Third class relic in mail

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Today among the mountains of mail I receive requesting donations, etc. I received a bookmark with a medal glued on it and in the center of the medal was a tiny sliver of cloth supposedly touched to a first class relic of St. Anthony, making it a third-class relic (so they claim).

Now, I am not usually skeptical of these things sent by Catholic religious organizations asking for donations, but this seemed a little off the wall and disrespectful. In the first place, it is hard to believe that someone actually touched a piece of cloth to a first class relic of the Saint, then cut it up into thousands of pieces and glued it on a medal, then glued it on a bookmark, and mailed how many thousands of these to unknown people around the world. How do I know if this is really what it is claimed to be, and also, would not such a thing be blessed? I don’t know what to do with it.

We try to give generously to various missions, homeless shelters, etc., thus my house is becoming full of religious articles, rosaries, holy cards, you name it from the mailing lists they share. It is becoming a nightmare, the amount of mail I receive, and I am tired of it.

What does anyone think of this, and have they received anything similar?
 
Hi CB,

Yes, I get these myself-Rosaries, key chains, you name it.

I am on many mailing lists. They don’t bother me at all, actually. I tend to keep them.

I don’t think that anyone would send out anything that wasn’t real. I have received third class relics in the mail, too. If you don’t want yours, I would try and find someone to give it to, who would be interested in it. 🙂
 
I get lots of these things too. I save them and give them out as “prizes” at religous education. See if any of the catechists would like your “extras” though they likely have lots themselves. You’d be surprised how excited a 2nd grader gets with a keychain or rosary when they say their prayers for me! I always be sure to let them know what they are receivng and to treat it with respect or return it too.
 
CB_Catholic said:
Today among the mountains of mail I receive requesting donations, etc. I received a bookmark with a medal glued on it and in the center of the medal was a tiny sliver of cloth supposedly touched to a first class relic of St. Anthony, making it a third-class relic (so they claim).

Now, I am not usually skeptical of these things sent by Catholic religious organizations asking for donations, but this seemed a little off the wall and disrespectful. In the first place, it is hard to believe that someone actually touched a piece of cloth to a first class relic of the Saint, then cut it up into thousands of pieces and glued it on a medal, then glued it on a bookmark, and mailed how many thousands of these to unknown people around the world. How do I know if this is really what it is claimed to be, and also, would not such a thing be blessed? I don’t know what to do with it.

We try to give generously to various missions, homeless shelters, etc., thus my house is becoming full of religious articles, rosaries, holy cards, you name it from the mailing lists they share. It is becoming a nightmare, the amount of mail I receive, and I am tired of it.

What does anyone think of this, and have they received anything similar?
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Happens all the time. These orders do this in an effort to keep the older convents open.
It’s legit. You can write for a 2nd class relic of Mother Teresa. I got one in a beautiful reliquary from the Priest and Sisters advancing her cause. Read about it on CAF.
 
oldgraymare2 said:
Hi CB,

Yes, I get these myself-Rosaries, key chains, you name it.

I am on many mailing lists. They don’t bother me at all, actually. I tend to keep them.

I don’t think that anyone would send out anything that wasn’t real. I have received third class relics in the mail, too. If you don’t want yours, I would try and find someone to give it to, who would be interested in it. 🙂
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We have an “Angle of God” club at our school and I donate them to the club to use as prizes for the kids. God Bless, Memaw
 
In all probability a massive % of them are probably fake anyway!!
 
They probably are what they claim to be.

I’ve heard of people taking whole bolts of cloth and touching them to legitimate (1st class) relics of saints. Imagine dividing such a cloth into so many tiny pieces and it’s not at all difficult to see how such tiny pieces could be mailed to thousands of people.

The real issue with these mailings is “who gets the money?”

Third-party marketers, acting on behalf of charities, are permitted by law to keep something like 90% of the total donations as their fees. That doesn’t mean they all do that—it merely means that they can do it and still operate legally.

The point is this: if one wants to make a donation to a religious charity, the best thing to do is to write a check made payable to the actual organization and mail it directly to them. Not to any other company or address, but directly to them. That’s the only way to ensure that they will actually receive ones intended donation.

All such legitimate Catholic charities will be listed in the Official Catholic Directory (the printed one available nationwide). These are usually available in the parish office of most larger Catholic parishes. If that book is not available, the website of the diocese where the organization is located (whether or not they are actually under the direct authority of the local bishop) will have their address listed.
 
I have serious doubts about how genuine they are.

One of my local priests was telling me he had, in his church, a relic of the ‘real Cross’. I asked him how he knew it was genuine? He answered that he had a certificate!!! I laughed. How can that prove it is a bit of the ‘real Cross’?

Anyway, i am not one for relics. I just hate the idea of kneeling and kissing one too!! Just so not right, in my eyes.
 
ajecphotos said:
I have serious doubts about how genuine they are.

One of my local priests was telling me he had, in his church, a relic of the ‘real Cross’. I asked him how he knew it was genuine? He answered that he had a certificate!!! I laughed. How can that prove it is a bit of the ‘real Cross’?

Anyway, i am not one for relics. I just hate the idea of kneeling and kissing one too!! Just so not right, in my eyes.
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Well you and Thomas, I guess. LOL
 
Relics of the True Cross actually tend to have pretty good provenance. There are only two main sources: the Byzantine Empire (which used pieces of the True Cross in Jerusalem as diplomatic gifts), and the big hunk of True Cross in Liebana, Spain (which was brought by St. Turibius). Everybody who has a piece has one that comes from a piece with provenance from one of the above. Everybody who has pieces keeps records of where their piece came from, and who they have given pieces to. People often wrote about these high profile gifts, so there is a lot of documentation about them.

There was also a guy who did nothing but wander around Europe, measuring and analyzing True Cross pieces. (Yes, he was a Victorian.) His findings were that every piece came from the same kind of tree log, and that even if you put every tiny splinter of True Cross piece together, you got a fairly small chunk of log. Which is what you would expect, because the Byzantine Empire was not all that generous with pieces.

Now, if you want to suspect that St. Helena didn’t find the True Cross, and that emperors won and lost it in battle for absolutely no good reason, that’s your privilege. But the piece of wood which was known as the True Cross was extremely well documented over the centuries, at least until it was finally lost forever.

Of course, you could have easily found out about that yourself, but it’s easier to be a conformist who just accepts whatever the dominant culture tells you.
 
If the relics are legit, it does seem pretty disrespectful to send them out to random people who may or may not treat them respectfully.

It’s quite different from mailing them to people who requested them or have been told they will receive one if they make a donation.
 
Still, if someone wants to kiss a relic then thats up to them. Its not for me. And, as for being like Thomas, well, the most important thing is that i believe in God 100%. 👍
 
Many small convents and monasteries do this as an outreach and a way to get donations.
I can assure you, most are legit. As we know, many convents are full of elderly sisters, and are declining. Many are on their last few members and with medical bills and upkeep of chapels and facilities…they rely on donations.
Many folks don’t understand why it’s done, but they are not trying to rip people off or create bizarre notions about the faith. In our history, we have always respected relics, had medals touched to items once possessed by Saints, etc. In this era people don’t like or understand it.
Many convents hand roll rose petals into beads which they use to make rosaries.
I suppose people would say " why don’t they just buy beads at Wal-Mart?" But that’s not the point. I’ve seen people pay a lot of money for a rose scented rosary made from rose petals. If I could get one for someone who wants one from a Convent, I’ll do that instead of giving the profit to a store.
Maybe some folks think it’s odd, but the good sisters do these things out of love and a need to support their ministry. Like places that send out Mass cards.
The relic I received was from the group promoting the cause of Mother Teresa, and I read about it here on CAF. Glad I received it. I sent them a nice donation for their work. My intention was granted through her intercession and they contacted me for the story, as they compile their data for her cause. Not a huge miracle, for sure, but prayers answered.
People who are interested in the faith are the ones who send donations. Random people don’t even know about these things, generally.

If people consider these small relics insignificant I guess there’s nothing to worry about them being disrespected, eh?
:twocents:
 
My parish priest has approx 30 relics!! He collects them.

I wonder what God would have to say about us kissing relics! A bit like the incident in the desert with Moses and the statue his people made! Ok, we dont worship relics, i know. But, some people go too far when it comes to relics of saints etc!

I have seen it with my own eyes! People, its GOD that deserves our 100% attention!! Yes, ask a saint to intercede for you but there is no need to go on ones knees to kiss a relic when GOD is the only one we should go on our knees to!!

God bless you
 
ajecphotos said:
My parish priest has approx 30 relics!! He collects them.

I wonder what God would have to say about us kissing relics! A bit like the incident in the desert with Moses and the statue his people made! Ok, we dont worship relics, i know. But, some people go too far when it comes to relics of saints etc!

I have seen it with my own eyes! People, its GOD that deserves our 100% attention!! Yes, ask a saint to intercede for you but there is no need to go on ones knees to kiss a relic when GOD is the only one we should go on our knees to!!

God bless you
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Point taken. But I was somewhere where there was true relic of Christ’s Passion…
I would kiss it.
No apologies.
 
pianistclare said:
Point taken. But I was somewhere where there was true relic of Christ’s Passion…
I would kiss it.
No apologies.
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2,000+ years since the passion of Our Lord. No way of knowing if the relic would be genuine or not! So many thousands of fakes have been made throughout the centuries!!!
 
ajecphotos said:
2,000+ years since the passion of Our Lord. No way of knowing if the relic would be genuine or not! So many thousands of fakes have been made throughout the centuries!!!
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The fact that you do not know something does not mean that there’s no way of knowing it.
 
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