The Medieval industry in (dubious) relics:(From the top and then left to right)- 10th century Reliqu

The Medieval industry in (dubious) relics:(From the top and then left to right)- 10th century Reliquary of the Holy Nail (Reliquiar des heiligen Nagels) in the treasury of Trier Cathedral, Germany.- A head of St John the Baptist in Amiens Cathedral.- A head of St John the Baptist (Yahyā‎) in the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus.- A head of St John the Baptist in San Silvestro in Capite, Rome.- A head of St John the Baptist in the Residenz (palace-museum) Munich.- ‘Sandals of Jesus’ in Prüm Abbey, Germany, donated in the 8th century. - ‘Crown of Thorns’ relic of Notre Dame, Paris.  There was a thriving trade in relics of biblical figures and saints up until the mid 16th century (the reformation), though with new additions since. A growing mass of body parts and bodily fluids, clothing fragments, images, and objects of all sorts including nails and wood supposedly from the cross, holy grail(s), pieces of the manger, staffs and lances and so on. The more bizarre including the dozens of supposed foreskins of Jesus claimed to be at various churches (all now vanished, the last was stolen in the 1980s), breast milk claimed to be from Mary, a piece of leftover fish eaten by Jesus! Every cathedral, monastery and major church tried to obtain relics, as did numerous monarchs and nobles. Nearly all (and many would say all) are fakes, except most of those from more recent saints (depending on your beliefs). Many relics were destroyed at the reformation; buried or burnt. John Calvin among others condemned relics, published a rant against them in 1543; “it is impossible to have the bones of any martyr without running the risk of worshipping the bones of some thief or robber, or, it may be, the bones of a dog, or a horse, or an ass”.From Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose:(inside the crypt-treasury of the abbey)“And don’t succumb too much to the spell of these (relics) cases. I have seen many other fragments of the cross, in other churches. If all were genuine, our Lord’s torment could not have been on a couple of planks nailed together, but on an entire forest.’‘Master!’ I said, shocked.‘So it is, Adso. And there are ever richer treasuries. Some time ago, in the cathedral of Cologne, I saw the skull of John the Baptist at the age of twelve.’‘Really?’ I exclaimed, amazed. Then, siezed by doubt, I added, 'But the Baptist was executed at a more advanced age!’'The other skull must be in another treasury,’ William said, with a grave face. I never understood when he was jesting.” -- source link

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