Miracles and relics
Are bones and incorrupt bodies really venerated?
Besides sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, catechesis must take into account the forms of piety and popular devotions among the faithful. the religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church's sacramental life, such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals, Cf. Council of Nicaea II: DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum); 603; Council of Trent: DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum). etc.
These expressions of piety extend the liturgical life of the Church, but do not replace it. They "should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some way derived from it and lead the people to it, since in fact the liturgy by its very nature is far superior to any of them." SC 13 # 3.
Pastoral discernment is needed to sustain and support popular piety and, if necessary, to purify and correct the religious sense which underlies these devotions so that the faithful may advance in knowledge of the mystery of Christ. Cf. John Paul II, CT 54. Their exercise is subject to the care and judgment of the bishops and to the general norms of the Church.
At its core the piety of the people is a storehouse of values that offers answers of Christian wisdom to the great questions of life. the Catholic wisdom of the people is capable of fashioning a vital synthesis.... It creatively combines the divine and the human, Christ and Mary, spirit and body, communion and institution, person and community, faith and homeland, intelligence and emotion. This wisdom is a Christian humanism that radically affirms the dignity of every person as a child of God, establishes a basic fraternity, teaches people to encounter nature and understand work, provides reasons for joy and humor even in the midst of a very hard life. For the people this wisdom is also a principle of discernment and an evangelical instinct through which they spontaneously sense when the Gospel is served in the Church and when it is emptied of its content and stifled by other interests. CELAM, Third General Conference (Puebla, 1979), Final Document # 448 (tr. NCCB, 1979); cf. Paul VI, EN 48.
The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype," and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it." St. Basil, De Spiritu Sancto 18, 45: PG — Patrologia Graeca (Migne)C; Council of Nicaea II: DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum); cf. Council of Trent: DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum); Vatican Council II: SC 126; LG 67. The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration," not the adoration due to God alone:
Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. the movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 81, 3 ad 3.
By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly pro claiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors. Cf. LG 40; 48-51. "The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history." John Paul II, CL 16, 3. Indeed, "holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal." CL 17, 3.
What moves us to believe is not the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural reason: we believe "because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived". Dei Filius: 3 DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum). So "that the submission of our faith might nevertheless be in accordance with reason, God willed that external proofs of his Revelation should be joined to the internal helps of the Holy Spirit." Dei Filius: 3 DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum). Thus the miracles of Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Church's growth and holiness, and her fruitfulness and stability "are the most certain signs of divine Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all"; they are "motives of credibility" (motiva credibilitatis), which show that the assent of faith is "by no means a blind impulse of the mind". Dei Filius: 3: DS — Denzinger–Schönmetzer (Enchiridion Symbolorum); Cf. Mk 16 20; Heb 2:4
§1. It is absolutely forbidden to sell sacred relics.
§2. Relics of great significance and other relics honored with great reverence by the people cannot be alienated validly in any manner or transferred permanently without the permission of the Apostolic See.
§3. The prescript of §2 is valid also for images which are honored in some church with great reverence by the people.
§1. Fixed altars must be dedicated, and movable altars must be dedicated or blessed, according to the rites prescribed in the liturgical books.
§2. The ancient tradition of placing relics of martyrs or other saints under a fixed altar is to be preserved, according to the norms given in the liturgical books.