Modern Reliquaries

 

Most Decembers at this time, I wouldn't notice if aliens had landed in front of Philadelphia's city hall. News takes a back seat to the flames of semester's end. But sabbatical means a different rhythm, a chance to read the paper (not that it's on paper) and listen to a few podcasts. Last night I ran across this article about iPhones with bits of Steve Jobs' iconic black turtleneck embedded in them. 

As it happens, I have an item much like that. It's a reliquary containing a fragment of the bones of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. (It's that round object at the feet of the statue of St. Thérèse that's on my home altar.) It came from a friend who inherited it, I have a folder with paperwork in Latin attesting to its authenticity. (There has always been a brisk trade in fake relics.)

The relic on my altar is a so-called first class relic, an actual piece of the saint's body. Second class relics are clothes or other items that belonged to the saint. You can "create" a third class relic by touching something, usually a piece of cloth, to a first or second class relic. There are rules about relics, including that the faithful may not buy or sell them. 

Relics are typically sealed into reliquaries, which can be quite elaborate. Like those iPhones with pieces of Jobs' turtleneck or the Beatles' suits or — like a bit of the True Cross, also a first class relic — a small piece from the first Mac. Secular reliquaries. 

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Fr. Neil Xavier O'Donoghue at PrayTell also noticed these secular reliquaries. And should you be wondering if there are still those hawking pieces of the True Cross, just as they did to medieval pilgrims, browse vatican.com (which I hasten to say is not associated with the Holy See) which links to relics on eBay.