Shrines and Relics

Do you know why certain churches or chapels are called Shrines? A Shrine is a place where a holy relic is housed, "enshrined", and held up for the veneration of the faithful. There you see relics or mementos of a saint before which people come to pray. People come, sometimes in large numbers to honor the memory of a saint and seek his intercession. Devotional practices often develop in churches that have a relic of a popular saint. In certain cases, pilgrimages also develop to such shrines. Shrines are choice places for "popular devotions" to flourish. Today, I want to talk about relics. First, what is a relic?

A relic is something that "remains" of the past. You might call it a "memento." It is something you can see, touch. Something people cherish because it reminds you powerfully of significant people, places and events of the past. For that same reason, people like to visit museums because they evoke significant historical events.

Religious relics are usually the body or part of the body of a holy person, or something connected with the saint. It can be his Bible, a prayer book he used; the bedroom of a man like Brother Andre, which speaks of his poverty and detachment of worldly things, etc.

Let me quote from a book by Cardinal Suenens, who had been very close to Pope John, especially during the Vatican Council. After Pope John died, Cardinal Suenens recounts: "I went to pray at Sotto il Monte in the house that belonged to Pope John's family. Suddenly, much to my surprise, the priest handed me the crucifix that had belonged to Pope John, the very one he had sent to his dying mother, and I blessed the pilgrims with the cross "on behalf of Papa Giovanni". At that moment, I felt very close to Pope John." Cardinal Suenens also notes his surprise to find so many pilgrims there. The parish priest told him that on a Sunday there can be as many as 12,000, and on weekdays between five arid six thousand. Cardinal Suenens comments: "Holiness is something the people recognize instinctively; in itself it commands their veneration." I think this tells us a lot about why people flock to Shrines and venerate relics. Such is the power of evocation of holy relics.

Some things and places speak to our faith, like a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I have had the privilege of going three times. Each time, as I saw the places where Jesus was, he came alive in a unique way. The Scriptures come alive too.

Relics are classified by the Church as 1st, 2nd and 3rd class. A 1st class relic is the body of the saint or any part of it. It can be only a small piece of bone from his body, or the whole body, as in the case of Catherine Laboure, who received the so-called "miraculous medal" from Mary. Her body is preserved in Paris. A 2nd class relic is anything intimately connected with the saint, such as his prayer book, the instruments of penance be used, etc. A 3rd class relic is anything that has been touched to the body of a saint.

The most venerable relic is surely that of the True Cross of Jesus, that was discovered on Mount Calvary in the 4th century.

The Veneration of Relics has always been encouraged by the Church

The veneration of the bodies of the saints, especially martyrs, goes back to the early times of the Church. Sometimes the blood of martyrs was collected on a cloth and kept as a reminder to the Christian community of that individual's fidelity and courage in professing his faith. Later, the Eucharist was celebrated and churches were built over their tombs. In the Middle Ages pilgrimages were organized first to the tomb of Christ is Jerusalem, then to the tombs of martyrs. The veneration of relics gave rise to all kinds of feasts, shrines, and pilgrimages. And the Church encouraged that. Why? Because the saints were living members of the Body of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit, and they were destined to be raised and glorified. These motives remain valid.

As the relics of the saints remind us of their holy lives, they inspire us to imitate their virtues and honor their memory. All this awakens our faith in God who is the source of all holiness. We do not honor the relics as such but the saints whose memory they recall.

Many people have obtained cures and other supernatural favors as they venerated the relics of saints. We have seen much of that right here at St. Anne Shrine. But we must make one point clear: there is no miraculous power in the relics as such. It is the faith of the people that obtains God's favors. The relics can, however, quicken our faith by recalling the holiness and power of intercession of the saints in heaven.

Relics at Saint Anne Shrine

First and foremost, the relic of St. Anne. Father Sauval, then pastor of St. Anne, obtained in 1901 a most precious relic: a part of the forearm of St. Anne, from the Shrine of St. Anne of Apt, in France. The reception of this relic was the occasion of a grandiose celebration. An immense throng of people estimated to be as high as 250,000, came from all over. Even Bishop Harkins, of Providence, and numerous clergy were present. This shows the high esteem people had for holy relics.

Countless miracles and healings occurred over the years in favor of devout people who came to St. Anne Shrine and venerated the relic of "Good St. Anne." People usually showed veneration by kissing the relic devoutly. They even ask the Fathers to apply the holy relic to the part of their body that is suffering or crippled: eyes, ears, head, heart, wherever it can be applied within the rules of decency. They desire to touch the relic of the saint, imitating the woman in the Gospel who slipped through the crowd hoping only to touch the hem of Jesus' garment, and she was cured of a persistent hemorrhage.

Stone from the house of St. Anne in Jerusalem. You can see in front of the statue of St. Anne here at the Shrine. It evokes the homeland of St. Anne.

Finally, a word about the relics of St. Concordia. We have a wax statue representing a young girl who was beaten to death in Rome during the persecution of Christians. At her feet are two glass bars containing relics taken from the cemetery of Priscilla in Rome. The relics are bones and dried blood. Concordia was martyred in the year 258. Her feast is celebrated according to the Roman martyrology the 13th of August. Her holy relic was solemnly received in Saint Anne Church the 13th of August 1893 and later placed under an altar. Devotions to St. Concordia were held monthly for many years. Another popular devotion honoring a martyr of the early church, another way of inspiring and developing the piety of the faithful. By its very nature, this is a "popular devotion."

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