Feasts Of The Holy Relics Preserved In The Churches Of The Diocese.

This Article was promulgated by reading the excellent Post by GREGORY DIPIPPO, entitled “The Feast of The Holy Relics”, on 26 October 2022, at NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT

Part of the Relics collection of

the Basilica of Saint Petronius in Bologna, Italy.

Illustration: NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT

Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, unless stated otherwise.

Feasts Of The Holy Relics Preserved In The Churches Of The Diocese.

   5 November.

Red Vestments.

After having Solemnised on All Saints’ Day The Feast of The Holy Souls who have entered Heaven, The Church honours on this day The Holy Relics of their bodies which will remain on Earth until the glorious resurrection, a pledge of which we Venerate in their ashes (Collect).

From the earliest times, The Church Celebrated The Holy Mysteries on the tombs of the Martyrs in the Catacombs, in order to show that these Saints had mixed their blood with that of The Victim of Calvary (Antiphon at Vespers).

Later, at Rome, splendid Churches were erected as vast reliquaries to preserve the tombs of celebrated Martyrs. The remains of those who had confessed their Faith were placed under The High Altar, or “Confession”, of the Basilicas which were Dedicated to them.

Hence, the custom of translating the Relics of the Martyrs, which is one of the essential parts of the ceremony of Dedicating a Church, similar to the custom of placing Relics of Holy Martyrs in a small cavity of The Altar Stone, called the Sepulchre (see Page 936 of The Saint Andrew Daily Missal).

That is why The Mass of The Holy Relics, which dates from the 19th-Century, is composed in a great measure, like today’s Office, of passages taken from The Common of Martyrs (Gospel, Epistle, Gradual, Offertory) and why the Priest wears Red Vestments.

Just as a supernatural virtue issed from The Sacred Humanity of Jesus and healed those who had approached Him (Gospel), so, too, the Saints who enjoy God in Heaven (Gradual, Communion) may by their Relics (bones (Introit), ashes, clothes, or other objects used by them)“work wonders on Earth”, says the Collect, “exorcise devils, heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, cleanse lepers, drive away temptations and bestow on all the excellent gifts which come from The Father of Light”. [Editor: Lessons of The Second Nocturn at Mattins].

Mass: Multæ tribulatiónes.

Epistle: Hi viri.

Gospel: Descéndens.

Creed.