Sale of relics? a little confused

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lemonadish

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Hey folks

So I came across the gift shop of the Society of the Little Flower for St. Therese of Lisieux. They sell some things on the site that are 3rd class relics (rosaries, prayer cards). While I was researching relics from there, I found that canon law forbids the sale of relics… I’m confused! Is it just for the first and second class relics or is this ALL wrong? Woud I be wrong in purchasing a relic from their site?
 
Notice the site says “suggested donation” rather than “price”. I know its semantics, but maybe you can get them for free anyway? Or rather, why not help them more and donate for something far greater than what they are asking for.
 
Yes, the sale of relics is forbidden. However, as Constantine said, the shop only mentions a suggested donation. It is not unreasonable - while not charging anything for the relic itself - to ask recipients of the relics to support the work that went into making the prayer-card or reliquary, or to cover costs of postage. Most places will only request a donation to cover such costs or to support the work of an apostolate.
 
lemonadish said:
Hey folks

So I came across the gift shop of the Society of the Little Flower for St. Therese of Lisieux. They sell some things on the site that are 3rd class relics (rosaries, prayer cards). While I was researching relics from there, I found that canon law forbids the sale of relics… I’m confused! Is it just for the first and second class relics or is this ALL wrong? Woud I be wrong in purchasing a relic from their site?
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In addition to what Constantine and NPC said, sometimes you will see what ***appears ***to be the sale of a first-class relic, but if simony is to be avoided, the relic is typically mounted in a reliquary of some value, and the selling price is for the reliquary, not for the relic itself.
 
Apollos said:
In addition to what Constantine and NPC said, sometimes you will see what ***appears ***to be the sale of a first-class relic, but if simony is to be avoided, the relic is typically mounted in a reliquary of some value, and the selling price is for the reliquary, not for the relic itself.
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A person would have to be completely naive and gullible to believe the price is only for the reliquary!
 
thistle said:
A person would have to be completely naive and gullible to believe the price is only for the reliquary!
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The prices for the Rosaries, at least, are pretty reasonable for the materials they are made from. You would certainly expect to pay as much or more for an unblessed Rosary.
 
What if they just say buy this piece and after you pay and before we ship it, we’ll make it a third class Relic. Wouldn’t it solve the issue?
 
ConstantineTG said:
What if they just say buy this piece and after you pay and before we ship it, we’ll make it a third class Relic. Wouldn’t it solve the issue?
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As long as you’re not paying for the service of making it a third-class relic.
 
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