Relics of the Little Flower on tour

Today’s Times reports that bodily remains of St Thérèse of Lisieux have arrived in Britain for a month-long tour of England and Wales.

Born in 1874 Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, St Therese was a Carmelite Nun who is best known for the “Little Way” – carrying out even the most mundane tasks with love.

"Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."

In effect a good, ided a saintly life can come from the quotidian and not just the grandiose

St Terese died of tuberculosis in 1897. She was beatified in 1923 and canonised in 1925. She is, inter alia, the patron saint of AIDS sufferers and a patron saint of France

A casket containing pieces of St There’s thigh and foot bones will tour 28 centres of prayer and worship in England and Wales, starting at St John’s Catholic Cathedral in Portsmouth today.
Canon Dave Hopgood, of the cathedral, said: “It’s a great honour, not just for Catholics and Christians but it’s a great honour for the city, too. “People will come not just from our diocese but from the whole of the South of England. She was just an ordinary person who lived an ordinary life extraordinarily well. She was one of the great saints.”

A full list of places where St There’s relics will be on view can be found here. Not all of the locations are catholic – the relics will be on view at York Minster and Lancaster Cathedral.
Monsignor Keith Barltrop, the organiser of the tour, said

“St Thérèse has always been popular, I suppose for her simplicity and the very direct, almost childlike relationship she had with God and the fact that she was very ordinary and full of love for God and other people teaches us that everyone can be holy. I suppose we live in such a complicated age that people value the kind of direct approach she has.”

I parted company with the Catholic Church a good 30 years ago and I don’t often have good words to say about the church in general. A part of me finds the idea of touring relics rather strange but I am not going to be the one to sneer at the idea.

The tomb and the foreskin of Jesus

I am grateful to Bryan over at Why Now? for drawing my attention to news of a new documentary by director James Cameron concerning what he believes to be the tomb of Christ

The tomb, which was found near Jerusalem in 1980, contained ossuaries (not coffins as stated in the BBC report, thanks Bryan!) bearing the names Mary; Matthew; Jesua son of Joseph; Mary; Jofa (Joseph, Jesus' brother); and Judah son of Jesua. Another grave close by said to be Mary Magdalene's apparently convinced researchers this must be the tomb of Jesus.

Speaking in New York, the Cameron said statistical tests and DNA analysis backed this view. Not unsurprisingly his claim has been attacked by archaeologists and theologians as unfounded. Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner, who was among the first to examine the tomb when it was first discovered, said the names marked on the coffins were very common at the time. "I don't accept the news that it was used by Jesus or his family," he old the BBC News website.

Personally I think it is a load of rot. The DNA samples can probably prove a family relationships (Y chromosome for father/son relationships and Mitochondrial DNA for for mother/son-daughter) but how can you prove that Jesus is the Jesus of the bible?... You can believe it but you can’t prove it

The Tomb of Jesus story got me thinking about sacred relics. Predictably, perhaps, my favourite sacred relic must be the Holy Prepuce which was said to be imbued with healing and other powers - Fifth Century Irish saint Bridget who received it form an angel was said to have "orgasm-like sensations" when she placed bits of it on her tongue….

Circumcision of Christ by Hams Leonard Schaufelein

Leaving aside theological issues about whether it would have reattached when Jesus ascended to heaven (and the number of times he must have been circumcised for that matter!) several versions of the foreskin made their way to Europe during the Middle Ages. Churches/Cathedrals claiming to be in possession of it included the Lateran Basilica in Rome, Santiago de Compostela Antwerp and Chartres.

The only version believed to have survived into the 20th century was the in the Italian village of Calcata and was displayed during the annual procession on the feast day of the circumcision (1 January) The relic was stolen in 1983 and now sadly there are no more holy foreskins left.

Perhaps all of these relics were fakes: 17th century theologian Leo Allatius was of the view that it divinely ascended to become the rings of Saturn. The mind truly boggles, or at least mine does…