How to know about a relic?

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chilarlu

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In a thrift shop I bought an interesting silver locket (clear top) with some embroidery in it, but when I got it home and looked at it closely under magnification, I saw that it contained two tiny printed strips of paper nestled among the embroidery. One says “S. Thomae Aq” and the other “S. Alberti Mag”. My Catholic friend told me it’s a relic and that they are used for praying and she was also concerned that it had been “out there” in the wild, so to speak, for me to find.

To describe it, it’s a very shallow silver round box, essentially, and it comes apart and there is a wax stamp over some strings. In the front, there are four gold flower shapes on a linen-like background. Two have pearls in the center, but the other two have what looks like bone chips, or maybe a little chunk of beige ivory? It’s hard to tell because they are so very tiny! I don’t see here how to attach a photo, otherwise I would just do that.

Anyway, at the time I didn’t realize I was buying a highly devotional object, just something unusual and pretty, so now I am unsure what to do…and I though maybe people might have some suggestions? Thanks in advance!
 
Haha, how I would kill to get my hands on that class of relic! But as it stands, you can keep it or entrust it to the care of a parish/convent/monastery/etc. Just make sure if you keep it there’s some way for you to be sure what will happen to it if you become a relic.
 
Wow, a first class relic! I’m with your friend on this one, since relics really shouldn’t be bought and sold for a profit. You’re ok here, since you didn’t know what it was at the time. Also, I’m working under the assumption that the two bone chips are the relics and not the embroidery, although without seeing it, I could be wrong. If that was the case, it’s a first class relic, but that means the bone chips are human bone, and I’m pretty sure selling human remains is illegal. If the embroidery is the relic, than the relic is second or third class, and should still be treated with respect, but from a secular point of view, there was nothing wrong with selling it. I’d suggest having a priest look at it. Then, you could donate it to the church or keep it as part of your private devotions if you are Catholic.
 
Those are relics of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Albert Magnus. That is crazy. To sell relics is absolutely forbidden, but I suppose they had no way of knowing that. Take them to your priest.
 
woh, you got first class relics from two very notable saints!

If you feel uncomfortable having them and wish to get rid of these relics, please take it to your local Catholic church and give them to a priest. He should know what they are.

You are very lucky since relics like these are hard to obtain for personal veneration.
 
The container in which the relics are held is called a theca . Was there any important looking documents nearby ?
 
You can go to tinypic.com and upload a pic to there, and then attach it here via the direct link TP gives you and using the I M G ] link / I M G ] tag without the spaces.

Sounds like a fortuitous find and I hope the question is settled and the items can be taken to where they need to be.
 
chilarlu said:
In a thrift shop I bought an interesting silver locket (clear top) with some embroidery in it, but when I got it home and looked at it closely under magnification, I saw that it contained two tiny printed strips of paper nestled among the embroidery. One says “S. Thomae Aq” and the other “S. Alberti Mag”. My Catholic friend told me it’s a relic and that they are used for praying and she was also concerned that it had been “out there” in the wild, so to speak, for me to find.

To describe it, it’s a very shallow silver round box, essentially, and it comes apart and there is a wax stamp over some strings. In the front, there are four gold flower shapes on a linen-like background. Two have pearls in the center, but the other two have what looks like bone chips, or maybe a little chunk of beige ivory? It’s hard to tell because they are so very tiny! I don’t see here how to attach a photo, otherwise I would just do that.

Anyway, at the time I didn’t realize I was buying a highly devotional object, just something unusual and pretty, so now I am unsure what to do…and I though maybe people might have some suggestions? Thanks in advance!
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Honestly it’s probably 3rd class relic. In any case such relics are usually put together by the shine where the saint is interned. So if you want to know more start there. St Thomas is interned in a tomb at Toulouse France at les convent des st jacobins. St Albertus Magnus has a tomb in Cologne at St Andreas. Such an item would have been obtained in france directly, so my advice if you are to search for a picture of a similar item online, then try to search in french. I think babel fish is a good way to create a search string from english to french.

Because they are together they are likely 3rd class. That’s just the nature since the saints have been entombed for a long long time. There are a lot of rules regarding the sale of relics and basically they can’t be sold. Ever wonder why catholic book stores are separated from christian (because of church rules regarding the sale of objects). Anything blessed can’t be sold. Relics are never sold! Sacraments are never sold! Many shrines continuously create 3rd class relics, and while they are usually simply sealed dots of cloth on the back of sacramentals, they can be more ornate and beautifully sealed in a locket. The reason I doubt it was a 1st class relic is because quite simply it would be too rare and I would not expect it to be mixed. Further any 1st class relics I’ve seen, especially from highly venerated saints have a tendency of being very obviously stored in gold and glass and will have a large nature to them. Their containers tend to be at least 12-24 inches long and beautiful and are usually sealed in a church associated with the saint or a location where the saint lived or taught.

To put it simply, if you are a catholic you can’t sell it, but you may give it away. If it is really a 3rd class relic it simply is a beautiful way of feeling connected to a saint. If it is a 1st class relic (which I doubt) it is extremely rare and cherished.
 
I would also doubt that they are first class relics, especially because my sources show that St. Albert the Great is an incorruptible, and I can’t imagine someone dismembering an incorrupt body.
 
Elizium23 said:
I would also doubt that they are first class relics, especially because my sources show that St. Albert the Great is an incorruptible, and I can’t imagine someone dismembering an incorrupt body.
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St. Catherine Laboure is an incorruptible and when they dug her up, they had an examination done before redressing her and this included removing a few of her back ribs to be used as relics, so it’s possible.
 
Thanks so much everybody ! Sorry it took me so long to get back but I was pinned under a project 🙂 I took the photo with my cellphone, and this is the best photo I can get without setting up a tripod which I don’t quite have the time for at the moment. The colors skew to pink, for some reason, in RL everything is a bit more beigey, if that makes sense!

i50.photobucket.com/albums/f306/typical_guinea_pig/405756_2747434322146_1146191472_32789573_1252576252_n.jpg

Because of you guys I now know much about Catholic relics. Wow. Absolutely amazing. I think what fascinates me the most about the relics (of any class) is that they are beautiful (to most anyone), and spiritually precious (to Catholics), so there is an incredible tension that surrounds them, in the sense that many would want to own one (or more!), yet their ecclesiastical nature is that they are not meant to be “owned”. And because they are desired for beauty/collecting/possession AND veneration, they would be something utterly ripe for human greed and fraud (the human condition!!!).

If there were any documents that came with the theca (thank you to the poster who told me that word!), I didn’t see them, as the theca was just in a pile of odds and ends. I am an artist that works with odd vintage baubles and widgets so I am always looking in thrift store junk piles for vintage “treasure” among the newer discards. This is how I came into possession of the relic, although I didn’t know what exactly it was at the time. I bought it because it was pretty and inexpensive (my main criteria).

Of course I have no idea what “class” it is, and without authentic papers, it is rather a moot point! I know that the little pieces on the two flowers look like bone or maybe a tooth chip, but they are so small and without scientific testing (for which you would have to break the seal on the back), how could anyone possibly even know? And even if they WERE human bone, how could anyone know if it was bone from these people? Without proper documentation it appears the relics become more of a curiosity for some Catholics. This topic seems to be up for debate…the spiritual value of a relic undocumented vs authenticated, with Catholics on both sides of the fence. It was intriquing reading about all this!

Anyway, thank you guys so very much. I have learned much–in a very short time–about a very fascinating topic. I am still unsure of what I will ultimately do with it, but I feel much more educated.
 
Usually, when these relics are obtained from the Vatican, they come with paperwork authenticating them. They also are accompanied by a wax seal on the back of the case. if yours does, can you please describe it?
 
The relics in the theca surely do look like first class relics and no postulaor would spend so much time issuing third class relics in such fancy thecas. I recommend not breaking the wax seal in the back since these tell us who issued the relic . It might have been a bishop or a postulator general. Could you please post a picture of the wax seal?
 
Actually, I think it’s probably a first-class relic of each. Just because the saints are from centuries ago doesn’t mean anything. Relics were removed from their tombs many times over the years to be distributed - for example, St. Thomas Aquinas’ head is not in his tomb in Toulouse, but in Italy. They were both Dominicans, and Thomas was a student of Albert - which for one or both of these reasons they are together in a single reliquary.

In the older days, thecas containing multiple relics were slightly more common.

St. Albert the Great’s body is not incorrupt, in fact.
 
Oh, it’s SO very nice!

But seriously you can keep them in your home provided they are kept in a reverent way. We have some relics in our home and they are in prominent place. When we say our family Rosary they are right where we can see them. If you decide not to keep them please, please find a place where they can be venerated. Some Catholic church’s will have a Relic Chapel where they can be kept on view for the faithful.

jen
 
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