Program / Course 21: Liturgical Theology / Lesson 6.2
What you will learn
- Describe the origins of Christian pilgrimage and the main pilgrim destinations.
- Explain what relics are, the classes of relics, and what the Catholic and Orthodox churches teach about them.
- Summarize the Protestant criticism of relics and pilgrimage, including Calvin’s argument.
- Say how to approach claims about a relic or medal and what the churches say about authenticity.
The big idea
From the fourth century, Christians traveled to places linked to Christ and the saints, and kept the bodies and belongings of saints as relics. Catholic and Orthodox churches teach that this honors the saints and, through them, God, and they distinguish veneration from worship. The Reformers attacked relics and pilgrimages as unscriptural and often fraudulent. The Catholic Church replied that abuses should be corrected but the practice kept. Medals, scapulars and holy cards are later pious objects that the churches treat as aids to prayer and not as charms.
Key terms
- Pilgrimage
- A journey to a holy place as an act of devotion or penance.
- Relic
- In Catholic and Orthodox use, the body of a saint, part of it, or an object closely associated with a saint or with Christ.
- First-class relic
- A Catholic term for the body or a part of the body of a saint, or an instrument of Christ’s passion.
- Second- and third-class relic
- Objects owned by a saint, and objects touched to a first-class relic.
- Reliquary
- A container for a relic, often of precious metal.
- Medal
- A small metal disc bearing an image of Christ, Mary or a saint, worn or carried as a reminder of faith.
- Scapular
- A pair of small pieces of cloth worn over the shoulders as a sign of devotion, in Catholic use.
Background
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land began early. After Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the 320s and 330s, pilgrims came in numbers. The pilgrim Egeria described her visit in the late fourth century. Pilgrims also visited the tombs of apostles and martyrs in Rome. In the Middle Ages great routes crossed Europe: to Rome, to Jerusalem and to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where from the ninth century the tomb of the apostle James was said to lie. In England Canterbury drew pilgrims to the shrine of Thomas Becket after his killing in 1170.
The honoring of relics is also early. The account of Polycarp’s martyrdom tells how believers gathered his bones. The Bible has passages that are cited in support, such as the healing by contact with the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:21) and with cloths touched to Paul (Acts 19:11-12). Ambrose of Milan in 386 found remains of martyrs and placed them under the altar. The Second Council of Nicaea required relics for the consecration of altars.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: What the Catholic and Orthodox churches teach
Catholic teaching, from Trent and the Catechism, holds that the bodies of the saints, which were members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit, are to be venerated, and that God gives benefits through them. The Orthodox church likewise venerates relics and places them in altars and in churches, and many holy sites hold relics. Both churches teach that the relic is not worshiped, that no power lies in it apart from God, and that veneration passes to the saint and to God. The Catholic Church requires documentation for relics, and in cases where authenticity cannot be shown it advises that they not be publicly venerated.
Step 2: Authenticity and the history of fraud
Many medieval relics were doubtful, and the trade in them was a scandal. The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 forbade the veneration of new relics without papal approval and the sale of relics. The story that Helena, the mother of Constantine, found the True Cross appears in sources from the late fourth century, and some earlier writers mention a wood of the cross at Jerusalem, but the details are uncertain and historians differ. Large numbers of fragments of the cross exist, and an old argument says that they would make up a very large tree. Scholars who have studied the numbers note that the total volume is in fact much smaller than critics said, though authenticity remains unproven. The honest position is that the history of many relics is unclear.
Step 3: The Protestant objection
Calvin in his Treatise on Relics (1543) mocked the multiplication of relics, listing many claimed pieces of the cross, several heads of the same saint and relics of Christ’s own body. He argued that devotion to relics risked idolatry and that Scripture neither commands nor gives examples. Lutheran and Anglican writers likewise rejected the invocation of relics. Anglican Article 22 rejects the worship and adoration of images and relics. Protestants today generally do not use relics, though many make pilgrimage to Iona, the Holy Land, Taizé or places of the Reformation, and see in them places of remembrance.
Step 4: Medals, scapulars and pious objects
The Catholic custom of wearing medals grew in the Middle Ages and spread widely in the nineteenth century. The Miraculous Medal, associated with the visions of Catherine Labouré in Paris in 1830, is a well-known example. The church approved the devotion, but teaches that the medal is a sign that reminds the wearer of faith and prayer. The brown scapular is tied to a legend of Simon Stock in 1251, which historians consider unproven, though the devotion itself is approved. Holy cards, crucifixes and rosaries are used in the same way. The church has repeatedly warned against treating such things as charms, and against trade in them with promises of results.
Step 5: What a person alone can do
A person can go on pilgrimage, carry a cross or medal, and keep an icon or a holy card. Anyone who does so should consider why they do it and what they believe it does. A person alone cannot decide that an object is a relic, since churches that use relics require documents and approval, and cannot make a miraculous claim authoritative. Claims of a miracle connected with a shrine or an object are investigated by church authorities, and a private person should not assume that a story is true because it is repeated. Pilgrimage can be costly and tiring, and those traveling should plan carefully.
- What is the object or place, and what is its documented history?
- What does the tradition that venerates it teach about its meaning?
- What does it promise, if anything, and does the church make that promise?
- What is the strongest objection to the practice?
- Has the church approved or investigated the claim?
- What would I be doing if I took part, and why?
Examples
Santiago
Pilgrims walk the Camino de Santiago for weeks, many with no church affiliation, some for religious reasons and some for the walk itself. The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela claims to hold the remains of the apostle James. Historians note that the tradition arose in the ninth century and cannot be proved by early sources.
Calvin’s list
Calvin remarked that there were so many pieces of the cross in churches that a ship would be needed to carry them. The remark became famous. Later scholars have calculated that the total is much less than he suggested, but his point about doubtful authenticity was widely accepted.
A medal
A woman wears a medal of St Christopher, given by her mother. She understands it as a reminder to pray for safe travel. The church says it protects only in the sense that it prompts prayer. (A constructed example.)
Different perspectives
Catholic
Pilgrimage and relics are good when they lead to Christ and the sacraments, and are to be guided by bishops. Veneration is distinguished from worship, and abuses are to be removed.
Orthodox
Relics are signs of the transfiguration of the body, in the hope of the resurrection. The church venerates them in a context of liturgy and prayer. Pilgrimage to holy places, especially monasteries, is a living practice.
Lutheran and Anglican
Relics and pilgrimages are not commanded, and the confessions reject their worship. Pilgrimage to places of remembrance is allowed, and some Anglican shrines, such as Walsingham, have been revived.
Reformed
Relics lead to idolatry and fraud, and pilgrimage lacks Scriptural warrant. Calvin’s treatise gave the classic form of the argument.
Scholarly
Historians treat relics as central to medieval religion and economy, and they test each claim by sources. They avoid both naive acceptance and automatic dismissal.
Why it matters
Relics and pilgrimage show the questions of authenticity, evidence and doctrine in a concrete form. They also show that tradition-based practices have always lived with skepticism, from Calvin to the Fourth Lateran Council. A student who learns to ask for the documents of a relic, and for the church’s teaching on its meaning, is practicing the method of the last module.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: The churches say that every relic is authentic.
Correction: The churches have long admitted doubtful relics. The Catholic Church requires documentation and discourages veneration where authenticity is not shown.
Misunderstanding: Veneration of relics is worship of dead bodies.
Correction: Catholic and Orthodox teaching distinguishes veneration from worship and says that honor goes to the saint and to God. Critics may argue the distinction is difficult to keep, but they should state the teaching.
Misunderstanding: Protestants never go on pilgrimage.
Correction: Many do, to the Holy Land and to sites such as Iona and Taizé, though without relics and often without the penitential idea.
Misunderstanding: A medal protects its wearer by itself.
Correction: The churches teach that medals are signs and aids to prayer and warn against the belief that they work like charms.
Knowledge check
What biblical texts are cited in defense of relics?
2 Kings 13:21, where a man is revived by touching the bones of Elisha, and Acts 19:11-12, where cloths touched to Paul heal the sick. Opponents reply that these are accounts of what God did and not commands to venerate objects.
What was Calvin’s criticism of relics?
In his 1543 treatise he mocked the multiplication of doubtful relics and argued that veneration of them leads to idolatry and lacks Scriptural warrant.
What did the Fourth Lateran Council decide about relics?
In 1215 it forbade the veneration of new relics without approval and forbade the sale of relics, in response to abuses.
What can a person alone do and not do?
A person can make a pilgrimage and carry a medal or cross as a reminder to pray. A person cannot declare an object a relic or a story a miracle. Churches that use relics require documentation and approval.
Think it through
- What does the desire to be near holy places and holy things say about human nature?
- How can a church honor the saints without encouraging fraud?
- Why might Calvin’s mockery have been effective?
- How would you decide whether to take part in a pilgrimage?
Independent assignment
Trace one relic or shrine
In your own notebook, write 400 to 600 words on one pilgrimage site or relic. State the earliest source for its claim and its date, what historians say about it, what the church that honors it teaches, and what the strongest objection is. Note what you could not verify. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- Council of Trent (1545-1563), Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent Read the decree on the invocation of saints and the veneration of relics.
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion Read the passages on saints and the veneration of images.
- Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Read the sections on the veneration of relics and on pilgrimage.
- Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Read for the background of the fourth century and the Middle Ages.
- 2 Kings 13:21 The bones of Elisha.
- Acts 19:11 Handkerchiefs and aprons from Paul.
- John 4:21 Neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.