Encountering God in the relics of saints
Last year I wrote here encouraging you to select a few saints as spiritual companions in this life. The saints are inspirational witnesses to God’s love and demonstrate the transformative power of faith. In heaven they “contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth.” (CCC #2683) Their earthly remains, which we call relics, provide a material presence for the faithful to venerate. In so doing, we honour not only the saints themselves but also the compassion and mercy of God. The classification of relics also extends to objects associated with the saints, as well as the instruments of Christ’s Passion.
The earthly role of a saint as an instrument of God’s grace continues after death. God draws our attention to the saints as models and heavenly intercessors. On earth he utilises their relics as material conduits for his healing grace and as opportunities for personal encounter with the faithful. God’s use of relics to convey his healing power is well established in the Scriptures. In the Old Testament, for example, a dead man miraculously came back to life when his body touched the bones of the prophet Elisha. In the New Testament, we read of the haemorrhaging woman who reached out and touched the fringe of Jesus’s cloak in the hope of receiving healing. Jesus did heal her, but only after first turning to seek a personal encounter and converse with her.
In the Early Church the Eucharist was celebrated in the catacombs, away from the threat of persecution and in honour of the sacrifice of the Christian martyrs on whose tombs the sacrament was celebrated. Even after Christianity was legalised the tradition of venerating the relics of saints did not end. Churches were built over the tombs of martyrs (notable examples are St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Holy Land.) As time went on churches were built with crypts into which relics were placed and when this was not possible, the relics of martyrs were placed into the altar itself and sealed with a stone slab. So important is the tie of the Eucharist to the relics of saints and the Early Church’s veneration of them, that it is now Canon Law that every altar contains the relics of at least two saints within it. When a priest kisses the altar at the beginning of Mass he therefore shows reverence not only for Jesus as the cornerstone of the Church, but also to those saints who have gone before us sacrificing their lives for the sake of God.
As we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord each Sunday, we ought also to remember that the bodies of the saints, which were once the temples and tools of the Holy Spirit, are to be honoured and revered. They too will be glorified at the resurrection at the end of the world, as, God willing, you and I will also be.
This piece was original published in the St Patrick’s Cathedral, Ballarat newsletter on the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 26 July 2025.