This year the Catholic Congregation of Salesians of Don Bosco will mark its 150th anniversary since foundation.
To mark the celebrations the relics of Don Bosco the founder of the congregation, will make a stop –over in East Africa, Kenya on their world wide pilgrimage to commemorate the anniversary. The relics will be in Kenya from December 1, to 7, 2011.
By Dr. Christopher Owczarek, Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA)
At the end of this year, relics of Don Bosco will make a stop-over in East Africa on their world-wide pilgrimage to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Salesian Congregation (1859–2009)--a Catholic order of priests and brothers spread in 130 countries and working in the field of education, especially among the poor youth —and to prepare for the bicentennial of the birth of Don Bosco (1815–2015).
It is in this context that we wish to deepen our understanding of this coming event by re-examining the biblical, theological and historical foundation of the veneration of the relics of saints in the Catholic Church.
In order to do so, we shall try to answer few relevant questions:
1) What are relics of Saints?
These are the material remains of the saints which are venerated as signs of their continued presence in the world. The word relic comes from the Latin reliquiae, meaning "remains" or "something left behind". They may be physical remains of a saint (a bone, a hair, skull, a limb, etc.), an item that the saint wore (a shirt, a glove, etc.) or an item that the saint owned or frequently used (a crucifix, rosary, a prayer book etc.) or even a piece of cloth that is attached to these.
2) Is the Veneration of the Relics peculiar to the Catholic Church?
The veneration of relics is, to some extent, a primitive instinct, and it is associated with many other religious systems besides that Christianity. At ancient Athens the supposed remains of ancient heroes, Oedipus and Theseus enjoyed an honour which it is very difficult to distinguish from a religious cult. Miracles and healing were only rarely attributed to them; rather, their presence protected the city, as the tomb of Oedipus was said to protect Athens. The tomb of Theseus became a sanctuary for runaway slaves and all men of low estate who were afraid of men in power.
In the Far East, the famous story of the distribution of the relics of Buddha, an incident which is believed to have taken place immediately after his death, seems to have found remarkable confirmation in certain modern archaeological discoveries. In any case the extreme development of relic-worship amongst the Buddhists of every sect is not in dispute.
3) Has the Catholic Church theologically justified pagan or, we can say, purely human practices and even developed them? Or, as the great Reformer Martin Luther maintained, is the worship of relics a money-making invention of the worldly Church that deserves condemnation?
We need to state this right away: the Church has not invented the veneration of relics, just as she has not invented the Incarnation of Christ and his Resurrection. As in the case of the Incarnation and Resurrection of Jesus, those who came to believe in him did so because of the overwhelming evidence of his supernatural power and presence even after his death. Similarly, in case of the relics, i.e., the material remains of the saints, the believers simply witnessed some extraordinary events associated with them.
During his ministry on earth, Jesus displayed his divine power through his word and touch. Even the clothes he wore, when approached with faith, could transmit his healing power. We read in the Gospel according to Luke 8:43-48: 43 And a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years and could not be healed by anyone, 44 came up behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment; and immediately her flow of blood ceased(Luke 8:43-48).
What happened to that woman was not just an isolated event, as the Gospel according to Mark (6:56) tells us: wherever he came, in villages, cities, or country, they laid the sick in the market places, and besought him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment; and as many as touched it were made well.
Jesus promised his disciples that those who believe in him would do the works he was doing and even greater then these (John 14:12: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.)
This prophecy came true after the ascension of Jesus. In the New Testament we find the description of such great works in the life of the apostles Peter and Paul. We read in the Acts of the Apostles: (5:14-16) And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Then in 19:11-12: And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
If just a shadow cast by Peter’s body or a handkerchief that touched the body of Paul were bringing healing, this was a clear indication that their bodies were the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and the divine power emanated from them. (Cf. 1 Cor 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?). Christians expected that even after their death the time would come when their bodies would rise to everlasting life, transformed and glorified, but still their bodies (cf. 1 Cor 15:35-57). That is why, right from the beginning, they venerated the bodies of great apostles and martyrs and wished to be buried close to them in order to be raised together with them.
The early Fathers often quoted an event linked to Elisha’s bones in order to demonstrate the efficacy of the relics: “So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. 21 And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Elisha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood on his feet (2 Kings 13:20-21)”
4) What is the Catholic doctrine regarding the veneration of relics of the saints?
In fact, right from the beginning the Church strived to keep the use of relics in perspective. In his Letter to Riparius, St. Jerome (d. 420) wrote: “We do not worship, we do not adore, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the Creator, but we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore Him whose martyrs they are.” St. Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) added: “We by no means consider the holy martyrs to be gods, nor are we wont to bow down before them adoringly, but only relatively and reverentially”.
The great medieval theologian, St. Thomas, had this to say regarding the relics: “Those who have an affection to any person hold in honour all that was intimately connected with him. Hence, while we love and venerate the saints who were so dear to God, we also venerate all that belonged to them, and particularly their bodies, which were once the temples of the Holy Spirit, and which are some day to be conformed to the glorious body of Jesus Christ. Whence also”, adds St. Thomas, “God fittingly does honour to such relics by performing miracles in their presence”.
The teaching of the Catholic Church with regard to the veneration of relics is summed up in a decree of the Council of Trent, which enjoins on bishops and other pastors to instruct their flocks that “the holy bodies of holy martyrs and of others now living with Christ—which bodies were the living members of Christ and ‘the temple of the Holy Ghost’ (1 Corinthians 6:19) and which are by Him to be raised to eternal life and to be glorified are to be venerated by the faithful, for through these [bodies] many benefits are bestowed by God on men…
As we can see, the argument in favour of the veneration of the relics is not a fruit of some complicated theological doctrine but it is based on the facts on the ground, namely, the miracles occurring when the relics of saints are approached with faith. In this way, the Incarnation aspect of Christian faith is manifested, that is, God continues to manifest his power through the agency of the material body.
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