Contact relics
Brandea
- Known today as
- Cloths, oil, dust, or other things touched to a saint’s tomb or remains, and so made relics themselves.
- Kind
- Sacramental, in 2 older authorities
- Earliest authority here
- Gregory the Great
Revised October 1, 2026: An authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 28, 2026.
Contact relics: what was it used for?
Sent to churches and the faithful in place of the saint’s body, and applied to the sick.
Contact relics: what does modern science say?
Contact relics, now called third-class relics, are still distributed.
What Medicine Makes of It
- The Marks on the BodyStigmata, the witch’s mark, and what the mind does to the skin.
Contact relics: what lore surrounds it?
Gregory the Great, asked by the empress Constantina for the head of St. Paul, refused and sent instead a cloth that had touched the apostle’s tomb, explaining that Roman custom did not disturb the bodies of the saints.
Contact relics: what did the older authorities say?
- Gregory the Great
- Tells the empress that the Romans do not touch the saints’ bodies, but place a cloth near them, which then works the same wonders.
- The Catholic Encyclopedia
- The Catholic Encyclopedia quotes St. Gregory of Nyssa on the pilgrim at a martyr's tomb, “believing that to touch it is itself a sanctification and a blessing and if it be permitted to carry off any of the dust which has settled upon the martyr's resting place, the dust is accounted as a great gift and the mould as a precious treasure,” and says the veneration of “minute fragments of bone or cloth, small parcels of dust, etc.” was “widespread early in the fourth century.” In the days of Paulinus of Nola “the custom prevailed of pouring oil over the relics or reliquaries of martyrs and then gathering it in vases, sponges, or pieces of cloth. This oil, oleum martyris, was distributed among the faithful as a remedy against sickness.” Trent required that “no new miracles are to be acknowledged or new relics recognized unless the bishop of the diocese has taken cognizance and approved thereof.”
Sources
- [21] Herbermann, C. G., et al. (eds.) (1907–1912). The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Online at newadvent.org. Articles: Agnus Dei (H. Thurston); Amulet (M. Hassett); Ash Wednesday (H. Thurston); Bells (H. Thurston); Holy Oils (H. Leclercq); Paschal Candle (H. Thurston); Scapular (J. Hilgers). Read in part · the text read
- Gregory the Great, Registrum epistularum 4.30. Book, seen in reviews
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914), “Relics.” newadvent.org/cathen/12734a.htm Standard reference work
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914), “Oil of Saints.” newadvent.org/cathen/11228d.htm Standard reference work
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 4 cited: 1 read in part, 2 standard reference work, 1 book, seen in reviews.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 28, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Contact relics.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/brandea.
- MLA
“Contact relics.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/brandea. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Contact relics. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/brandea
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See Also
Also in The Catholic Encyclopedia
Cornicello in The Catholic Encyclopedia · Concealed shoes in The Catholic Encyclopedia · Crucifix in The Catholic Encyclopedia · The Caravaca cross in The Catholic Encyclopedia · everything The Catholic Encyclopedia names →
Nearby in the alphabet
Copal · Confection of hyacinth (sapphire, emerald, and other stones, with coral, pearls, and gold) · Coral, red (Corallium rubrum, of the western Mediterranean, prepared as powder) · Confection of alkermes (with apple juice, rose water, sugar, ambergris, and gold) · Cordial flowers and fruits · Coriander (seed and leaf) · Compound fumitory (Fumaria officinalis, with other herbs)
Historical description, not medical advice.