HOUSTON — Josephine was a former slave who endured being trafficked and still found freedom in God’s love. Carlo was a teenager who played video games and developed websites to evangelize the Internet, even in the face of leukemia.
Catherine survived a plague and rejected her family’s calls for marriage and devoted herself to God and called others to do the same. Paul was a Japanese Jesuit who preached the Gospel in his homeland and was martyred. Zélie was a loving mother, and her faith helped inspire her daughter Thérèse to, quite literally, become a saint.
These are the extremely brief stories of saints St. Josephine Bhakita, Blessed Carlo Acutis, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Paul Miki and St. Zélie Martin, who will be among the more than 150 saints whose relics are set to visit the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Oct. 30 through Nov. 12 as part of the “Treasures of the Church” exhibit right in time for All Saints Day.
The exhibition, which has traveled the nation, features a multimedia presentation on the Church’s history of relics and the chance to visit and venerate the many relics.
How does one venerate a relic? Some might kiss or touch the reliquary containing the relic, while others might stand or kneel prayerfully near or in front of the relic, perhaps making the Sign of the Cross in silent prayer.
While the idea of relics can be a bit unnerving for some — fleeting images of dark catacombs and tunnels might come to mind — a visit with a saint’s relics can be a comforting encounter.
The word “relic” comes from the Latin “reliquiae,” which means “remains.” The relics are the remains of canonized and beatified saints.
According to Treasures of the Church, a ministry that will be hosting the 13-day tour, relics are physical objects that have a direct association with the saints or with Jesus Christ.
Relics are typically classified into three categories depending on how they are connected to the saint, said Father Leon Strieder, associate professor of Liturgical and sacramental theology at the University of St. Thomas School of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary.
First-class relics are usually the body or parts of a saint’s body, like fragments of bone or flesh, he said. Second-class relics are items that belonged to a saint, such as St. Teresa of Kolkata’s sandals or St. John Paul II’s papal crosier. Lastly, a third-class relic are items that a saint had touched during his or her lifetime, or an object — a Rosary or a prayer card — that has been touched to a first, second, or another third-class relic.
“Most relics today are first-class relics,” Father Strieder said.
When visiting a new church or attending Mass, Catholics often unknowingly encounter the relics of saints, oftentimes one from the church’s namesake.
Many times, when a new church is built, a reliquary is deposited into or under the altar of the Church. For example, when the new Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart was built and dedicated in 2008, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, placed relics of 12 different saints into a reliquary beneath the altar.
“This is a tradition that dates back to the early Church,” Monsignor Chester Borski previously told the Texas Catholic Herald in 2011. “Mass was said over the tombs of holy people in the catacombs. The relics are to honor those who have lived their lives for God. These relics... remind us of their lives and how we should strive to live in service to God and one another.”
Many popes have taught about the special place relics can have in impacting the life of Catholics.
“Relics direct us towards God himself: it is He who, by the power of His grace, grants to weak human beings the courage to bear witness to Him before the world,” said Pope Benedict XVI at World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, in 2005. “By inviting us to venerate the mortal remains of the martyrs and saints, the Church does not forget that, in the end, these are indeed just human bones, but they are bones that belonged to individuals touched by the living power of God.”
The 13 parishes will host these first-class relics, offering Catholics the special chance to meet the stories of these saints face to face, some of which are 2,000 years old. Two notable relics include a portion of a veil worn by the Blessed Mother and one of the world’s largest pieces of the True Cross.
“Relics are a physical connection to saints that are in heaven,” said Father Strieder. “The idea is that we are seeking that saint to intercede to God for us. [Their relics are] under the altar because we joined the saints and angels in heaven around God’s throne, praising Him and seeking His help in intercession.”
And to those with doubts or reservations about visiting with relics, Father Strieder offered a word of comfort: “You don’t have to go,” he said. “They’re not essential. If you don’t sense that they will be of help to their spiritual life, they don’t have to go.”
“We pray to saints that they will intercede for us, not that they have any power in themselves, they do not,” he said. “Their power is intercession for the Lord to act for us.”
Maybe there’s a saint that you haven’t heard about waiting to meet you among the 150 relics at one of the 13 parishes.
Celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints and find a new patron saint the day before All Saints Day (on Halloween, Oct. 31) with 150 of them at St. Edward Parish in Spring. Spend All Souls Day, Nov. 2, with (yes, again) 150 saints, praying for our dearly beloved deceased.
Or try making “Ordinary Time” a little less ordinary by making a pilgrimage to one of the parishes and encounter Jesus through the saints in a new way.
Tour organizers, headed by Father Carlos Martins, CC, are encouraging visitors to bring articles of devotion, like Rosaries, prayer cards, and pictures of ill friends or family, that can be touched to the reliquaries as a means of intercession.
The “Treasures of the Church” exhibit is set to visit 13 parishes in the Archdiocese.
Schedule
Sunday, Oct. 30 - 3 p.m.
St. Anthony of Padua
7801 Bay Branch Dr., The Woodlands
281-419-8700
Monday, Oct. 31 - 6:30 p.m.
St. Edward
2601 Spring-Stuebner Rd., Spring
281-353-9774
Wednesday, Nov. 2 - 6:30 p.m.
Catholic Charismatic Center
1949 Cullen Blvd., Houston
713-236-9977
Thursday, Nov. 3 - 6:30 p.m.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe
10135 West Rd., Houston
281-955-7324
Friday, Nov. 4 - 6:30 p.m.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
6646 Addicks Satsuma Dr., Houston
281-463-7878
Saturday, Nov. 5 - 10 p.m.
Prince of Peace
19222 Tomball Pkwy., Houston
281-469-2686
Sunday, Nov. 6 - 6:30 p.m.
St. Theresa
705 St. Theresa Blvd., Sugar Land
281-494-1156
Monday, Nov. 7 - 6:30 p.m.
St. Bartholomew
5356 11th St., Katy
281-391-4758
Tuesday, Nov. 8 - 6:30 p.m.
Our Lady of Lourdes
10114 Highway 6, Hitchcock
409-925-3579
Wednesday, Nov. 9, - 6:30 p.m.
St. Mary of the Miraculous Medal
1604 9th Ave. N, Texas City
409-948-8448
Thursday, Nov. 10 - 6:30 p.m.
Epiphany of the Lord
1530 Norwalk Dr., Katy
281-578-0707
Friday, Nov. 11 - 6:30 p.m.
Christ the Good Shepherd
18511 Klein Church Rd., Spring
281-376-6831
Saturday, Nov. 12 - 10 a.m.
St. James the Apostle
22800 Aldine Westfield Rd., Spring
281-353-5053