Tales of Relics
Early in the fourth century, if not before, relics began to hold an important place in Christian worship. The number of relics, the miraculous power imparted to them, and the reverence in which they were held increased constantly. The crusades greatly strengthened this movement in the west of Europe. And especially the fourth crusade, in which Constantinople was captured. There the relics formed a most valuable portion of the spoils, and thence they were scattered throughout the west. The Mendicant Friars were the most instrumental in fostering the faith in relics. In the thirteenth century, therefore, we find a large number of tales devoted to this subject.
Selection 1: The relics of St. Martin healed two beggars against their will [Source: ] Jacques de Vitry, CXII, p. 52]
Moreover, although poverty and other tribulations are advantageous, yet certain ones abuse them. Accordingly we read that when the body of St. Martin was borne in procession, it healed all the infirm who met it. Now there were near the church two wandering beggars, one blind, the other lame. They began to converse together and said, “See, the body of St. Martin is now being borne about in procession, and if it catches us we shall be healed immediately, and no one in the future will give us any alms. But we shall have to work and labor with our own hands.” Then the blind man said to the lame, “Get up on my shoulders because I am strong, and you who can see well can guide me.” They did this, but when they tried to escape, the procession overtook them; and since, on account of the throng, they were not able to get away, they were healed against their will.
Selection 2: The arm of John the Baptist makes a merchant wealthy [Source: Caesar of Heisterbach, Dist. VIII. Cap. LIII. Vol. II, pp. 125–26.]
Not long ago a certain merchant of our country, crossing the sea, saw the arm of St. John the Baptist in his hospital, and desired it. Learning that the custodian of the relics was following a certain woman, and knowing that there is nothing which women of that class cannot extort from men, he approached her and said, “If you will procure for me the relics of St. John the Baptist of which your lover has the charge, I will give you a hundred and forty pounds of silver.” She, craving the money, refused to consent to the hospitaler until he obtained the sacred arm. This she immediately delivered to the merchant and received the promised weight of silver.
Do you perceive how great a mockery? Just as formerly the head of St. John was delivered by Herod to a lascivious girl as a reward for dancing, and by her was given to an adulterous mother, so at this time the hospitaler, no less wicked than Herod, gave the arm of the same saint to a base woman as the price of fornication, and by her it was sold to the merchant.
The latter, not consigning it to the ground like Herodias, but wrapping it in purple, fled almost to the extremities of the earth and arrived at the city of Groningen, which is located at the entrance to Frisia. There he built a house and, hiding the arm in one of the columns, began to grow exceedingly wealthy.
One day when he was sitting in his shop, someone said to him, “The city is burning and the fire is now approaching your house.” He replied, “I do not fear for my house. I have left a good guardian there.” Nevertheless he arose and entered his house. When he saw the column unmoved he returned to his shop. All wondered what was the cause of so great confidence.
When questioned about the guardian of his house, the merchant replied ambiguously. But when he realized that his fellow-citizens noted it, fearing lest they might employ violence against him, he took out the arm and delivered it into the care of a certain hermitess. She, unable to keep the secret, told a man of her charge, and he told the citizens. They immediately took the relics and carried them to the church. When the merchant tearfully requested his relics, they replied harshly. When they asked him of what saint these were the relics, he not wishing to betray the facts said he did not know. Nevertheless in grief he deserted the city, and falling into poverty he became very ill not long after. When he neared death, he disclosed to his confessor what the relics were and how he had obtained them.
When the citizens learned this, they made a receptacle, in the form of an arm, of silver and gilt, adorned with precious stones, and placed the relics in it. I saw the same arm two years ago, and it is covered with skin and flesh. I also saw there among the relics a small gold cross of Frederick the Emperor, which had been given to the above-mentioned merchant at the same time as the arm.
NOVICE : “Since no one of the saints is believed to be greater than St. John the Baptist, why is it that we do not read of any miracles in his life?”
MONK: “So that God may show that holiness does not consist in miracles, but in right living. For after death he was illustrious by innumerable great miracles. The aforesaid citizens, in truth, fearing for the relics of St. John, built of planks a very strong little house behind the altar, and by night they had a priest sleep in the top of it. The house was so shaken under him on the first night that he felt no slight horror. In the second night truly it struck him when asleep and hurled him onto the pavement. When one of the rulers of the city fell sick, at his request Theoderic, the priest of the church, carried the arm to his house and unwrapped it. He found the arm, as well as the purple in which it was wrapped, covered with fresh blood. He told me this with his own mouth. A priest cut off a small piece of flesh from the same arm, and when he carried it off secretly in his hand, he felt as much heat from it as if he had been carrying burning coal. Many miracles and healings indeed were wrought in that city by the same relics through the merits of St. John the Baptist.”
Selection 3: Miracles wrought by bridle falsely called a relic [Source: Caesar of Heisterbach, Dist. VIII. Cap. LXX. Vol. II, p. 140.]
A certain knight loved most ardently the above mentioned martyr, St. Thomas of Canterbury, and sought everywhere to obtain some relic of him. A certain wily priest, in whose house he was staying, heard of this and said to him, “I have by me the bridle which St. Thomas long used, and I have often experienced its virtue.” When the knight heard this, thinking it true, he joyfully paid the priest the money which he demanded, and received the bridle with great devotion.
God truly, to whom nothing is impossible, wishing to reward the faith of the knight, and for the honor of his martyr, deigned to work many miracles through the same bridle. The knight seeing this founded a church in honor of the martyr and in it he placed as a relic the bridle of that most wicked priest.
