What Are Relics?
The Importance of Relics
A Relic is a part of the physical remains of a saint after their death, or an object which has been in contact with their body. Relics are venerated to honour the holiness of God.
Why are St Bernadette’s relics journeying to us?
Travelling on pilgrimage enables us to enrich and renew ourselves spiritually, connecting ourselves to God by removing us from the routines of daily life. The Covid-19 pandemic made it difficult, if not impossible, for people to travel nationally and internationally, reducing the number of individuals and groups able to journey on pilgrimage to Lourdes.
Between September and October 2022 St Bernadette will journey to us, making the grace of pilgrimage available to people across England, Wales, and Scotland, and offering an important opportunity to those who might not have been able to travel on pilgrimage otherwise. We can expect many graces from this visit including healing, conversion and the wonderful discovery of vocation
An introduction from Lourdes
Alessandro De Franciscis, physician at the Sanctuary of Lourdes, shares a short introduction to the Relics of St Bernadette.
Why are relics important to Catholics?
The veneration of relics is found in many religions and is rooted in the natural human instinct to treat anything connected with those we love, who have died, with care and reverence.
From earliest times the bodies of martyrs were held in special veneration. The relics of St Polycarp, for example, were described as being ‘more valuable than precious stones and finer than refined gold.’
In Rome, prayer services were held in the catacombs, and from the fourth century, the Eucharist was celebrated over the tombs of the martyrs. St Augustine explains this by highlighting that the bodies of saints and martyrs had enabled them to live as organs of the Holy Spirit. There are two principle reasons for venerating relics:
- God shows his approval of relics by granting healing, and other graces.
- Relics help us to feel close to a holy person, making the communion of saints more real and fostering in us a desire for holiness.
Explaining the importance of relics, Pope Benedict xvi said:
“By inviting us to venerate the mortal remains of the martyrs and saints, the Church does not forget that, in the end, these are indeed just human bones, but they are bones that belonged to individuals touched by the transcendent power of God. The relics of the saints are traces of that invisible but real presence which sheds light upon the shadows of the world and reveals the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst.”