Relics Archives

Saint’s relics are a miraculous must-see in secular Russia

Xenia Loutchenko, a Moscow-based commentator on church affairs, said, “The thing is, people don’t have much to hope for with the current state of our health care, what people hear from doctors and bureaucrats: They have nothing else to rely on, other than to go and pray.”

Shock and outrage surround theft of St. John Bosco’s brain

After a reliquary containing a small piece of the brain of St. John Bosco, founder of the Salesian religious order and a legendary pastor of youth, was stolen from a basilica in northern Italy dedicated to his memory Saturday night, devotees are saying, ‘You can steal a relic, but you can’t rob us of our saint.’

Fatima saints’ relics installed in Portuguese church in British Columbia

Relics of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, the seers of Fatima canonized by Pope Francis on Saturday, were installed in Our Lady of Fatima church in Victoria, Canada, on May 14. The relics consisted of fragments of the original coffin of each child. A statue of Our Lady of the Rosary also was unveiled and blessed in a courtyard in front of the church.

A handful of modern Romans keep a Medieval devotion alive
- Catholic News Agency, Global Church
- April 15, 2017
In the Church of Saint Praxedes in Rome, a treasure is kept: a fragment of stone alleged to be the pillar upon which Jesus was scourged. To this day, a handful of pilgrims pray before the column but even though most scholars are highly doubtful that the column is authentic, experts stress that the artifact should still be admired as a Medieval tradition.
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Russian cosmonaut takes relic of Orthodox saint into space
- Associated Press, Global Church
- April 13, 2017
Although Russia was officially atheistic for 70 years under Communist rule, the Russian Orthodox faith has experienced a revival in the years since, with a strong majority of Russians now identifying themselves as Christian. The latest sign of that fervor is cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov, who returned to earth from the International Space Station Wednesday saying he’d taken a relic of an Orthodox saint with him into space.
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400-year-old heart of Catholic saint arrives in Louisiana
- Associated Press, Church in the US
- December 11, 2016
Saint John Berchmans was a 17th century Jesuit scholastic in Belgium, and is considered the patron saint of altar servers.
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