Relics of Saints

First-class relics

First-class relics are part of a saint’s body. This may include bone, hair, blood, or other bodily remains. Catholics do not honor such relics because matter has power by itself. They honor them because the saint’s body belonged to a person united to Christ and sanctified by grace. The saint’s body prayed, labored, suffered, received the sacraments, practiced charity, and will rise in glory by the power of Christ.

Second-class relics

Second-class relics are objects used by a saint during life. A habit worn by a religious, a rosary used in prayer, a book written in, a piece of clothing, or an instrument of work may become a second-class relic. These objects help the faithful imagine the saint not as an abstract figure but as a real person who lived holiness through daily acts.

Third-class relics

Third-class relics are objects touched to a first-class or second-class relic. They are often devotional items such as holy cards, cloths, rosaries, or medals. A third-class relic should be treated with reverence, but the heart of the devotion remains prayer to God and the request for saintly intercession.

Relics and the resurrection of the body

Christian faith is bodily. The Son of God became flesh. He suffered in the body, died in the body, and rose in a glorified body. The saints followed Him not as ghosts or ideas but as whole human persons. Relics of saints therefore remind Catholics that sanctity touches the body and that the body is destined for resurrection.

For this reason, relics are not morbid. They are signs of hope. The Church keeps them not to cling to death, but to remember that the saints already live in Christ and that the faithful are called to the same glory.

Relics and Catholic altars

The custom of placing relics beneath altars connects the Eucharistic sacrifice with the witness of the saints, especially the martyrs. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal says that the practice of depositing relics of saints under an altar to be dedicated is fittingly retained, with care taken that the relics are authentic.

How to pray with relics of saints

A good way to pray before a saint’s relic is simple: thank God for the saint, ask the saint to intercede, and ask for the grace to imitate the saint’s virtues. For example: “St. N., friend of God, pray for me. Help me to love Christ with courage, purity, patience, and charity.”