3. Why Venerate Saints and Their Relics & My Visit with St. Therese

In this conversation, Carrie explores the significance of saints and their relics within the Catholic faith. She discusses the different classes of relics, the importance of veneration, and shares personal experiences with saints, particularly recently venerating the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux. The conversation emphasizes the role of saints as intercessors and models of holiness, encouraging listeners to connect with them to deepen their connection to God and enrich their spiritual journey.

St Therese Relics Tour

St Jude Novena

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Transcript

Welcome to this week's episode. Today I'm gonna talk about why we as Catholics venerate saints and their relics. Something that initially intrigued me when considering converting to Catholicism was all the stories that I heard about saints and their holiness and how they dedicated their lives to God and serving others. I was so inspired and just kept wanting to learn more and more.

The Saints truly serve as examples for how to conduct our lives to be more holy. And that's the whole point of this podcast is how to live whole and holy. So the saints are the ones who truly are the exemplars.

Their discipline and habits naturally led them to a life that was holy and virtuous. The intensity that they loved Jesus, their unwavering faith, their selflessness, and their belief in miracles and God's healing power and grace are very inspiring, and the ways they led their lives is really worth exploring and us knowing more about them. So this concept may be new to some of you.

But we are all called to be saints! So knowing about them and their lives really helps us to live whole and holy and helps us to get one step closer to becoming saints, because the more time you spend around people, you emulate them more. So I have really enjoyed getting to know so many saints, their stories, and there's so many more that I don't even know about yet that I cannot wait to learn more about.

But in this episode, really want to highlight St. Therese. Last week, I had the opportunity to venerate her relics. So I wanted to talk about who saints are, what it means to venerate them and their relics, and I wanted to share about my experience in visiting the relics of St. Therese.

So to start, I kind of got some Latin translations of some words for you guys. So what exactly is a relic? So it comes from the Latin word reliqua, which means the remainder, or something left behind. So with saints and their relics, there are three different classes. 

So a first class relic would be a bone or hair from a saint. It could be also something like a piece of the cross where Jesus was crucified, his crown of thorns, or the shroud of Turin, which was the burial cloth Jesus was wrapped in when he was buried after he died on the cross. And they have recently found that shroud and an image of him on the shroud. So any of those types of relics would be considered first class relics. And you may be wondering why bones or pieces of hair would be collected. Well, when these people were living their lives in a very holy manner, there were people in their lives who thought that they perhaps could become a saint after they die. So a lot of times these things would be saved after a saint passed away, like a piece of their bone or some of their hair. So that's how first-class relics came to be.

A second class relic is any object of a saint. So one that comes to mind would be like a piece of their clothing, like Padre Pio's gloves. He had the stigmata on his hands. So he had so many pairs of gloves all of his life because his hands were constantly bleeding. So you'll see sometimes that his glove will be going around in different churches as a place to go venerate his relic. 

And then a third class relic is any object that touches a first class relic. So a rosary that has touched a first class saint's relic becomes a third class relic. 

And the important thing too with some of these types of relics, especially the cross where Jesus was crucified or his crown of thorns or the shroud of Turin, venerating these relics really allows us to even meditate on, for example, like the crown of thorns, the pain that Jesus went through or the cross where he was crucified. They're just opportunities to think about what Jesus went through or when you're venerating something like Padre Pio's glove, you know, the pain that he endured in his life. They're just reminders or mementos to remember our faith. 

Very importantly, we do not worship relics or saints. And this is something that
comes up a lot when someone is looking into the Catholic Church or if you talk to people of Protestant faiths. There's a little bit of a misunderstanding that I wanted to clear up. So there's different words that describe this. We offer worship to God, which in Latin is called latria. And this is worship that is due to God alone. We submit to God and when we celebrate mass, we offer that mass up to him. We are making a sacrifice. Veneration, on the other hand, in Latin is called dulia, which means instead of worship or offering sacrifices to saints, we show respect, honor, and esteem to the work of God done through them in their lives. We are in awe of their holiness, true devotion, intimacy with faith, and total dependence on God.

Saints represent true models of what it means to live an extraordinarily holy and virtuous life dedicated to Christ. They are the best examples of those whose bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church does not even require veneration of saints or relics. However, it can be a beautiful practice that can enrich your spiritual life by helping you strive for holiness and having a connection to and union to God through your prayer life and daily habits, just in the same way that the saints did. In paragraph 1674 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church acknowledges the veneration of relics as valid expressions of sanctity. So the Catholic Church recognizes that these are holy and they are worth venerating.

So you may be wondering, is venerating relics scriptural? Well, there are a few instances in scripture that certainly say that venerating relics is a worthwhile thing to do. So in 2 Kings 13: 20-21, there was a man that was resurrected after touching the bones of the prophet, Elisha. And in Acts 19: 11-12, there were handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched St. Paul that were used to heal the sick and cast out evil spirits. And then in Matthew 9:20-22, a woman was healed by touching the hem of Jesus's garment. So that demonstrates that physical objects associated with holy people can be conduits of divine grace. So certainly scripture does provide evidence that relics are definitely worthwhile and are scriptural.

So what is a saint? So the word saint comes from the Latin word sanctus, which means holy.  This podcast isn't gonna go into depth about this, but what I will say is a person becomes a saint by what's called canon law, which is a thorough investigation done by the Catholic Church, after two miracles have occurred when someone has asked for the saint's intercession.  So I really appreciate that about the Catholic Church in that it's not just everybody becomes saints, there's requirements, there's a process. 

So why would we ask saints to pray for us?

Just as we ask friends and family to pray for us, we can and are encouraged to ask saints to pray and intercede for us. In Hebrews 12:1, the scripture mentions that the saints are considered to be a cloud of witnesses, meaning they are in heaven, close to God, and are here to support us on our spiritual journey toward eternal life. Part of their role in heaven is to pray for those on earth. And one of St. Therese's greatest quotes is, "When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from heaven. I will spend my heaven doing good on earth." So they are up there, ready, willing, and able to help intercede for us. 

It's very important to remember that in venerating relics or pictures of saints, we must remember that these items and pictures do not have divine power, nor should we put our trust in them alone as if they had the power to bestow favors. We place our trust in God alone and request the intercessory power of the saints. So in essence, by venerating saints and their relics, we are in turn relying on and trusting God, who is the ultimate healer and the one who answers our prayers. So venerating saints and relics really helps increase our faith in God.

There's so much more to say about saints and there are so many who are just waiting for you to ask for their intercession. If you want to go deeper, each saint has a feast day and a novena or a nine day prayer, which you pray for nine consecutive days leading up to their feast day. As I record this today, today is the first day of a novena to St. Jude, who is the saint of impossible causes. He is one of my absolute favorite saints.

I'm really connected to him and I did have the chance to venerate his relics a few summers ago. I highly recommend praying this novena if you have a special intention such as healing, guidance with discernment or a cause that feels hopeless or impossible.

So back to Therese, I had the opportunity last weekend to venerate her relics. As I mentioned in my first episode, St. Therese is the patron saint of this podcast and has been a special friend to me since I first learned about saints even before I was confirmed. I remember my priest mentioning St. Therese to me and he said, "You know, if you ask St. Therese to send you roses, she will." So I thought about it and I was like, hmm, that's interesting.

A few days later, I asked St. Therese to pray for me for our difficult work situation. And the next morning I woke up and rose petals were scattered in front of my door. I was skeptical. I was like, did this really happen? Was there wind? I double checked other neighbors' doors and sure enough, our house was the only one with rose petals scattered everywhere. There was no wind and I just knew it was her. I looked up to heaven and said,  "Thank you, God. I love this, you are so amazing. " And I went to work that day and the situation that I was having difficulty with was totally resolved. And I got to know her more and decided I wanted her to be my confirmation saint. So fast forward to when the Lord kept being persistent in me bringing this podcast to the world.  This past summer, I was praying to Jesus in adoration and asking him who would be a great saint for this podcast. And I immediately heard St. Therese. She has been a beautiful part of my journey. And I just love how she is such an example to me to live simply and to do ordinary acts with great love. So I drove about an hour from my house to an absolutely gorgeous church called St. Therese to venerate her relics this last Saturday morning.

The morning began with a very beautiful mass where the Knights of Columbus brought in her relics to the church. After mass, the volunteers venerated her relics first, so I had some time at my pew before venerating. I brought a few items to touch to her relics, including this really special rosary I got from Assisi that has a San Damiano cross, which is my favorite cross.

And while I waited, I prayed the rosary and I just asked for St. Therese's intercession for different intentions that I had for some people in my life and for myself. And I just took time praying the rosary and just really reflecting on and asking for St. Therese's intercession to help me more than anything to love and be devoted to Jesus like she was.

So when it was my turn to venerate her relics, I felt a deep peace and I was actually moved to tears. I felt a closeness to Jesus that I truly had not felt before. And after venerating, I immediately got down on my knees and I looked up at the giant crucifix that was right in front of me and I just started crying tears of gratitude for all the ways God has blessed me as of late. I was reflecting on how he brought me to Jesus, how my husband is being healed so beautifully, for all of the wonderful friendships that we've made through being involved in the church, and how much more love and peace I feel despite the storms that come and go. just I just felt His enduring love so strongly in those moments after venerating the relics.
And it was truly something I'll never forget. And I just felt so grateful that her relics were in an area close to my house. They haven't been here for 25 years. And when I knew that her relics were coming, like a few months back, I put it in my calendar and I was like, God, we got to get there. You got to get me there. And sure enough, I went and it was just such a beautiful experience. 

So as you go about your week, know that the saints are your friends. They are waiting to pray for you and God gave them to us on earth so they could encourage us, support us and be the best possible examples of how to live whole and holy. And you hear that expression that you become the five people that you surround yourself with the most. And I try to surround myself with as many saints as possible because each have their own unique traits and characteristics and each have their own ways that they can help intercede for us. And I just think that knowing them and knowing how much they love Jesus, how much they dedicated their lives in selfless sacrifice is just such a beautiful reminder.

Another one of my favorite saints, Saint Carlo Acutus says, "When we face the sun, we get a tan, but when we stand before Jesus in the Eucharist, we become saints." And I can't think of a better way of explaining how we become what we surround ourselves with.

So I encourage you to get to know your saints and ask for their intercession. Find out when their feast days are, pray your novinas, because they are truly there, and want to help you be the best examples of how to live whole and holy. Before I go, I wanted to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from St. Therese, "The road we have followed is different. The road we are following is different, but the goal is the same. We must only have one same purpose, to become holy in the way God has traced out for you." I hope you have a great week and I will see you next time.