Exploring Saint Relics: A Closer Look at Their Significance and Collections

The Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics in Ohio is home to over 1,100 relics representing 900 saints, making it one of the largest collections of its kind in the world. The shrine, founded in 1875, regularly requests new relics from the Vatican and offers programs to introduce visitors to the lives of the saints.

In Pittsburgh, St. Anthony’s Chapel boasts an even larger collection of 5,000 relics, with as many as 200 visitors weekly. The chapel, part of Most Holy Name of Jesus Parish, draws crowds for special events like the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua. Visitors attending Mass on Tuesdays are blessed with a relic of St. Anthony.

St. John Cantius Church in Chicago is home to about 1,800 relics donated from various sources, mostly priests. The relics include those from the Lenten Station Churches of Rome, a custom dating back to the fourth century.

Relics are seen as physical links binding Christians across centuries, providing a connection to the holiness and goodness of the saints. These collections serve as reminders of the saints as models and intercessors, offering a means through which God works healing and miracles.