RELICS (Gr. leipsana, Lat. religuia3, remains), the name given in theological and historical nomenclature to what may be in general described as the personal memorials of those among the dead who have been distinguished during life by eminent qualities, especially by sanctity or by remarkable religious services. Under the same name are classed certain objects which are believed to be memorials of the life of our Lord upon earth, and especially of his passion and death. Such memorials of the distinguished dead have at all times and in all states of society, however rude, been held in honor among men. But the question as to relics is chiefly important in relation to Christian history, in which the name is restricted to a single class of memorials, viz., to objects which derive their value from their connection with our Lord and with the saints; as, for example, fragments of our Lord's cross or crown of thorns, portions of the dust, the bones, the blood, the instruments of torture, the chains, etc., of the martyrs, the mortal remains, the clothes, the books, and other objects of personal use of the other saints, and even objects to which a certain indirect sacred interest is given by their being brought into contact with the direct memorials of the distinguished dead, as by their being placed on the tombs of the martyrs, touched with the relics, or blessed at the shrine or sanctuary of the saints, etc. In all such cases the motive of religious honor, however differently it arises, is•precisely the same, viz., the association of the object which is honored with the personage whose virtues or services are the subject of grateful veneration. The merits of relics, in their theological aspect, are beyond the scope of this publication. We shall confine ourselves to an outline of the history of the venera Von of relies, and to an explanation of the conflicting views of the rival Christian com munions on the subject.
The very earliest monuments of Christian history contain evidences of the deep and reverential affection with which martyrs of the faith, their mortal remains, and every thing connected with their martyrdom, were regarded by their fellow-Christians, and for which Catholics profess to rind warrant in many passages of the'Old and of the New Testament, as Ex. xiii. 19; Dent. xxxiv.•6; -2 Kings xiii. 21, and xxiii. 16-18; Isaiah xi.
10; Matt. ix. 20-22; Acts v. 12-16,.. and xix. 11, 12. The contemporary letter of the church of Smyrna attests tliN plainly as to the martyrdom of Poly-carp; Pontian's Life of Cyprian tells of their stealing the martyr's body, and carrying it away by night in holy triumph with lights and torches. At an early period, too, miracles are described as con nected with relies. Thus Ambrose (Ep. xxii. 1, 2) tells of a blind man's sight restored by his touching the bodies of the niartvrs Gervasius and Protasms; and similar wonders are detailed by Gregory Nazianzen ((hat. xviii.), ChrysoStinn (In• Ignatium, n. 5), Leo the great (Sem. iv. 4); insomnehiliat the:possessiOn Of relic's of the martyrs, and even the occasional touching of their, Was regarded as i special happiness (Gregory Naz. Orat. in, S. Theodorum), and that 'not merely individuals, but, according to ‘Theodoret the historian, even cities were content to share with each other portions of the sacred treasure (Theodorct, Once. 11frectionuin Candi°, asp, viii.). Connected with this feel hig, too, is found a belief of a certain sacred efficaCy in the presence or the touch of the relics, and especially there is ascribed by Chrysostom, Basil, Theodoret, and other fathers, to prayers offered before the relicS, a virtue in dispelling or warding off sickness, diabolical machinations, and other evils. Hence we find that altars were erected over the tombs of the martyrs, or at least that relics were invariably placed on the altars, -Aierever erected, insomuch that the Trnllan council ordered the demolition of .all altars n which no relics had been deposited. Far more sacred than the relics of martvrs was the cross of our Lord, which was believed to have been discovered at Jerusalem by Helena (o.v.). mother of the emperor Constantine. portions of the wood were.