St Stephen's Parish
Serving the Catholics of Skipton, Craven and the Dales
The Reliquary of St Stephen
Over the years, Christian men and women have been drawn to the saints for the heroic virtues and brave witness that they exemplify. They are friends and guides, beloved fellow-pilgrims who have reached their destination and home, honoured members of the Christian family.
The veneration of icons and relics is part of the Catholic tradition and speaks to us on a very human and physical level. Like treasured heirlooms and photographs, the relic and the icon enable us to connect with our past and with the person they are related to.
Relics can be parts of the remains of saints or parts of their clothes or implements of their martyrdom. Anything linked with them are relics. It is customary for a relic to be embedded in an Altar as a reminder of the early Christian custom of saying Mass on the tombs of the Roman martyrs.
Relics are principally aids to prayer and contemplation and often, due to the faith of the persons contemplating them, they have been instrumental in effecting miracles or divine help.
They should not be regarded with superstition but with hope and faith in the Lord who works through material things, whether in sending his Son, who undertook human flesh or in the daily miracle of the Eucharist, where Jesus Christ really and substantially comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine.
Recent Teaching from the Church on the Veneration of Relics:
The Second Vatican Council recalls that "the Saints have been traditionally honoured in the Church, and their authentic relics and images held in veneration". The term "relics of the Saints" principally signifies the bodies - or notable parts of the bodies - of the Saints who, as distinguished members of Christ's mystical Body and as Temples of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 3, 16; 6, 19; 2 Cor 6, 16)(324) in virtue of their heroic sanctity, now dwell in Heaven, but who once lived on earth. Objects which belonged to the Saints, such as personal objects, clothes and manuscripts are also considered relics, as are objects which have touched their bodies or tombs such as oils, cloths, and images.
The various forms of popular veneration of the relics of the Saints, such as kissing, decorations with lights and flowers, bearing them in processions, in no way exclude the possibility of taking the relics of the Saints to the sick and dying, to comfort them or use the intercession of the Saint to ask for healing. Such should be conducted with great dignity and be motivated by faith. The relics of the Saints should not be exposed on the mensa of the altar, since this is reserved for the Body and Blood of the King of Martyrs.
- from the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (2001)