Those precious, miraculous relics

They are precious.

Whether garments, crosses or body parts, people fought over them, mainly because they were believed to be miraculous. I am talking about relics. Yes, I know this article should have been written during the Holy Week.

Fr. Isidro Abaño, my classmate at the Ecclesiastical School at the University of Santo Tomas who wrote a paper on relics, was a resource speaker together with Fr. Lucio Gutierrez and myself at the a forum of the Faculty of Sacred Theology. Fr. Abaño’s lecture was entitled "Symbols of the Crusaders: A Hermeneutical Presentation," while Fr. Lucio talked about "Holy Wars in History: A Preamble and History of Crusaders." As for me, I talked about "Economics of Violence: An Instance in Philippine History."

The assignment had seemed threatening and the title frightening that it took three meetings for my mentor Fr. Rolando dela Rosa to convince me. I am including portions of Fr. Abaño’s lecture and images of the many crosses Crusaders sewed on their robes during the Holy Wars.

Passages in the scripture on relics relate them to occurences of miracles bearing "mortal remains of Christ, the Virgin Mary and Saints, their vestments and utensils." The Book of Kings narrates that a man buried in the grave of the Prophet Elisha rose back to life upon contact with the prophet’s bones. The Acts mentions God working miracles at the hands of Paul. When handkerchiefs were touched by Paul and applied to the sick, they were cured of their illness and evil spirits departed from them.

In the 11th and 13th centuries, the search for relics came about from redeeming Jerusalem from the Moors. Jerusalem, the place where Christ and Mary spent their earthly lives, became the battleground of Muslims and their enemies, Christian Crusaders. At the time, Jerusalem was considered in ancient cosmology as the center of the world (Psalms 125:2). Armies of Crusaders went forth in perilous journeys to wars there sponsored by the Roman Pontiff.

Professor JC Cruz wrote, "Relics were searched to earn finances, honor, prestige, that even led to competitions, thievery and rivalries." One such search led to Queen Helena’s discovery of the three crosses in Jerusalem. One of them was said to be the cross where Christ was crucified. In the 4th century, Christ’s cross was identified when a dead man came back to life after touching it. The true cross was a center of special affection for the Crusaders and saving the land of the cross would merit them graces, success and victory.

St. Thomas, as quoted by Montevecchi and Vasco, wrote on the relics, "If a person is loved, he is honored after death, including those which remain, not only the body or its parts, but even the external things such as clothes... and objects. Their bodies, which were temples of the Holy Spirit... are destined to be likened to the body of Christ, after the glory of Resurrection. Hence, God Himself fittingly honors such relics by working miracles in their presence." That reminds me of the Cathedral of St. Anthony of Padua in Padova. There, his larynx, tongue and teeth are venerated by tourists who love the saint, including myself.

During the Crusades, the claim for the relics’ miraculous powers heightened the greed to possess them. The councils of Lyon in 1974 prohibited the veneration of relics and the transfering of relics and images greatly venerated in any church without the permission of the Apostolic See. I didn’t know there were so many types of relics. Fr. Abaño enumerated them for the "sake of aesthetic jargon."

The reliquary pendant is a small container of relics in the form of a medal that appeared at the end of the 14th century. A setting reliquary is mounted on decorated metal for the bigger relics. Those of similar dimensions were set on rings from the 12th century to the 18th century. The phial reliquary was a container of glass and crystal generally covered by metal to protect the relic mounted inside. It stood vertically or horizontally. The monstrance reliquary is a phial-type container but its form is basically like the Eucharistic monstrance. A ciborium reliquary, a receptacle, assimilated the form of pyx, or ciborium, cylindrical or polygonal shaped with stands. The reliquary called the tree was shaped like a tree, containing several relics on its branches. The monumental was carried during processions. The vase, like a drinking glass or pitcher, was made of glass, crystal, metal, ceramic, stone or wood. The animal form reliquary followed forms related to animals such as a lamb, dove, phoenix, fish and lion.

Those in the form of the cross – either pectoral, processional or altar – were called cruciform reliquary. A book reliquary was a relic inserted in the cover of liturgical books. The capsule for altar relics was a container that appeared in the 4th century meant to be placed on the altar table during the dedication. It contains relics and incense. Familiar in Europe during the Carolingian era, the burse reliquary is for small to medium relics. Architectural reliquaries of great dimensions are called shrines – made of cases or boxes adorned with silver and gold. It was from the 12th to 13th centuries that this type became common in the West. The coffin and sarcophagus reliquaries are examples. Chest reliquaries, used in the 11th century, are similar to the shrine but of lesser dimensions.

The urn, usually rectangular, is a 16th-century container that carries the entire body of a saint for viewing. Antromorphic reliquaries contain relics usually not seen but meant for public veneration, such as body parts whether the head, arm, ribs, feet and fingers. The rare statue reliquary was found in the 9th century. The statue of St. Fides in Conques was discovered to contain her relics. Finally, the architectural reliquary of the 11th to 17 centuries was formed following the plan of a church building.

Abaño also spoke of the traffic of relics. The head of St. John the Baptist was carried off to Amiens. Amalfi in Italy took the head of St. Andrew from the Church of the Holy Apostles. The Bishop of Soissons shipped home the head of St. Stephen and a relic of St. John. The remains of St. Clement, pillaged from the Church of St. Theodoria, were taken to Cluny.

Still more relics were found during the Crusades. The stone on which Jacob slept, Moses’ rod, fragments of Mary’s garments, St. Thomas’ finger, Mary’s girdle, the towel with which Jesus wiped the disciples’ feet, an arm of John the Baptist, some blood shed by Jesus on the cross, parts of the sponge, reeds, and the purple robe associated with the crucifixion, the swaddling clothes of Baby Jesus, a tear of Jesus and the crown of thorns. They were considered trophies of difficult pilgrimages, motivating people to embark on the Crusades.

Certain places became centers of pilgrimages, bringing prestige and income into the towns. Cities competed for prestige through the acquisition of relics meant to "protect" and bring in fortune.

* * *

I learned that the veneration of relics was not an exclusive practice of the Catholic Church. Other religions venerated relics as well. After the death of Buddha in 483 BC, parts of his body were enshrined in different towers – Stupas and Pagodas. Monks and laymen paid obeisance to them. Although Confucius did not claim any divinity, after his death in 195 BC, his followers offered sacrifices at his tomb. The Muslims, after the death of Mohammed in 632 AD, revered two hairs of the prophet, which are kept in a reliquary beside the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The Rock itself is regarded a relic by the Jews, Muslims and Christians in relation to Adam and Abraham, as it was supposed to be the same place where Mohammed ascended to heaven.