Relics

Relics, in Christian usage, remains of the bodies of saints (see Saint), or objects connected with the life of Jesus Christ or with the lives of the saints. Christians are known to have venerated the relics of martyrs at least as early as the 2nd century. The influx of relics from the Middle East at the time of the Crusades and the development of superstitious cults around them led to doubts about their authenticity and value. The practice of veneration was effectively defended, however, by the 13th-century theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, who contended that the bodies of the saints are vessels of the Holy Spirit. The practice was reaffirmed by the Council of Trent after Protestant reformers rejected it.

In the Orthodox church, the veneration of relics was sanctioned by the Council of Constantinople (1084), but the veneration of icons has always had a greater importance in the East.

Relics of Muhammad and of Muslim religious teachers are preserved in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, but the veneration of relics has never been officially approved by Muslim authorities, who have sometimes condemned it as idolatry. The veneration of relics has been traditional in Buddhism, and relics attributed to the Buddha and to the great Buddhist teachers are displayed in several places.