The opportunity to view, touch and venerate the sacred relics of 165 well-known saints drew hundreds of people to St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax March 5.
Father Carlos Martins of Detroit, an ecclesiastically appointed curate of relics, has been touring the world with the Treasures of the Church exhibit for more than 20 years. He began the evening in the nearly full church with a presentation that provided the catechetical and spiritual basis for the veneration of relics. “God wants to be encountered; he touches us through the lives and sacred remains of his saints,” Father Martins said.
He said there are three kinds of relics: first-class relics are fragments of the bone or flesh of a saint; second-class relics are items a saint has personally owned, such as a shirt or book fragment; and third-class relics are items a saint has touched. Relics are so important that one or more relics are embedded in a marble block in the altar of every Catholic church. Reverencing the relic is the reason the priest kisses the altar at the beginning of every Mass, he said.
All but six of the relics in the exhibit are first-class relics, usually tiny fragments of bone, housed in a small case called a theca, which is sealed with string or wire and a wax seal, to prevent tampering. It must be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity containing the matching wax seal displaying the coat of arms of the bishop, abbot or postulator of the saint’s cause who authenticated the relic. Thecas containing relics are displayed in cases or small ornate stands called reliquaries, with little windows to view the relic and the name of the saint.
Father Martins cited several Scripture passages from both the Old and New Testaments that point to the healing power of relics: the story of the man who was thrown into the grave of the prophet Elisha and came back to life when he touched his bones (2 Kgs, 21); the Gospel story of the woman with a hemorrhage who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ cloak (Lk 8:44) and the passage from the Acts of the Apostles that describes face cloths and aprons touched by the Apostle Paul healing the sick (Acts 19:11-12).
Father Martins also told the harrowing story of St. Maria Goretti, a poor Italian peasant girl who at age 11 was stabbed 14 times by a neighbor in the early 1900s. She forgave him on her deathbed, and he later converted in prison. She was canonized in 1950 in a ceremony attended by a quarter of a million people, including her mother. It was the first time a mother was present at her child’s canonization. Many other healings have been attributed to her intercession, he said, emphasizing the importance of forgiveness for anyone who seeks to be healed.
“The cause of the healing is God,” Father Martins said. “The relics are not magic and are not a power separate from God. God chooses to use the relic as a vehicle.”
“The relics are not magic and are not a power separate from God. God chooses to use the relic as a vehicle.”
Fr. Carlos Martins
After his presentation, visitors moved to the crowded parish hall to hold, pray with and photograph the relics of saints including St. Joseph, St. Maria Goretti, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Faustina Kowalska. They waited in long lines to view a fragment of the veil of Our Lady and one of the largest remaining pieces of the True Cross.
A former atheist who said he was converted 25 years ago “when someone handed me the story of the life of a saint,” Father Martins encouraged those attending to share the stories of saints and their holy lives with others. Books and videos were available for sale at the exhibit, which was free to attend but depends on donations.
“Our faith is meant to be shared,” he said, adding that thousands of “spectacular” healings from cancer, physical deformities and other ailments have been reported over the years by people who have attended the exhibit. “If you receive a healing, I’d better hear about it,” he told the crowd.
In addition to St. Mary of Sorrows, the exhibit was scheduled to visit several other parishes around the diocese through March 11: St. Bridget of Ireland Church, Berryville; Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, Winchester; the Basilica of St. Mary, Alexandria; St. James Church, Falls Church; and St. Agnes Church, Arlington.
Find out more
Go to Treasuresofthechurch.com
