The other day I read the strangest thing. Cardinal Dolan of
New York was refusing to dig up a dead man, chop him into pieces and divide the
corpse among anyone who asked for it. Now why would you refuse to do that?
With such a bare few lines, most people would actually ask
“How could anyone think for one minute that such a mutilation of human remains
would be acceptable?”
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| St Yves' Skull |
But then again, most people, sadly, are not Catholic. We in
the Church do not bat an eyelid at the thought of a finger or piece of
clothing, a skull or foot being on display, touched and even kissed. Indeed, as
I write this I am in the presence of the thigh bone of Saint Felicissimus, a
1600 year old martyr from central Italy. For us it is perfectly normal to be
surrounded by relics of the saints, often blood and bones. Every time a priest
comes to the altar and kisses it, he is kissing the altar stone which contains
the remains, no matter how small, of some saints.
In my last parish I offered relics to be venerated after
Mass one day on their feast day. A parishioner stormed off in high dudgeon and
later I received an email accusing me of “the worst excesses of the medieval
Church!” I took it as a compliment.
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| "Worst excesses of the Medieval Church"? I don't think so! |
But this practice of relics is not strange in the slightest.
It fits into our normal habits as human beings. We often have photographs of
dead relatives around the house, or a keepsake of a favourite granny. And as we
remember the First World War, we remember all those women who carried around
lockets of hair of their dead husband or sweetheart. We are surrounded by
mementos of the dead. In life we have constant reminders of those who have gone
before us. Perhaps we keep these things for sentimental reasons, but as we do
so we go beyond the object itself. We would think it strange for a young man to
wear a battered pair of cufflinks on his wedding day, so much at odds with his
smart suit and impeccable tie. But we would have to choke back the tears when
we found out that they were the ones his father wore at his wedding many years
ago. A father who had recently died.
A relic is an object of the dead. Or even the person
themselves. This can of course be taken to extremes. As well as carrying cremated
remains around your neck in a “stylish and elegant pendant”, you can now turn
your beloved’s ashes into a crystal or photo frame. How ironic if you turned
them into an ashtray!* But I digress.
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If you're going to turn them into anything, turn them into an ashtray.
It would be wrong and sinful, but at least it would be ironic. |
The point of a relic is to remind us of the person. Part of
its ancient meaning for us is being connected with the life and witness of the
person whose relic it is. After I have gone up to the altar at the beginning of
Mass I say in Latin “We beseech Thee, O Lord, by the merits of those of Thy
saints whose relics are here, and of all the saints, that Thou wouldst vouchsafe
to pardon me all my sins. Amen.” I am one with the Saints, those members of the
Church who are now in Heaven, interceding for us, supporting us. And the truth
is that we bring those people to mind when we are confronted with physical
reminders of them. I have a deep regard for Saint Felicissimus of course (who
doesn’t?) but I ask his prayers every time I come into this room because there
is a huge bone of his just over there. I remember to pray for my grandfather
when I wear his watch. Without Saint Felicissumus’ thigh or my grandfather’s
watch, I would bring them to mind less often.
We are weak human beings and we need these things. Denying
relics or denigrating them denies and denigrates something fundamental in the
human soul. We cut ourselves off from the messiness of death and in the process
we cut ourselves off from the wonderful messiness of life.
This is an ancient practice and must continue. I would love
it if some day some middle aged priest looked up from his desk and saw again a
weathered leg bone in a glass case and said “Ahhh yes, St Bede, the Chaplain
Abroad, pray for us!”
How very human, how very Catholic and how very right.
* For Catholics who have been cremated their ashes have to
be buried in the ground (not scattered). They should not become table
decorations.
Published in 'Mass of Ages', the Latin Mass Society Magazine
