Venerating saints body parts makes me uncomfortable

[Tis_Bearself]

Often, though not always, the incorrupt body begins to corrupt to some extent when it is disinterred. I believe that’s what happened to St. Clare and also St. Bernadette. St. Clare’s body was incorrupt when first exhumed, but is now just bones.

In other cases, the saint was never an “incorruptible” but was just interred in a glass casket where you can see the body, and it is fully dressed and with a mask over it.
St. John Neumann for example is not an “incorruptible” to my knowledge, but is still buried in a glass casket.

 

[TheLittleLady]

I inherited my grandmother’s hope chest. In that chest was a locket that contained a braid of hair. No note, but, I know that this was a relic, a beloved reminder of someone who had died.

Trendy Victorian-Era Jewelry Was Made From Hair

No one knew how to mourn like the Victorians, who weaved wreaths and jewelry from the hair of dead relatives.

www.nationalgeographic.com

Today people take the cremains of a relative and turn them into jewelry and no one bats an eye.

The Saints are our family, we love them and we want to remember them.

Do you remember in the book of Acts 19: 11-12? Second class relics are very scriptural.

 

[joeybaggz]

Don’t have a great answer for you, but it does make me a bit uncomfortable too. Not my favorite devotion!

 

[Xystus]

but it just seems morbid to want to touch the dead body of a saint, I know they are holy people but they’re still not God…

No, they are not God but God can choose to perform miracles via contact with the Saints earthly remains just like he did with Elisha’s bones.

2Kings 13:21
Once some people were burying a man, when suddenly they saw such a raiding band. So they cast the man into the grave of Elisha, and everyone went off. But when the man came in contact with the bones of Elisha, he came back to life and got to his feet.

 

[abucs]

Yes I know what you are saying. I suppose in some places it could get close to worship/venerating.

For me I like to get close to old things, similar with archaeological sites and possessions of certain people. I guess people taking selfies and photos all the time are also wanting tangible connections with the past.

Perhaps the burnt head’ is weird simply because that is all that is left to venerate?

 

[PopePiusXIISupp]

From the Second Council of Nicaea:

“As the sacred and life-giving cross is everywhere set up as a symbol, so also should the images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, the holy angels, as well as those of the saints and other pious and holy men be embodied in the manufacture of sacred vessels, tapestries, vestments, etc., and exhibited on the walls of churches, in the homes, and in all conspicuous places, by the roadside and everywhere, to be revered by all who might see them. For the more they are contemplated, the more they move to fervent memory of their prototypes. Therefore, it is proper to accord to them a fervent and reverent adoration, not, however, the veritable worship which, according to our faith, belongs to the Divine Being alone – for the honor accorded to the image passes over to its prototype, and whoever venerate the image venerate in it the reality of what is there represented.”

"Anathema to those who do not salute the holy and venerable images.

Anathema to those who say that Christians have recourse to the images as to gods.

Anathema to those who call the sacred images idols."

“Canon 7: Relics are to be placed in all churches: no church is to be consecrated without relics.”

 

[grt]

I’ve been uncomfortable before while venerating a relic because we were singing a hymn at the time and everyone was singing loud but not well.

 

[Dorothy]

Do not pursue what makes you uncomfortable.

Those who cherish relics are not worshiping them. They cherish them because it is part of a sanctified person, a saint with heroic virtue.