Selling relics on Ebay

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I noticed that there are hundreds of fascinating relics for sale on Ebay. The way they do this is to sell the reliquary, and then “throw in” the relic after the sale, since it is against Church Law to sell relics. They seem to sell for anywhere from $100 to $5000, depending on “who” it is, the condition, and if authentication paperwork is included.

Some reliquaries include multiple relics. I saw one last night that had all 12 apostles, a piece of the cross, a piece of the crown of thorns, a piece of the rope that bound Jesus, a piece of the column where He was scourged, a piece of the straw from the manger, etc. (something like 25 relics all included in one reliquary.) All for the amazing low price of $3,000. I couldn’t help but be a bit suspicious of this one.

I’m not an expert, but this relic marketing seems dishonest to me. (To sell the reliquary for thousands of dollars, and then throw in the relic.) Is this in accordance with Church Law? It just seems obvious to me that relics are being sold, despite this tricky little technicality. Do others feel this way as well?

If Ebay marketing of relics is sinful… is it sinful for someone who BUYS as well as someone who SELLS? If a sin, would this be a mortal sin? As I remember, the Church strongly condemned it.

And are these relics even genuine? Seems that technology is advanced enough to fake relics pretty easily these days. (On the other hand, buying a fake relic probably wouldn’t be a sin, would it?)

How was the transfer of relics accomplished before Ebay? My church has a relic cabinet that is pretty impressive. Where do churches get such things?
 
tomch said:
I noticed that there are hundreds of fascinating relics for sale on Ebay. The way they do this is to sell the reliquary, and then “throw in” the relic after the sale, since it is against Church Law to sell relics. They seem to sell for anywhere from $100 to $5000, depending on “who” it is, the condition, and if authentication paperwork is included.

Some reliquaries include multiple relics. I saw one last night that had all 12 apostles, a piece of the cross, a piece of the crown of thorns, a piece of the rope that bound Jesus, a piece of the column where He was scourged, a piece of the straw from the manger, etc. (something like 25 relics all included in one reliquary.) All for the amazing low price of $3,000. I couldn’t help but be a bit suspicious of this one.

I’m not an expert, but this relic marketing seems dishonest to me. (To sell the reliquary for thousands of dollars, and then throw in the relic.) Is this in accordance with Church Law? It just seems obvious to me that relics are being sold, despite this tricky little technicality. Do others feel this way as well?

If Ebay marketing of relics is sinful… is it sinful for someone who BUYS as well as someone who SELLS? If a sin, would this be a mortal sin? As I remember, the Church strongly condemned it.

And are these relics even genuine? Seems that technology is advanced enough to fake relics pretty easily these days. (On the other hand, buying a fake relic probably wouldn’t be a sin, would it?)

How was the transfer of relics accomplished before Ebay? My church has a relic cabinet that is pretty impressive. Where do churches get such things?
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The normal process for receiving relics for public veneration is for the church to contact the Postulator for the Cause of Saints (i believe this is the title) for the particular religious order the saint is associated with, or they can be requested directly from Rome. Giving relics for pirvate veneration has been cut back considerably for fear of desecration. But I was able to receive first class relics of Maria Goretti, Gemma Galgani, and St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows from the Postulator in Rome for the Passionists. Canon Law forbids the selling of relics but I’m not sure what the rules are for buying or bidding. Maybe if it’s for a good reason, like “rescuing” from desecration? I’m not sure on that one.
 
tomch said:
I noticed that there are hundreds of fascinating relics for sale on Ebay. The way they do this is to sell the reliquary, and then “throw in” the relic after the sale, since it is against Church Law to sell relics. They seem to sell for anywhere from $100 to $5000, depending on “who” it is, the condition, and if authentication paperwork is included.

**Some reliquaries include multiple relics. I saw one last night that had all 12 apostles, a piece of the cross, a piece of the crown of thorns, a piece of the rope that bound Jesus, a piece of the column where He was scourged, a piece of the straw from the manger, etc. (something like 25 relics all included in one reliquary.) All for the amazing low price of $3,000. I couldn’t help but be a bit suspicious of this one.**I’m not an expert, but this relic marketing seems dishonest to me. (To sell the reliquary for thousands of dollars, and then throw in the relic.) Is this in accordance with Church Law? It just seems obvious to me that relics are being sold, despite this tricky little technicality. Do others feel this way as well?

If Ebay marketing of relics is sinful… is it sinful for someone who BUYS as well as someone who SELLS? If a sin, would this be a mortal sin? As I remember, the Church strongly condemned it.

And are these relics even genuine? Seems that technology is advanced enough to fake relics pretty easily these days. (On the other hand, buying a fake relic probably wouldn’t be a sin, would it?)

How was the transfer of relics accomplished before Ebay? My church has a relic cabinet that is pretty impressive. Where do churches get such things?
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A bit suspicious? Are you kidding? Its total rubbish and a big fraud.
 
A bit suspicious? Are you kidding? Its total rubbish and a big fraud.

Authentic relics will have some kind of documentation about where they originated.
 
bpbasilphx said:
A bit suspicious? Are you kidding? Its total rubbish and a big fraud.

Authentic relics will have some kind of documentation about where they originated.
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All relics are sealed with wax seals, usually from the Postulator of the Religious Order they are associated with or the Postulator in Rome. Of course seals can be forged so unless they come with reliable documentation, you can’t be sure. :rolleyes:
 
Yep, methinks they’re in the same catagory as the “Virgin Mary in the piece of toast” catagory.
 
Pete said:
Selling **and **buying spiritual things is Simony according to the CCC.

Simony is grave matter (mortal sin, if done with full knowledge and full consent)
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I haven’t purchased any relics, but I did buy a nice brass Holy Water font, and a few Holy Water bottles (empty). As I understand it, this is fine, right?

Thanks for your help!
 
Newbie2 said:
Yep, methinks they’re in the same catagory as the “Virgin Mary in the piece of toast” catagory.
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I think the best one i ever saw was the image of the Virgin in the oil at the bottom of a peanut can. The seller said he believed it was God’s way of helping him pay bills if he could sell it on ebay! :rotfl:
 
tomch said:
I haven’t purchased any relics, but I did buy a nice brass Holy Water font, and a few Holy Water bottles (empty). As I understand it, this is fine, right?

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Yes 🙂
 
I was one of those people who was dupped into buying a fake relic when I was younger.

I bought a religious picture of St. Thomas Aquinas off ebay from a guy who claimed he was a priest. At the time, I was learning about relics and also wanted to get a 3rd class relic (an item that has touched a 1st class relic) associated with St. Thomas. I asked the priest via e-mail if he had any 3rd class relics for St. Thomas Aquinas on sale. I believe it is licit to purchase 3rd class relics, as long the price is only a few dollars to cover the price of the holy medal that has touched the bones of the saint.

To my surprise, he instead offered me a 1st class relic of St. Thomas Aquinas. He said it would cost about $50 to request it from Rome and pay for shipping. He told me he would send the authentic (documentation authenticating the relic) too. Stupidly, I agreed to it and found myself conned.

When I got the relic a few weeks later, it was in a suspiciously new reliquary. The wax seal on the back looked brand new as well (although a chunk of it was missing). Even worse, the documentation looked like a cheesy xerox and had no raised seal or color. The paper looked new though. It was obviously a fake. I googled the name of the authenticator (Fr. Ferrante ) that was on the relic documentation and found out that there have been thousands of fake relics and fake authentication documents with the signature of Fr. Ferrante.

The website said that Fr. Ferrante authenticated relics of St. John Neumann during the 1960’s and so his genuine authentics were floating around in abundance back then. It didn’t take long for con-men to alter Fr. Ferrante’s authentics, produce a bunch of fake relics for various saints, and sell them off to chumps like me.

I ended up having to confess to simony and learned a valuable lesson. I hope no one else attempts to buy relics off E-bay like I did; it was a big mistake and lead to lost dollars and a grave sin. 😊

Check out this website for more info on the infamous fake Fr. Ferrante relics:
medical-online.com/relicfraud.htm
 
Also anyone who thinks reliquaries are sold for a price and the relic is thrown in free (to get round Canon law) is simply deluding themselves. The relic is not free. Its part and parcel of the price. I don’t understand how people can be so gullible to think the relic is not being sold.

The bottom line is that relics should be in the hands of the Church where they can be venerated by all and not in the hands of individuals who want them for selfish reasons.

By the way the Church does NOT authenticate relics.
Read this extract from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

“Be this as it may, it is certain that the Church, with, regard to the veneration of relics, has defined nothing more than what was stated above. Neither has the Church ever pronounced that any particular relic, not even that commonly venerated as the wood of the Cross, is authentic; but she approves of honor being paid to those relics which with reasonable probability are believed to be genuine, and which are invested with due ecclesiastical sanctions.”
 
tomch said:
I noticed that there are hundreds of fascinating relics for sale on Ebay. The way they do this is to sell the reliquary, and then “throw in” the relic after the sale, since it is against Church Law to sell relics. They seem to sell for anywhere from $100 to $5000, depending on “who” it is, the condition, and if authentication paperwork is included.

Some reliquaries include multiple relics. I saw one last night that had all 12 apostles, a piece of the cross, a piece of the crown of thorns, a piece of the rope that bound Jesus, a piece of the column where He was scourged, a piece of the straw from the manger, etc. (something like 25 relics all included in one reliquary.) All for the amazing low price of $3,000. I couldn’t help but be a bit suspicious of this one.

I’m not an expert, but this relic marketing seems dishonest to me. (To sell the reliquary for thousands of dollars, and then throw in the relic.) Is this in accordance with Church Law? It just seems obvious to me that relics are being sold, despite this tricky little technicality. Do others feel this way as well?

If Ebay marketing of relics is sinful… is it sinful for someone who BUYS as well as someone who SELLS? If a sin, would this be a mortal sin? As I remember, the Church strongly condemned it.

And are these relics even genuine? Seems that technology is advanced enough to fake relics pretty easily these days. (On the other hand, buying a fake relic probably wouldn’t be a sin, would it?)

How was the transfer of relics accomplished before Ebay? My church has a relic cabinet that is pretty impressive. Where do churches get such things?
Click to expand...
Oh,yeah.It’s probably a scam…

But,y’know…some people collect stamps and some people collect relics.
fake or not.
somepeople find it cool…
what you collect?
Guitars?
 
Whenever I am around a flee market I try to see if there are any relics being sold (sometimes they are in with the used jewelry, and the seller doesn’t even know that they are relics).

I always make an attempt to purchase them, and then give them a place of honor in our home…rather than leave them to be abused and discarded – or even worse, be thought of as “magic charms” and sold as one would sell an amulet or talisman.

I believe that the “sinfulness” of buying or selling a relic is, as any other sinful act, dependent upon the cognition of the buyer or seller. If you are aware that a relic is genuine, and you purposely try to sell it for a profit, that would be sinful. If, however, you see a genuine relic (or one that you have good reason to believe is genuine) that is being treated with disrespect…then, you not only have an opportunity to buy it – you have a moral obligation to buy it, and give it due respect and honor. You will be blessed for this.
 
BigRedpg51 said:
Whenever I am around a flee market I try to see if there are any relics being sold (sometimes they are in with the used jewelry, and the seller doesn’t even know that they are relics).

I always make an attempt to purchase them, and then give them a place of honor in our home…rather than leave them to be abused and discarded – or even worse, be thought of as “magic charms” and sold as one would sell an amulet or talisman.

I believe that the “sinfulness” of buying or selling a relic is, as any other sinful act, dependent upon the cognition of the buyer or seller. If you are aware that a relic is genuine, and you purposely try to sell it for a profit, that would be sinful. If, however, you see a genuine relic (or one that you have good reason to believe is genuine) that is being treated with disrespect…then, you not only have an opportunity to buy it – you have a moral obligation to buy it, and give it due respect and honor. You will be blessed for this.
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You have the moral obligation to buy it and give it to the Church, NOT keep it for yourself.
 
thistle said:
You have the moral obligation to buy it and give it to the Church, NOT keep it for yourself.
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Thistle, we as Catholics, are allowed to have relics. Ask any priest.

And besides…the only way that the Catholic Church would accept a relic is if you could prove it’s provenance, or at least had the official paperwork, with proof that the relic had not been tampered with.
 
BigRedpg51 said:
Whenever I am around a flee market I try to see if there are any relics being sold (sometimes they are in with the used jewelry, and the seller doesn’t even know that they are relics).
Click to expand...
If the seller doesn’t know they’re relics, how do you?
 
BigRedpg51 said:
Thistle, we as Catholics, are allowed to have relics. Ask any priest.

And besides…the only way that the Catholic Church would accept a relic is if you could prove it’s provenance, or at least had the official paperwork, with proof that the relic had not been tampered with.
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I got this ST.VITUS finger from frair tuck,man!
Kinda looks like a chicken bone…
but he swears it’s authentic…

The church I go to is so breaking out a piece of the true cross for us to look at.This weekend I think…I should check…
 
BigRedpg51 said:
Thistle, we as Catholics, are allowed to have relics. Ask any priest.

And besides…the only way that the Catholic Church would accept a relic is if you could prove it’s provenance, or at least had the official paperwork, with proof that the relic had not been tampered with.
Click to expand...
If there is no paperwork then how would the buyer know its a relic in the first place? Too many gullible people out there.
 
novaslasher said:
I was one of those people who was dupped into buying a fake relic when I was younger.

I bought a religious picture of St. Thomas Aquinas off ebay from a guy who claimed he was a priest. At the time, I was learning about relics and also wanted to get a 3rd class relic (an item that has touched a 1st class relic) associated with St. Thomas. I asked the priest via e-mail if he had any 3rd class relics for St. Thomas Aquinas on sale. I believe it is licit to purchase 3rd class relics, as long the price is only a few dollars to cover the price of the holy medal that has touched the bones of the saint.

To my surprise, he instead offered me a 1st class relic of St. Thomas Aquinas. He said it would cost about $50 to request it from Rome and pay for shipping. He told me he would send the authentic (documentation authenticating the relic) too. Stupidly, I agreed to it and found myself conned.

When I got the relic a few weeks later, it was in a suspiciously new reliquary. The wax seal on the back looked brand new as well (although a chunk of it was missing). Even worse, the documentation looked like a cheesy xerox and had no raised seal or color. The paper looked new though. It was obviously a fake. I googled the name of the authenticator (Fr. Ferrante ) that was on the relic documentation and found out that there have been thousands of fake relics and fake authentication documents with the signature of Fr. Ferrante.

The website said that Fr. Ferrante authenticated relics of St. John Neumann during the 1960’s and so his genuine authentics were floating around in abundance back then. It didn’t take long for con-men to alter Fr. Ferrante’s authentics, produce a bunch of fake relics for various saints, and sell them off to chumps like me.

I ended up having to confess to simony and learned a valuable lesson. I hope no one else attempts to buy relics off E-bay like I did; it was a big mistake and lead to lost dollars and a grave sin. 😊

Check out this website for more info on the infamous fake Fr. Ferrante relics:
medical-online.com/relicfraud.htm
Click to expand...
You are very brave to post this. Thanks.
 
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