'The living God'

Traveling exhibit with Catholic saints’ relics promises a sacred experience for faithful

Bryan and Arlene Fair examine a fragment from the crown of thorns at St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis. The exhibition of more than 150 relics, collectively known as “Treasures of the Church,” were on display Friday at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Van Buren and will visit Catholic churches in Fort Smith, Russellville, Conway, Jonesboro and Mena on its latest tour through Arkansas.
Bryan and Arlene Fair examine a fragment from the crown of thorns at St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis. The exhibition of more than 150 relics, collectively known as “Treasures of the Church,” were on display Friday at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Van Buren and will visit Catholic churches in Fort Smith, Russellville, Conway, Jonesboro and Mena on its latest tour through Arkansas.

Jen Cummins, secretary of St. Michael's Catholic Church in Van Buren, remembers taking her two children to a church in 2017 for the opportunity to spend time with items believed to have belonged to or been touched by a saint.

"I wanted my children to experience something that you just don't get to see every day," Cummins said.

The collection of more than 150 authenticated relics -- items believed to be in close association with saints of the Catholic faith -- were being shown at several Catholic churches in Arkansas, including the one she took her son and daughter to in Northwest Arkansas.

Moved by the experience, Cummins returned to St. Michael's and, with the church's approval, initiated the process to bring again to Arkansas "Sacred Relics of the Saints: Treasures of the Church," where it was on display Friday and will be shown at five other Catholic churches in the state today through Thursday.

The relics include items associated with saints such as St. Francis of Assisi, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Rose of Lima, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Therese of Lisieux. Also among the relics are a fragment of a veil believed to have belonged to Mary, the mother of Jesus; and what is believed to be a piece of the True Cross, which -- according to Catholic tradition -- is believed to be the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.

All items in the exhibit are first- and second-degree relics. The body parts of saints that have been preserved, such as a piece of bone or tooth, are denoted as first-class relics, while items believed to have belonged to a saint, such as Mary's veil, are considered second-degree relics. Items that have touched a first- or second-degree relic are known as third-degree relics.

Those attending are encouraged to take small items such as rosaries or photographs to touch to the reliquary, the vessel that houses the relic to keep it safe, and to venerate the relics with kneeling, prayer or other simple gestures to show respect to the saint or saints from whom they seek intercession.

The Rev. Carlos Martins, who converted to Catholicism from atheism and later joined the Companions of the Cross, travels with the relics and speaks about them before each exhibition. According to Martins, approximately 30,000 people viewed the exhibit last year. Martins said attendance rates "spiked" after the Vatican issued a decree in May declaring that visiting the relics is, at least through 2025, now considered a component of a plenary indulgence -- the removal of penitence in the form of suffering, or time spent in purgatory.

Christi Lynn Priore, director of youth ministry and catechetical leader at St. John Catholic Church in Russellville, said she believes that plenary indulgences are helpful in multiple ways.

"Plenary indulgences are to help you on your journey to God," said Priore, recalling a medal of the sacred heart of Jesus that her mother owns. "Everything ultimately goes back to God -- it has nothing do to with the [relic]."

"Ultimately it's God's powers -- God's healing -- working through that," Priore said. "That's why we pray, just as Jesus went and prayed."

According to Martins, the decree -- which was issued in Latin and which he translated into English -- states that those seeking a plenary indulgence for themselves or someone else must venerate one or more relics at the exhibition, and complete three other actions within three weeks of that veneration: say a prayer for the pope and his intentions (such as the Our Father or Hail Mary), go to confession, and receive communion.

Martins said he received an email last year with the information that the decision to issue the decree -- which he had been approached about during a previous trip to Rome -- had been made because "the church wanted to do something to support this ministry."

"I have worked with the Vatican for years, and they were always grateful for the work that was done, and so they wanted to raise the bar, if you will," Martins said.

Despite the surge in attendance, thousands simply come to be in the presence of the relics, and Greg Pair, a deacon at Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Smith, said the relics are a palpable way for people to realize their faith.

"There's some things we really trust in the Lord on," Pair said.

"Treasures of the Church" is free and open to the public, and hosting churches encourage other parishes to attend the exhibition for what is otherwise a rare opportunity, as the collection of relics is one of only a few such traveling exhibits of relics worldwide.

"Most of the [people] are very, extremely excited about it, because unless you go to Rome or the Holy Land you don't see anything like this," Pair said. "Sometimes when they see these things it tightens their faith, their love for God, [because] we're a society so much of 'I've got to feel it, I've got to see it.'"

Christy Trantina, director of adult faith formation at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Conway, said she wasn't very familiar with the relics but recalled members of the parish who had viewed the exhibition during a time it appeared in Arkansas and thought it "was really wonderful and moving, very spiritual."

"As you know, it's a leap of faith [to believe in the relics], but that's part of our job as Christians," Trantina said.

Martins said he conducts the ministry as a way to give people an experience of "the living God" through the relics in a way that's tangible and concrete.

"That means it's a ministry of healing and of evangelization, where I'm not giving just theory or teaching, I'm giving people a concrete experience of God," Martins said. "At every single exposition I begin with a guarantee that those present will experience God in a way that they never have before, and I've never had a single person come up to me and say that that never happened. So God always shows up."

The exhibition will be at Immaculate Conception Church, 22 N. 13th St. in Fort Smith, at 1 pm. today; at St. John Catholic Church, 1900 W. Main St. in Russellville, at 6 p.m. Monday; at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 1115 College Ave. in Conway, at 6 p.m. Tuesday; at Blessed John Newman University Parish, 2800 E. Johnson Ave. in Jonesboro, at 7 p.m. Wednesday; and at St. Agnes Catholic Church, 203 Eighth St. in Mena, at 6 p.m. Thursday. More information is available at treasuresofthechurch.com.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette/REBECCA VENEGONI TOWER

The relics of the saints are on display at a previous exhibition. Each church requires 20 tables to display the more than 150 reliquaries of saints that comprise the exhibition. The Rev. Carlos Martins, who travels around the world with the artifacts and gives talks before each exhibition, estimated that last year some 30,000 people encountered the relics.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette/REBECCA VENEGONI TOWER

Attendees at “Treasures of the Church,” an exhibition of relics of the saints hosted by the Rev. Carlos Martins, kneel and pray before relics on display at St. Francis de Sales Oratory in South St. Louis.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette/REBECCA VENEGONI TOWER

A relic believed to be a fragment of Mary’s veil sits on display at St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis.

Religion on 01/19/2019

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