suggested that Relics attributed to Jesus be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

One of the earliest sources cited to support the efficacy of relics is 2 Kings 13:20–21:

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 regards 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^[1], although a study in 1870^[2] found that put together the claimed relics weighed less than 1.7kg. (0.04m³) The abbey church of Coulombs in France, among several others, claims to possess the relic of Jesus' circumcision — the Holy Prepuce.

Romano-Christian daemons 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 is 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 Bari is another example. The Image of Edessa was reputed to render that city impregnable.

• Ernest Brehaut, in his introduction to Gregory of Tours, analyzes the 6th-century meanings of sanctus and virtus

Roman Catholic classification and prohibitions

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, unrecognisable parts (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Canon Law). Thus even the many relics that are enshrined in churches and cathedrals worldwide must be at least a finger or small bone, etc.

Second-Class Relics 

An item that the saint wore (a sock, a shirt, a glove, etc.) Also included is an item that the saint had, 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 

The Third-Class Relics above fall into two categories. The first category is a piece of cloth touched to the body of a saint after his death. The second category is a piece of cloth brought to the shrine (or site of the vision) of the saint.

It is absolutely prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church to sell Relics of any class, whether First, Second, or Third. The sale of sacred things including relics is called 'simony', and is considered a grave sin.

• The Code of Canon Law, Book IV, Part II, Title IV, Can.1190, forbidding the sale of relics with no exceptions

Pre-Christian relics

At Athens the supposed remains of Oedipus and Theseus enjoyed an honor that is 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 is no tradition in Zoroastrianism or its scriptures to support this postulation.

Buddhist relics

In Buddhism, relics of the Buddha and various saints are venerated. Originally, after the Buddha's death, his body was divided for the purpose of relics, and there was an armed conflict between factions for possession of the relics. Afterward, these relics were taken to wherever Buddhism was spread.

More relics of bone which were discovered during archaeological excavations of a stupa built in Peshawar, Pakistan by the Kushan Emperor Kanishka in the second century A.D. In 1909, three pieces of bone (approx 1½ in. or 3.8 cm long) were found in a crystal reliquary in a bronze casket bearing an effigy of Kanishka and an inscription recording his gift. They were removed to Mandalay, Burma by the Earl of Minto, Viceroy and Governor General of India, in 1910, for safekeeping. They were originally kept in a stupa in Mandalay but this has become dilapidated and is used for housing. The relics are meanwhile being kept safely in a nearby monastery until funds can be found to build a new stupa to house the relics next to Mandalay Hill. The crystal reliquary holding the bones is now enclosed in a gold and ruby casket provided by Burmese devotees. The miniature gold stupa in which they were transported to Mandalay may be seen in the photo to the left of the modern ruby and gold reliquary.

The stupa is a building created specifically for the relics. Many Buddhist temples have stupas and historically, the placement of relics in a stupa often became the initial structure around which the whole temple would be based. Today, many stupas also hold the ashes of prominent/respected Buddhists who were cremated.

The Buddha's relics serves to prove to people that enlightenment is possible, and to also promote good virtue.

Muslim relics

See The Sacred Trusts

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).

References

1. ^ Calvin, Traité Des Reliques
2. ^ de Fleury, Mémoire sur les instruments de la Passion

Bibliography

• Relics, by Joan Carroll Cruz, OCDS, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-87973-701-8

Relics in fiction

• The Relic by Eca De Queiros, Dedalus Ltd, UK 1994. ISBN 0-94662-694-4
• The Translation of Father Torturo by Brendan Connell, Prime Books, 2005. ISBN 0-80950-043-4

See also

• Amulet
• Ancestor worship
• Animism
• Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral
• Idolatry in Christianity
• Magic and religion
• Pilgrim
• Pilgrimage
• Relics attributed to Jesus
• Talisman
• Totemism
• Hunting trophy
• Veneration of the dead
• List of Buddhist topics

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