Christian History Home > Issue 12 > From the Archives: On the Advantages of an Inventory of Relics
From the Archives: On the Advantages of an Inventory of Relics
posted 10/01/1986 12:00AM
We don’t normally look to Calvin for biting satire, but few things got him so riled as the tendency of the Church to veer from the worship of Christ. Thus, he produced a most entertaining treatise, excerpted here.
ADMONITION
IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN HOW ADVANTAGEOUS IT WOULD BE FOR CHRISTENDOM THAT THE BODIES AND RELICS OF SAINTS WERE REDUCED TO A KIND OF INVENTORY, INCLUDING THOSE WHICH ARE SAID TO EXIST, AS WELL IN ITALY AS IN FRANCE, GERMANY, SPAIN, AND OTHER COUNTRIES.
Augustine, in his work, titled, On the Labour of Monks, complaining of certain itenerant impostors, who, as early as his day, plied a vile and sordid traffic, by carrying the relics of martyrs about from place to place, adds, “If, indeed, they are relics of martyrs.” By this expression, he intimates the prevalence, even in his day, of abuses and impostures, by which the ignorant populace were cheated into the belief, that bones gathered here and there were those of saints. While the origin of the imposture is thus ancient, ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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