5 NOVEMBER – FEAST OF THE HOLY RELICS

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Had we Angels’ eyes we should see the Earth as a vast field sown with seed for the resurrection. The death of Abel opened the first furrow and ever since the sowing has gone on unceasingly the wide world over. This land of labour and of suffering, what treasures it already holds laid up in its bosom! And what a harvest for Heaven when the Sun of Justice, suddenly darting forth His rays, will cause to spring up as suddenly from the soil the elect ears ripe for glory! No wonder that the Church herself blesses and superintends the laying of the precious grain in the Earth.

But the Church is not content to be always sowing. Sometimes, as though impatient of delay, she raises from the ground the chosen seed she had sown in it. Her infallible discernment preserves her from error and, disengaging from the soil the immortal germ, she forestalls the glory of the future. She encloses the treasure in gold or precious stuffs, carries it in triumph, invites the multitudes to come and reverence it. Or she raises new temples to the name of the blessed one, and assigns him the highest honour of reposing under the Altar on which she offers to God the tremendous Sacrifice.

“Let your charity understand,” explains Saint Augustine: “it is not to Stephen we raise an altar in this place, but of Stephen’s relics we make an altar to God. God loves these altars, and if you ask the reason: ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints’ (Psalm cxv. 15). In obedience to God the invisible soul has quitted its visible dwelling. But God preserves this dwelling. He is glorified by the honour we pay to this lifeless flesh and, clothing it with the might of His divinity, he gives it the power of working miracles.” Hence the origin of pilgrimages to the shrines of the Saints. “Christian people,” says Saint Gregory of Nyssa, “wherefore are you assembled here? A tomb has no attractions. Nay, the sight of its contents inspires horror. Yet, see what eagerness to approach this sepulchre! So great an object of desire is it that a little of the dust from around it is esteemed a gift of great price. As to beholding the remains it conceals, that is a rare favour, and an enviable one, as those can testify who enjoy the privilege: they embrace the holy body as though it were yet alive, they press their lips and their eyes upon it, shedding tears of love and devotion. What emperor ever received such honour?”

“Emperors!” rejoins Saint John Chrysostom, “as the porters at their gates, such have they become with regard to poor fishers. The son of the great Constantine deemed he could not pay a higher honour to his father than to procure him a place of sepulture in the porch of the fisherman of Galilee.” And again, concluding his commentary on Saint Paul’s admirable Epistle to the Romans, the golden-mouthed Doctor exclaims: “And now, who will grant me to prostrate myself at Paul’s sepulchre, to contemplate the ashes of that body which, suffering for us, filled up what was wanting of the sufferings of Christ? The dust of that mouth which spoke boldly before kings and, showing what Paul was, revealed the Lord of Paul? The dust of that heart, truly the heart of the world, more lofty than the heavens, more vast than the universe, as much the heart of Christ as of Paul, and in which might be read the book of grace, graven by the Holy Spirit? Oh I that I might see the remains of the hands which wrote those Epistles, of the eyes which were struck with blindness and recovered their sight for our salvation, of the feet which traversed the whole earth! Yes, I would fain contemplate the tomb where repose these instruments of justice and of light, these members of Christ, this temple of the Holy Ghost. O venerable body, which, together with that of Peter, protect Rome more securely than all ramparts!”

In spite of such teachings as these, the heretics of the sixteenth century profaned the tombs of the Saints under pretext of bringing us back to the doctrine of our forefathers. In contradiction to these strange reformers, the Council of Trent expressed the unanimous testimony of Tradition in the following definition which sets forth the theological reasons of the honour paid by the Church to the relics of Saints:

“Veneration ought to be shown by the faithful to the bodies of the Martyrs and other Saints who live with Jesus Christ. For they were His living members and the temples of the Holy Ghost. He will raise them up again to eternal life and glory, and through them God grants many blessings to mankind. Therefore, those who say that the relics of the Saints are not worthy of veneration, that it is useless for the faithful to honour them, that it is vain to visit the memorials or monuments of the Saints in order to obtain their aid, are absolutely to be condemned, And, as they have already been long ago condemned, the Church now condemns them once more.”

Our ancestors looked upon holy relics as their greatest riches, the treasure by excellence of their cities. Dew of Heaven and fatness of the Earth, the blessings of this world and of the next seemed to distil from the bodies of the Saints. Their presence was a check to hostile armies, as well as to the legions of Hell. It guarded morals, fostered faith, and encouraged prayer in the heart of cities, to which they attracted as great crowds as now flock to our centres of pleasure. And with what vigilance was cherished the blessed deposit, the loss of which would have been considered the greatest of public calamities! “I have here, my brethren,” says Cardinal Pie, “to unfold to you a marvellous desire of the God whom Scripture calls wonderful in His Saints. The Lord Jesus who said to his disciples: ‘Go ye and teach,’ euntes ergo docete, frequently takes pleasure in sending them forth again after their death, and He makes use of their apostolate from beyond the tomb to carry the blessings of grace to other nations besides those whom they evangelised in life. ‘I have appointed you,’ He said, ‘that you should go and should bring forth fruit:’ Posui cosut eatis et fructum atferatis. In obedience to this command, the Saints, even after having reached the blessed term of their mortal pilgrimage, consent to become wayfarers once more. Had I leisure to recount to you all the posthumous wanderings of our illustrious pontiffs and thaumaturgi, for instance the repeated journeys of our own Hilary and Martin during more than ten centuries, I should, though captivating your attention by narratives full of interest, run the risk of wearying you by the length of my discourse.”

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

St. Zachary, priest and prophet, father of St. John the Baptist.

Also St. Elizabeth, mother of the same most holy precursor.

At Terracina in Campania, the birthday of the holy martyrs, Felix, priest, and Eusebius, monk. The latter having buried the holy martyrs Julian and Caesarius, and converted to the faith of Christ many who the priest St. Felix baptised, was arrested with him, and both being led to the tribunal of the judge who could not succeed in intimidating them, they were shut up in prison, and as they refused to offer sacrifice, were beheaded that same night.

At Emesa in Phoenicia, during the persecution of Decius, the holy martyrs Galation, and Epistemis, his wife, who were scourged, had their hands, feet and tongue severed from their bodies, and finally consummated their martyrdom by decapitation.

Also the holy martyrs Domninus, Theotimus, Philotheus, Silvanus and their companions, under the emperor Maximinus.

At Milan, St. Magnus, bishop and confessor.

At Brescia, St. Dominator, bishop.

At Treves, St. Fibitius, who was made bishop of that city while filling the office of abbot.

At Orleans in France, St. Laetus, priest and confessor.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.