distributed to the principal churches; and Cyril of Jerusalem, within less titan a century after the discovery of the cross, describes the precious wood as dispersed throughout the world. It must he added, too, that even at this early period, many abuses and super stitions had crept in, which even the fathers who admit the worship do not fail to con demn.
The practice of relic-worship, however, and the feeling on which it was founded, were not suffered to pass without a protest. Vigilantius, in a treatise which is now lost, bat the tenor of which is learned from his adversary, Jerome, reprobated in the strong e:t terms the excesses to which it was carried, and indeed the essential principles on which the practice rests. But the protest fell without drawing an echo from the con t anporary mind. Vigilantius had so few followers, that were it not for the refutation of his work against relics composed by Jerome, we should have no record of his oppo sition to the popular view; and it is urged by Catholics, as a proof of the univerSal acquiescence of the church of the 4th c. in the practice of relic-worship, that in an age remarkable for intellectual activity and for polemical ardor—an age which in 25 years saw nearly 30 councils in the cause of the Pelagian heresy—it was not even found neces sary to call a single council to condemn Vigilantius.
The writings of Augustine, of Panlinus of Nola, of Ephrem the Syrian, of Gregory the great, and others, are full of examples of the miraculous virtue ascribed to relics, and of the variety and the extensive multiplication of sacred memorials of all kinds. Nor was this confined to the orthodox alone; all the different parties in the controversy on the incarnation agreed with Catholics and with one another on this subject, and even the Iconoclasts, at the very time that they most fiercely repudiated the use of images, admitted without difficulty the veneration of relics.
In the age of the crusades a fresh impulse was given to the worship of relics in the west by the novelty and variety of the sacred objects brought home from the churches of Syria, Asia Minor, and Constantinople by crusaders, by palmers returning from Pales tine. and by the Latin conquerors of Constantinople; and it is admitted bythe most zealous Catholics that at this period many false, and perhaps even absurd and ridiculous relics were introduced, and were successfully commended to the veneration of indi viduals or individual churches in the west; nor do they venture to doubt that abuse and superstition found their way side by side with what they regard as the genuine and authorized worship of the church. Nevertheless, with the exception of the Waldenses,
and a few isolated individuals, the practice remained unchallenged till the c., when, in common with many other doctrines and practices of the church of Rome, it was utterly repudiated by the reformers. Catholics, however, allege that the practice, as sanctioned by the church, has nothing in common with the abuses which form the main ground Of the objections alleged by Protestants. Roman Catholic use of relics, as authorized by the church, is to serve as incentives to faith and piety, by recalling vividly to men's minds the lives, and, as it were, the corporeal presence and the earthly converse of the saints, and thus placing before them, iii a more touching manner, the virtues which, in the examples, are held up for men's imitation. The de of the council of Trent connects the subject of relic-worship with the general inestion of saint-worship, and regards the relics of the saints not as possessing intrinsic virtue,- hut only as instruments "through which Gad bestows benefits on men." See IsvocamoN OF SAINTS. • The Greek and other oriental churches, and most of the oriental sects, agree with Hernia Catholics in the practice of relic-worship. On the contrary, the reformed churches, without exception, have rejected the usage as unscriptural, calculated to withdraw from the worship of the one God, and deformed by numerous superstitions. They regard a large proportion of the relies' which Roman Catholics worship asfalse and supposititious, and thej specify several, regarding the spuriousness of which even learned Catholics appear to be satisfied. Some relics have been the subject of much controversy among Roman Catholics themselves. See Hoix COAT, HOLY PLACES, LonErro, PIL GRIM. It be added that the practice of relic-worship forms a notable feature of the Mohammedan usage of pilgrimages. The holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and the celebrated mosque of Omar at Jerusalem, owe most of their holiness in Mohammedan eyes to the memorials of the prophet, and other relics which they contain; and the cele brated sanjak-sherif or sacred standard at Constantinople, is believed to be formed of the nether garment of Mohammed. The practice occupies a still more important place in Buddhism (q.v.—see also CEYLON).