The search for relics

For the first week of classes I read a book called The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity by Peter Brown.  It is an interesting concept about the rise of Christianity and the veneration of the Saints.  I have not found much written specifically on this topic.  Peter Brown's lectures became part of this book, or rather part of this book follows his renown lectures.  Following I will include a few exerpts that I think might explain this.  But what is important is the concept of the veneration of Saints' relics - those parts of a Saint's remains that were kept at a Church where they could be honored and kept close to draw pilgrims to pray.  They are often associated with miracles gifted to the humble.

“The graves of the saints – whether these were the solemn rock tombs of the Jewish patriarchs in the Holy Land or, in Christian circles, tombs, fragments of bodies or, even physical objects that had made contact with these bodies – were privileged places, where contrasted poles of Heaven and Earth met.”

“…the saint in Heaven was believed to be ‘present’ at his tomb on earth.”

“To a Mediterranean man of traditional background, much of this would have been peripheral, and some of it, downright disgusting.”

“The rise of the Christian cult of saints took place in the great cemeteries that lay outside the cities of the Roman world; and, as for the handling of dead bodies, the Christian cult of saints rapidly came to involve the digging up, the moving, the dismemberment—quite apart from much avid touching and kissing—of the bones of the dead, and frequently, the placing of these in areas from which the dead had once been excluded….But the impact of the cult of saints on the topography of the Roman city was unambiguous: it gave greater prominence to areas that had been treated as antithetical to the public life of the living city….”

The idea was that Saint’s relics could redeem one’s sins.  This veneration of the dead was a considerable change from previous religious practice and in a way, brought Christians together in places of worship in ways they had never been (permitted) to before.  It was not long before this that Christians were forced to live in ghettos in Rome, persecuted for practicing Christianity off and on for centuries, and the saints were often the martyrs for their beliefs. 

Much of this took place in the time known as Late Antiquity, around the 6th century, C.E. By the 11th century massive churches were being constructed as places of worship and with a relic to draw the faithful, pilgrims made their way to be healed.  The architecture of this period is known as Romanesque.  For a wonderful look at the architecture of the pilgrim routes across France, with descriptions of the routes, photographs and videos of the marvelous architecture please try this website:  http://artsymbol.wordpress.com/.  Some of the places along the route that I will be travelling include: Le Puy en Velay, Conques, Moissac and these have terrific videos you can view.