By Anna Arco and Olivia Sayer
From: The Catholic Herald
An altar containing the relics of nearly 40 saints was opened for the first time in years before going on display in a new medieval gallery in the British Museum this week.
Opened for the first time in the Eighties for scientific study, the 12th-century altar contained 39 relics, carefully folded into a piece of linen. Each individual relic is wrapped in fabric and bears a 13th-century vellum label with the respective saint's name on it. Among the saints represented by relics are St John, St James and St Mary Magdalene, but the treasure of the collection is what is believed to be a relic of St Benedict of Nursia. The presence of the relics was not made public until this week.
The news was met with excitement. Mgr Keith Barltrop, who has been organising the visit of St Thérèse of Lisieux's relics to Britain this year, said: "I think it's rather exciting. Relics are as relevant today as they always have been. They serve as a reminder of our incarnational faith, that it inhabits the physical world, that there are bodies. I think that the bodies of holy people help us draw closer to God and the communion of saints."
Mgr Barltrop said: "What is exciting is that the relic they seem most definite about is that of St Benedict. I think that it is important to venerate St Benedict, who after all is a saint for Europe. Even if Europe has forgotten its Christian roots, it was the monasteries that helped rebuild Europe. St Benedict played a pivotal role in this with his monastic rule."
St Benedict is one of the patron saints of Europe. The sixth-century saint was the founder of western monasticism, which helped spread Christianity and stabilise Europe.
Dom Antony Sutch, the former headmaster of Downside, a school run by Benedictines, said: "I think there's no doubt in the fact that having a relic contributes a great deal. It has real devotional value. To know that somebody really existed, to come into contact with that, makes that person more real and the example they set more tangible."
James Robinson , the curator of the British Museum's new medieval gallery, said they had opened the portable altar from Hildesheim in Germany while they were conserving the piece to display it in the gallery which opened to the public on Wednesday.
Mr Robinson said: "It's difficult to say for certain whether these are the relics of the actual saints. All we could really ascertain was the age of the textiles, which could themselves be relics." The fabric encasing the relic of St Benedict is ninth to 10th-century Byzantine silk, and Mr Robinson said it would have been highly prized by a high-placed ecclesiastic.
A dedicatory inscription to Abbot Theoderic III on the back of the portable altar dates it to somewhere between 1180 and 1200. The altar has a wooden core, with a central cavity for the relics covered by a Purbeck stone slab. from Dorset. The front is typical of the area of modern day Saxony, with gilt and copper panels showing the evangelists and saints, as well as two crafted from walrus ivory and two manuscript illuminations.
He said: "The altar would have been used to celebrate Mass in a space that had not been consecrated yet. I believe it was the Council of Nicea which pronounced on the criteria for celebrating Mass.
A relic of a saint needed to be in the altar and the stone itself is the right size for the footprint of a chalice." Hildesheim is still an active place of pilgrimage dedicated to St Gotthard, who is featured with three other bishop-saints including St Bernard on the altar.
The British Museum acquired the altar in 1902 and will keep it on display in Bloomsbury. There are other relics on display in the new gallery.
Opened for the first time in the Eighties for scientific study, the 12th-century altar contained 39 relics, carefully folded into a piece of linen. Each individual relic is wrapped in fabric and bears a 13th-century vellum label with the respective saint's name on it. Among the saints represented by relics are St John, St James and St Mary Magdalene, but the treasure of the collection is what is believed to be a relic of St Benedict of Nursia. The presence of the relics was not made public until this week.
The news was met with excitement. Mgr Keith Barltrop, who has been organising the visit of St Thérèse of Lisieux's relics to Britain this year, said: "I think it's rather exciting. Relics are as relevant today as they always have been. They serve as a reminder of our incarnational faith, that it inhabits the physical world, that there are bodies. I think that the bodies of holy people help us draw closer to God and the communion of saints."
Mgr Barltrop said: "What is exciting is that the relic they seem most definite about is that of St Benedict. I think that it is important to venerate St Benedict, who after all is a saint for Europe. Even if Europe has forgotten its Christian roots, it was the monasteries that helped rebuild Europe. St Benedict played a pivotal role in this with his monastic rule."
St Benedict is one of the patron saints of Europe. The sixth-century saint was the founder of western monasticism, which helped spread Christianity and stabilise Europe.
Dom Antony Sutch, the former headmaster of Downside, a school run by Benedictines, said: "I think there's no doubt in the fact that having a relic contributes a great deal. It has real devotional value. To know that somebody really existed, to come into contact with that, makes that person more real and the example they set more tangible."
James Robinson , the curator of the British Museum's new medieval gallery, said they had opened the portable altar from Hildesheim in Germany while they were conserving the piece to display it in the gallery which opened to the public on Wednesday.
Mr Robinson said: "It's difficult to say for certain whether these are the relics of the actual saints. All we could really ascertain was the age of the textiles, which could themselves be relics." The fabric encasing the relic of St Benedict is ninth to 10th-century Byzantine silk, and Mr Robinson said it would have been highly prized by a high-placed ecclesiastic.
A dedicatory inscription to Abbot Theoderic III on the back of the portable altar dates it to somewhere between 1180 and 1200. The altar has a wooden core, with a central cavity for the relics covered by a Purbeck stone slab. from Dorset. The front is typical of the area of modern day Saxony, with gilt and copper panels showing the evangelists and saints, as well as two crafted from walrus ivory and two manuscript illuminations.
He said: "The altar would have been used to celebrate Mass in a space that had not been consecrated yet. I believe it was the Council of Nicea which pronounced on the criteria for celebrating Mass.
A relic of a saint needed to be in the altar and the stone itself is the right size for the footprint of a chalice." Hildesheim is still an active place of pilgrimage dedicated to St Gotthard, who is featured with three other bishop-saints including St Bernard on the altar.
The British Museum acquired the altar in 1902 and will keep it on display in Bloomsbury. There are other relics on display in the new gallery.
3 comments:
As a former Daughter of Charity, which little company was begun by St. Vincent dePaul and St. Louise de Marillac (although Vincent declared solomnly throughout his life that God started this 'Little Company", I have a question.
Some 55 years ago, someone gave me a small reliquary, within which are relics labeled with the following names:
Vincent dePaul
Louise deMarillac
Catherine Laboure
Blessed Perboye
Blessed Clet.
I just found it again in the back of a drawer. Now, I wonder: is this reliquary for real? Can it be real?
I do not remember who gave it to me.
So, now I have questions: how can I have a relic of Vincent? Or of St.Catherine Laboure--isn't she a Saint whose entire body is preserved?
I never before questioned it. Now, I wonder. If it is real, should it be in a church somewhere?
What do I do? gh
Well,
It is very probable that the relics are real but unfortunately it does not seem that you have the papers certifying their authenticity which normally come from the postulator (the person in charge of the beatification cause and eventually canonization.) Relics are usually made available to the faithful or to Churches when the holy person begins the the process of becoming a saint (for instance, the Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, C.Ss.R) who's cause for canonization is coming along) recently made first class relics available to the faithful who could use the relics to draw closer to God by asking the holy persons intercession (asking them to pray to God for them). Even incorruptible saints like St. Catherine had relics made (possibly out of a very small bone in their finger or foot or even a piece of her hair) when their causes for canonization began. It is up to you to decide if you would like to keep the relics in your family and adopt these particular saints as special intercessors or if you would like to donate the relics to your local Church for your brothers and sisters in Christ to venerate and pray before (asking these great saints to pray for them to God). I hope this helps.
God's Peace,
You are right on, as I learned from my former philosophy teacher of long ago. St. Catherine did have her hands removed and made into relics to be venerated.
No, I do not have papers on this reliquery so I would assume no Bishop will accept them for insertion into an altar. Now that all five of the Saints within the reliquery are now Sainted, I just feel selfish having this to myself.
So, I am in a quandary.
55 years ago three of the five relics belonged to Saints already canonized and two had been made Blessed. I just wish I remembered more of how I received this. I don't.
Thank you for your input. Alma
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