The relic factory

Mass distribution of relics in the 19de and the 20ste century

Introduction

The last two decades have seen an increase in interest in relics. This is expressed, among
other things, in a flood of scientific and vulgar articles and books, but also in exhibitions. In
the Netherlands, the breakthrough came with the exhibition The Road to Heaven. Religious
Worship in the Middle Ages in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam and the Museum
Catharijneconvent in Utrecht (16 December 2000-22 April 2001).1 From 12 October 2018 to 3
February 2019, the Catharijneconvent organised another relics exhibition, but this time
intended for a very broad public and therefore with an eye for other religions and for secular
analogies: Relics: sources of power interwoven with stories.2 One of the most prestigious
exhibitions took place in The British Museum: Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and
Devotion in Medieval Europe (23 June 2011-9 October 2011).3 They all seem to be sequels to
the first major relics exhibition in Germany: Reliquien: Verehrung und Verklärung (Cologne,
1989).4

In the historiography of relics, most attention is paid to the Middle Ages and the Modern
Times. Many pages are devoted to the Reformation, when relic worship came under great
pressure and a series of critical treatises were published. 5 An important exception to this trend
is the reference work of the German church historian Arnold Angenendt, who tries to
distribute his attention evenly throughout history.6 Less studied, however, is relic production
1
Catalogue: H. van Os (ed.), The road to heaven. Religious Worship in the Middle Ages. Baarn, Uitgeverij de
Prom, 2000.
2
Catalogue: I. Schriemer (ed.), Relics. Zwolle: WBooks and Utrecht, Museum Catharijneconvent, 2018.
3
Catalogue: M. Bagnoli, H. A. Klein, C. Griffith Mann and J. Robinson, Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics
and Devotion in Medieval Europe. London, The British Museum Press, 2010. The exhibition was also shown at
The Cleveland Museum of Art and The Walters Art Museum.
4
Catalogue: U. Bock (ed.), Reliquien: Verherung und Verklärung. Skizzen und Noten zur Thematik und Katalog
zur Ausstellung der Kölner Sammlung Louis Peters im Schnütgen-Museum. Cologne, Anton Legner, 1989.
5
This is also the case, for example, in a recent study such as that by C. Hahn, The Reliquary Effect. Enshrining
the Sacred Object. London, Reaktion Books Ltd, 2017: great artistic ostensoria are central.
6
A. Angenendt, Heilige und Reliquien. Die Geschichte ihres Kultes vom frühen Christentum bis zur Gegenwart.
Munich, Verlag C.H. Beck, 1997.A recent and thorough overview in French is also mainly limited to the period
from Antiquity to the New Period: P. George, Reliques. Se connecter à l'au-delà, Collection Biblis, 202. Paris,

1
and veneration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when relics were created on an
unprecedented scale. It was precisely in this period that hundreds of thousands of small
reliquary boxes and prayer cards were produced and distributed, and a democratisation and
domestication of relic ownership took place.7 By democratisation, I mean that relics could
suddenly be acquired by the general public, whereas previously they were the exclusive
property of the church or the nobility.8 By domestication, I understand the phenomenon
whereby the presence of relics is no longer restricted to the sacred space of chapels or
churches, but is extended to the living room of 'the ordinary believer'.

Context: the restoration of the cult of saints and relics and the emergence of mass culture

Devotion to saints and relic worship go hand in hand. After the intellectual assaults of the
French Enlightenment and the material damage caused by the Napoleonic Wars, the Catholic
Church could slowly recover. It was helped by the cultural context of Romanticism, which
developed a special interest in the Middle Ages (in their eyes very Christian). Politically, in
the second half of the nineteenth century, all this was translated into restorative and
ultramontane movements in European countries with a predominantly Catholic population.

It was in this period that in Flanders and the south of the Netherlands a Catholic culture came
into being that became known as 'Rich Roman Life'. The term refers to the permanent photo
column Uit het rijke Roomsche leven, which appeared in the Dutch weekly Katholieke
Illustratie between 1926 and 1932, and which was widely distributed by a book of the same
name by Michel van der Plas. 9 It is a period in which the Catholic Church completely

CNRS Éditions, 2013.

7
But criticism also came to the fore in the 19 de century. Jacques A. Simon Collin de Plancy, Dictionnaire
critique des reliques et des images miraculeuses, 3 vols. Paris, Guien et compagnie, 1821-1822. See also A.
Angenendt, 'Der Kult der Reliquien,' in A. Legner (ed.), Reliquien. Verehrung und Verklärung. Skizzen und
Noten zur Thematik und Katalog zur Ausstellung der Kölner Sammlung Louis Peters im Schnütgen-Museum .
Cologne, Schnütgen-Museum, 1989, 9-31, p. 22-23.
8
See also Joke Spaans, De democratisation of the religious accessory. From Rosary to Christian Tattoo, in Arie
L. Molendijk, Material Christianity. Religion and material culture in Western Europe, Hilversum, Verloren
Publishers, 2003, 29-50.
9
M. van der Plas, From the rich Roman Catholic life. A documentary on the years 1925-1935. Utrecht, Ambo,
1963. For Flanders: J. Van Haver, For you, beloved believers. Het Rijke Roomse Leven in Vlaanderen (1920-
1950). Tielt, Lannoo, 1995 and M. Reynebeau, Katholiek Vlaanderen. A pictorial history. Antwerp: Lido, 2012.
For the Netherlands: H. Pijfers and J. Roes, Memoriale. Catholic Life in the Netherlands in the Twentieth
Century. Zwolle, Waanders Uitgevers, 1996 and P. de Coninck and P. Dirkse, Roomsch in alles. The rich Roman

2
dominates the lives of its faithful, from the cradle to the grave. The church teaches through
Sunday schools, catechesis and popular missions. It guides the life of the faithful through the
sacraments, structures the feasts of the year and patronises numerous organisations that cover
all aspects of life (sport, culture, work ...).10

The Church once again stimulates devotion to saints. Those in charge of the church are
making efforts to (re)found fraternities everywhere. Religious have a preference for national
devotions and/or fraternities under the patronage of international order saints such as
Antonius of Padua, Rita of Cascia and Gerardus Majella. Secular clergy - mainly parish
priests - are mainly involved in fraternities on their own parish, under the patronage of local
saints and/or devotional saints who have been highly venerated since the Middle Ages (Bavo,
Dymphna, Arnoldus, Godelieve, Relindis and Harlindis, Cornelius, Donatus, Apollonia,
Rochus, etc.). And then there are the new devotions for people for whom a procedure of
beatification and canonisation is in progress, but for whom there is nevertheless already great
veneration. In Flanders, the best known are Father Valentinus (1828-1905), Brother Isidoor
(1881-1916) and Priest Poppe (1890-1924), in the Netherlands the "holy bruurke of Megen"
(1868-1950). Their veneration is stimulated by immense editions of saint's lives and
devotional printed matter, often translated from French, German or Italian when it concerns
international saints. 11

To all this devotion to the saints, an intense wave of devotion to the Virgin Mary was added,
mainly under the influence of apparition stories: Rue du Bac in Paris and the distribution of
the miraculous medal (1830), La Salette (1846), Lourdes (1858), Fatima (1917) ... This list
can be completed with national apparitions as in Belgium, where the best known places are
Beauraing (1932) and Banneux (1933). From France, devotion to Mary spreads during the
month of May. Marian places of pilgrimage draw crowds of pilgrims who continue the
baroque Marian piety of the 17de century, stimulated not least by an intensified Marian
devotion of the various Popes of that period. Pius VII (1800-1823) introduced the feast of
Mary, Help of Christendom (24 March) and prescribed the feast of Mary's Sorrows (15

Catholic life, 1900-1950. Zwolle, Waanders Publishers and Utrecht, Museum Catharijneconvent, 1996.
10
Concise general overview of the time: Lieve Gevers, De 'belle époque' van de Kerk in België. 1830-1940, in
Peter Nissen, ed., Believing in the Low Countries. Scharniermomenten in de geschiedenis van het christendom
(Believing in the Low Countries. Pivotal moments in the history of Christianity), Leuven, Davidsfonds, 2004,
171-189.
11
C. M.A. Caspers, 'Een stroom van getuigen. Heiligenlevens en saintsverering in katholiek Nederland circa
1500-circa 2000)," in A. B. Mulder-Bakker and M. Carasso-Kok, Gouden legenden. The lives of saints and their
devotion in the Netherlands. Hilversum, Verloren, 1997, 165-177, p. 170-172.

3
September) for the whole church. Pius IX (1846-1878) proclaimed the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception of Mary on 8 December 1854. The countless congregations that came
into being in the 19de century almost all put themselves under the high protection of Mary. 12 In
order to visit all these places, from the second half of the 19 de century an intensified
pilgrimage is recorded.13

Important for our topic is the domestication of devotional culture. In the period of the rich
Roman Catholic life, the sacred was drawn indoors. Whereas saint iconography (all kinds of
images and graphics) in the period before that was primarily done in church, from now on the
homes of all believers were filled with it. One of the reasons for this was the industrial
revolution, which, through its processes of mass production, made devotional objects such as
statues of saints, prints of saints, medals, holy water fonts, etc. affordable. steIn the first half of
the 20th century, the Flemish folklorist Victor de Meyere notes: "Everywhere, even in the
most humble of homes, one finds objects of veneration and domestic worship deferred, simple
symbols, and allegories that speak to the faithful in an everyday language." 14 The houses were
literally christianised and took on the air of a chapel or church with the large number of
statues of saints, bells, religious pictures, crucifixes, candlesticks, house blessings, holy water
fonts and the like. Traditionally, devotional objects could be found in houses, but these were
limited to small prints and medals. Industrial mass production brought large coloured prints
and three-dimensional images within reach of the purse of 'the little faithful'. 15

(Religious) mass culture did not just come into being in the nineteenth century. A lot of
developments contributed to it and also exerted their influence on developments in religious
culture.16 One of the most important technical revolutions took place in the world of books
and newspapers. The nineteenth century is "the age of paper". 17 The invention of paper on
12
Angenendt, Heilige und Reliquien, p. 287-288.
13
Peter Jan Margry and Charles Caspers, Places of pilgrimage in the Netherlands. Part 1: North and Central
Netherlands, Hilversum, Verloren Publishers, 1997, 28-30 and H. Wernz-Kaiser, 'Soziale und wirtschaftliche
Aspekte des privaten Andachtsbildes,' in E. Dühr and M. Gross-Morgen (ed.), Zwischen Andacht und Andenken.
Kleinodien religiöser Kunst und Wallfahrtsandenken aus Trierer Sammlungen. Trier, Selbstverlag des
Bischöflichen Dom- und Diözesanmuseums Trier, 1992, 39-45, p. 39.
14
V. De Meyere, Introduction to Flemish Folk Art. Antwerp, De Sikkel, 1938, p. 36.
15
See the theme issue 'Religion at Home' of Trajecta. Tijdschrift voor de geschiedenis van het katholiek leven in
de Nederlanden 4 (1995) 2 and Tine Van Osselaer and Patrick Pasture, ed., Christian Homes. Religion, Family
and Domesticity in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Leuven, Leuven University Press, 2014.
16
For the general developments I rely on D. Kalifa, La culture de masse en France. Vol. I (1860-1930). Paris:
Éditions La Découverte, 2001, passim.
17
Ibidem, p. 11: âge du papier.

4
continuous rolls made books and newspapers very cheap and widely available from the mid-
nineteenth century onwards. At the same time, the number of sales outlets increased, so that
people did not have to wait for a door-to-door salesman to pass by. This development,
coupled with a massive literacy rate in the same period, led to an unprecedented boom in
reading culture.18

The massification of reading culture is immediately followed by powerful impulses to visual

culture. Not only do numerous sports and spectacles become mass media, but images in
general are given a prominent place in daily life. This happens, among other things, through
posters. New printing techniques allow for cheaper and faster reproductions, and it is
therefore the distributors of all kinds of reading material who are the first to be able to assess
the opportunities of an increased presence for the image. The impact of the image is so great
that some newspaper magnates switch to a magazine formula in which the image prevails (la
presse illustrée).19

Mass production of relics for ecclesiastical use: theca

Mass culture is also driven by the Church, with the curious result that even the most sacred
objects (after the consecrated wafers, these are relics) are mass-produced. ILLUSTRATION
10 Illustrative is the mass production of theca's. Theca's (Dutch: omhulsel, foedraal) or
capsae (Dutch: doos, bus) are the small sealed boxes (silver or other metal) in which small,
certified or authenticated relics are kept. Sometimes there is one relic in such a box,
sometimes several. The boxes are usually round or oval, and vary in diameter from about 3
cm to about 10 cm. The relic is protected by a piece of glass. Each relic is identified by a
cedula, a piece of paper or parchment with the relic's identification printed or written on it.
Hundreds of thousands are manufactured during the period under review. The theca are filled
with various objects that have relic value:

- Primary and secondary relics of (candidate) Blessed and Saints

18
Albert d'Haenens, ed., De lagere school in België van de middeleeuwen tot nu, Brussel, Dienst Culturele
activiteiten van de ASLK, 1986, 72-83.
19
On the impact of the mass presence of devotionalia on the individual, see David Morgan, Visual Piety. A
History and Theory of Popular Religious Images, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1998 and Ann Taves,
The Household of Faith. Roman Catholic Devotions in Mid-Nineteenth-Century America, Notre Dame IN,
University of Notre Dame Press, 1986. See also the first two chapters of Colleen McDannell, Material
Christianity. Religion and Popular Culture in America, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995.
On the mass production of religious graphics, see Stefan Kraus, ed. Andachtsbildchen von A bis Z, Cologne,
Kolumba, 2016. And of other devotionalia: Piety by the dozen, Utrecht, Rijksmuseum het Catharijneconvent,
1982.

5
The theca are usually filled with secondary relics of saints or persons for whom a causa is
running in Rome. Secondary relics are objects that have come into contact with the blessed or
the saint (clothes, linen, furniture, writings ...). Primary relics are the bones of the blessed and
the saints. ILLUSTRATION 13

- Catacombs Saints

In order for relics to be distributed en masse, they had to be there in the first place. In the
revolutionary period around 1848, many catacomb saints were again discovered in Rome and
distributed internationally.20 A further wave of catacomb saints dates back to the rediscovery
of these underground cemeteries in 1578, but it was mainly felt in Italy and the surrounding
countries. In the nineteenth century, the wave reached the Netherlands.

It is striking that just about every corpse in the catacombs is considered sacred. Consequently,
the marble wall slabs covering the tombs yield hundreds of new names of saints. And
although the Council of Trent imposed stricter regulations, requiring that each relic henceforth
be accompanied by an authentication by a bishop or other high clergyman, it appears that in
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries authentication was carried out rather quickly and
uncritically. Also in this period, reliquaries were filled with questionable relics. 21

The making of theca is a ritual; the whole process is highly standardised: the same actions are
performed at the same time. There is no personal involvement in this craft, which follows the
traditional rules of the monastery. The whole process of making a theca takes about two
hours. It is impossible to estimate how many theca were made in this way in the 19th and 20th
centuries.

The production of theca is - like the production of wafers - a typical monastic work, usually
intended for contemplative religious people. The Italian anthropologist Francesca Sbardella
has done important field work by spending several months in a French and a Roman
Carmelite monastery where theca's are 'filled'. 22 The religious prepares the work table by
20
P. Boutry, 'Les saints des catacombes. Itinéraires français d'une piété ultramontaine (1800-1881),' in Mélanges
de l'école française de Rome 91,2(1979)875-930.
21
Van Os, The road to heaven, p. 192-193.
22
Her findings were published in F. Sbardella, Antropologia delle reliquie. Un caso storico [Scienze umane,
nuova serie 4] Brescia, Editrice Morcelliana, 2007. The production process of the theca can be found on p. 140-
146 (with illustrations). A summary in French of that book: F. Sbardella, 'La fabrique des reliques.
Manipulations et production de sacré dans la clôture,' Conserveries mémorielles, http://cm.revues.org/1531
(accessed 30 June 2019). I have relied on the French text.

6
laying a white cloth on it. After all, nothing must be lost of the relic that is being divided into
smaller particles. The cloth is similar to the corporal that is placed on the altar before the
Eucharist. The opening of the white working cloth is done with the greatest care and devotion.
The cloth prevents the relics from coming into contact with the table. If a particle does fall to
the ground, it is immediately picked up, kissed and placed in its proper place. Composing a
theca is thus anything but a secular job ... Once the white cloth is ready, she sets out her
working materials: the relic fragments, the theca, the glass windows, tweezers, scissors,
cutters, red silk thread and needle, a pot of melted sealing wax and the monastery stamp.
ILLUSTRATION 11

Once the work table has been prepared, the religious begin to work on the relic. A brandeum
must be cut up, a bone broken into smaller particles. It is amazing how many particles can be
extracted from a relic; a large demand necessitates splintering. This process is preceded by a
prayer and followed by a meditation or recitation of the rosary during the work. In this
respect, the making of theca resembles the painting of icons. It is seemingly paradoxical, but
there is a stark contrast between the sacred fabrication process and the final product of the
theca on the one hand, and the storage place of the relics before they end up in a theca: a letter
envelope, a cigar box or a piece of paper/fabric on the other.

Then the religious takes care of the reliquary box and the glass for it. A fabric covering (often
gold because of the connotation of gold with holy) is placed on the metal or cardboard
backing. A cedula is glued on top of it with the handwritten or printed name of the blessed or
saint. In the centre, above the cedula, the particle is stuck, often on a decorative base, for
example in the form of a small flower. Other decorative elements (often papercloths) are
usually placed around the relic. Finally, the box is closed with the red silk thread and the seal
of the religious superior. This closes the theca permanently. This is very important, as a
broken thread or seal may indicate that the relic has been replaced by something else, and
such a 'relic' may not be venerated.

At least as important as the theca is the authentication document or proof of authenticity. Pope
Pius IX, in his 1907 encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (No. 55), once again stresses the
importance of the authenticity of relics. With the hundreds of thousands of theca, just as many
certificates of authenticity were issued, whether or not with a number reference to a central
diocesan or monastic relic register. Only bishops and other higher prelates (including certain
abbots and abbesses) are permitted to authenticate relics. In the Netherlands, the most
important monasteries are those of Achel, Sint-Agatha near Cuijck, Westmalle and
7
Westvleteren. The dioceses and monasteries have delegated a custos reliquiarum who is
responsible for the production of the theca and the declarations of authenticity. 23 A
comprehensive study of these documents from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has not
yet been carried out.24

- Brandea

A large part of the nineteenth and twentieth century relics are brandea. A brandeum is a cloth
that has come into contact with a saint, either because it has served as a shroud, or because it
has come into contact with relics or has simply been placed on a saint's tomb. It is therefore a
tertiary or touch relic that has acquired the virtus (power) of a primary relic through touch.
The custom dates back to ancient times. A good example is Pope Gregory the Great (pope
from 590 to 604) who refused to give Empress Constantina relics of Peter and Paul because of
a ban on dividing bones. He could only give her a brandeum that could be deposited in the
church to be consecrated. As proof of the power of a brandeum, he recounts a miracle that
took place under Pope Leo I (pope from 440 to 461). In front of doubters, the pope made a cut
in a brandeum which then spontaneously began to bleed. 25 The use of brandea was already
recorded at the time of the oldest documented translation in history, namely that of Saints
Gervasius and Protasius by Ambrose of Milan in 386. The crowds attending the translations
constantly wanted to bring garments and cloths into contact with the relics to which they
attributed healing powers.26 ILLUSTRATION 8

23
About two of these 'relic keepers', see E. Verheggen, 'Geloven, dat ge je niet zonder spullekes'
Reliekenbewaarders in Achel en Eindhoven,' in Brabants Heem. Driemaandelijks tijdschrift voor archeologie,
geschiedenis en volkskunde 51 (1999) 117-128. See also her article 'Private or public? The veneration of relics
in the diocese of Breda in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,' in Brabants Heem. Driemaandelijks tijdschrift
voor archeologie, geschiedenis en volkskunde 50 (1998) 22-33. On p. 32, Verhegge gives a fairly exhaustive list
of Latin abbreviations that often occur on cedulae. In addition to Verheggen's two reference contributions on
thecae, there is also M. Lindeijer, 'Massification of holiness. Dutch Jesuits and the cult of relics between 1870
and 1970,' in Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Kerkgeschiedenis 10 (2007) 8-15.
24
For the older period: P. Bertrand, 'Authentiques de reliques: authentiques ou reliques?,' in Le Moyen Age 112
(2006) 363-374. For the Old Catholic Church, which preserves an extensive collection, see : Anique de Kruijf,
Miraculously preserved : medieval Utrecht relics on a journey : mde schat van de oud-katholieke
Gertrudiskathedraal. Zutphen, Walburg Pers, 2011. The collection of the Breda Museum was catalogued by
Evelyne Verheggen. The catalogue can only be consulted at the museum.
25
F. Pfister, 'Brandeum,' in Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. Sachwörterbuch zur Auseinandersetzung
des Christentums mit der antiken Welt. Stuttgart, Hiersemann Verlag, 1954, dl.2, p. 522-523.

8
More important than brandea of saints are the brandea that touched relics of Christ. Gregory
of Tours reports of a man who came to him with a very precious relic, namely a cloth that
once served to cover the Holy Cross. Another well-known example is the Holy Rock of Trier,
the seamless robe of Christ for which the soldiers played dice (Mk 15:24).27

- Agnus Dei

The Agnus Dei is perhaps one of the most important indicators of the democratisation process
of relic veneration in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is an oval (rarely round) medallion made
of wax, the front of which depicts a Mystic Lamb with a pennant and the legend: ECCE
AGN(US) DEI, QUI TOL(LIT) PECC(ATA) MUNDI (Ned. Behold the Lamb of God who
takes away the sins of the world). The reverse shows a pope or a saint. Initially a rare object,
it served, among other things, as a diplomatic gift from the Papal States. From Pope Martinus
V (1417-1431) onwards, only the Pope enjoyed the privilege of blessing the wax. Around
1600, this blessing was subject to strict rules. It may only be blessed in the first year of a
pontificate and subsequently every seven years of the pontificate in the Sistine Chapel on a
day in Holy Week. The wax for the Agnus Dei must be of the highest quality, such as the
pure, bleached beeswax for the Paschal candle or a wax considered by the Pope to be
equivalent to the Paschal candle and meeting the criteria of purity, whiteness and virginity.
Until 1900, the Agnus Dei dust from the catacombs, rediscovered in 1578, was mixed in,
giving the wax a somewhat greyer tint, but also the status of a relic. To ensure the quality of
the wax, Pope Paul V granted the Cistercian monks of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Rome)
the exclusive right to produce the medallions in 1608, but due to the high demand, many
surrogates were created from inferior wax and even forgeries. From 1752 onwards, Pope
Benedict XIV ordered that they should - like relics - be provided with a certificate of
authenticity. The latter were blessed by Pope Paul VI in 1965. ILLUSTRATION 7

Just as the Church began to divide the skeletons of saints into small pieces, from the
eighteenth century the same happened to the oval discs of Agnus Dei. Depending on the size
of the disk, it is divided into dozens, sometimes hundreds, of small particles that all possess
the power of the entire Agnus Dei, just as is the case with primary relics. In the nineteenth

26
A. Heinz, 'Gesegnete "Andachtsgegenstände". Die kirchliche Benediktion uns das "Anrühren" von
Devotionalien,' in ' in E. Dühr and M. Gross-Morgen (ed.), Zwischen Andacht und Andenken. Kleinodien
religiöser Kunst und Wallfahrtsandenken aus Trierer Sammlungen. Trier, Selbstverlag des Bischöflichen Dom-
und Diözesanmuseums Trier, 1992) 31-38, p. 33.
27
E. Iserloh, "Der Heilige Rock und die Wallfahrt nach Trier," Geist und Leben 32 (1959) 271-279.

9
century, the Agnus Dei acquired the status of a relic in religious folk culture and it was used
as a phylacterium (means of protection) against all kinds of calamities (hail and lightning,
floods, fire, evil spirits, (childhood) diseases, protection of pregnant women and so on. 28 Until
deep into the twentieth century, such "shrine pieces" were made in contemplative
monasteries, such as those of the Poor Clares, Carmelites and Birgitines. They are small
pieces of the Agnus Dei, sewn into a fabric or leather casing that can assume all kinds of
forms: a circle, a heart, a square, etc. Typically, there is often no cedula attached, so that the
contents remain a mystery to most users.

With the Agnus Dei the faithful often received a leaflet with a description of what the Agnus
Dei is, but above all with a whole list of things the Agnus Dei is capable of: It cleanses from
daily sins and drives out temptations, it drives out devils, guards against distress caused by
spiritual apparitions, gives divine protection against calamities, avoids dangers and accidents,
makes poisons harmless, foils ambushes by hostile persons, guards against illness, fights
against falling sickness, keeps away plague, contagious diseases and "air contamination",
quiets storms and hurricanes, saves from shipwreck, prevents lightning, extinguishes fires and
stops destruction by fire, protects from torrential rains, floods and flooding and - and this is
what it was used for the most in our region - it protects mother and child during pregnancy,
saves them from dangers during childbirth, whereby it quiets and shortens contractions. The
leaves do not mention that it protects the baby in the cradle from all kinds of mischief.
However, it was a widespread custom to put little shrines in the cradle or sew them into the
children's clothes. Finally, the Agnus Dei also has a positive effect: it grants prosperity.29

- Flora

A special variant of powerful objects with relic value are the prayer cards on which all kinds
of flora connected with the holy places in Israel are stuck. These are usually flowers, plants
and trees that grow in the most important places of memory in Jerusalem. ILLUSTRATION 4

Old wine in new bottles

28
Bock (ed.), Reliquaries, p. 155-157.
29
For decades, a small leaflet was reprinted and distributed in Flanders with the title Kracht der Agnus-Dei
(Power of the Agnus Dei). The leaflet has an imprimatur from 1938 by Canon Collard, Vicar General of the
Diocese of Namur. The text on the Agnus Dei is by Mgr. X. Barbier de Montault, a house prelate of the Pope.

10
From the second half of the 19 de century onwards, a number of old phenomena revived, but in
a new or renewed guise, clearly showing the character of mass production.

- Ostensoria

The numerous theca made in a monastic context can be given a variety of uses. Many theca
are encased in a box with a ring on the back, so that it can be easily shown to the faithful, who
can then touch or kiss it. ILLUSTRATION 9 These are simplified forms of the larger
reliquary theca that were displayed for veneration. In the studios of religious art from the
period of the rich Roman Catholicism, thousands of such ostensoria are produced, mostly to
replace the ostensoria that were struck down for remelting in the period of the French
Revolution.30 They have a neo-Baroque or neo-Gothic appearance and contain a removable
theca with a ring at the back, so that the relic can easily be taken out for veneration.

- The enclosed courtyards

Not infrequently, a large number of theca are kept in shallow cabinets. This is then a whole
collection of relics in a decorative cabinet or frame that can be displayed somewhere in a
religious context - a sacristy, a monastery room. The theca are placed in such a cabinet in a
geometric pattern, with a (full) Agnus Dei, a crucifix or something else in the middle.
Sometimes the theca themselves form a cross. The decorative character is also underlined by
the fact that the theca can assume different sizes. They are usually small boxes with an
average diameter of three to four centimetres, but there are also larger boxes which can
contain several relics. The theca are usually round, often oval, with or without a pearl border,
but there are theca that are more elaborate and have a baroque or rococo shape.

These relic collections function as new 'enclosed courtyards'. An enclosed courtyard (Lat.
hortus conclusus) is a type of retable in which a number of devotional statuettes (crucifixes,
statues of saints, etc.) are set in a lush garden of richly decorated relics, complemented by
other decorative (e.g. paperweights, silk flowers, various fabrics) and devotional objects (e.g.
pilgrims' insignia). The whole thing looks like an enclosed garden, hence the name 'enclosed
courtyard', a reference to the mystical interpretation of the Biblical Song of Songs.31 These

30
P. Georges, Reliques. Se connecter à l'au-delà. Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2013, p. 233-234.
31
A recent study on enclosed courtyards explores various aspects of the phenomenon apart from the fact that
they were gardens for bones growing in them like flowers. Only one author suggests that the relics are the very
reason for the construction of the hofjes. They are elaborate reliquaries. The author does not elaborate on the link
between the courtyard and the relic and limits himself to a description of the relics, without mentioning their

11
cabinets were specially designed as 'display windows' for the numerous relics they contain.
They are relic gardens, in the words of Isaiah: "Thy bones shall be as green as the green," but
there are many other biblical grounds that link relics with vegetation.32

The tradition of the late medieval enclosed courtyards is continued in the Baroque. The
enclosures are usually much smaller, but the materials and symbols often remain the same.
Only the gateway disappears, which means that the direct link with the private courtyard is
lost. But just like the original private courtyards, relics are now the central focus. Thousands
of these (sometimes particularly high-quality) 'private courtyards' have been created in this
way in a monastic context. That is why they are called Klosterarbeiten in German.33

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, 'reliquaries' became popular. These were small and
large cabinets filled with theca. Sometimes they were simply frames filled with relics,
whether or not supplemented by a crucifix, an agnus Dei, statues of saints and other
devotional objects. In the case of retable cases, there is often a space for the authentication
documents. The function is the same as in the closed courtyards: prayer and meditation.
ILLUSTRATION 12

- The spiritual pilgrimage

In the Middle Ages, the notion of the inner or spiritual pilgrimage arose, partly as a monastic
replacement for the real pilgrimage. In the fourteenth century, two types took shape. On the
one hand, there are the 'pilgrimages of human life', the pilgrimage as a way to the City of
God. In Robert Ciboules' (†1458) Livre du chemin de la perfection, Abraham becomes the
type of the spiritual pilgrim on the road to perfection. That road passes in different stages
from novice over advanced to perfection.34 ILLUSTRATION 2

functionality. See K. M. Rudy, 'Relics in the Besloten Hofjes,' in L. Watteeuw and H. Itterbeke, De Besloten
Hofjes van Mechelen. Late-medieval paradise gardens unravelled. Veurne, Hannibal, 2018, p. 170-189.
32
A. Angenendt, Die Gegenwart von Heiligen und Reliquien. Eingeleitet und herausgegeben von Hubertus
Lutterbach. Münster, Aschendorff Verlag, 2010, 163-191. Specifically on enclosed courtyards, pp. 182-183.
33
B. Rothemund, Barocke Klosterarbeiten. Altenried, Buch-Kunstverlag Autenried, 1982. There is even
literature on how to create these monastic works yourself: E. Riedl-Horn, Kostbare Klosterarbeiten. Edle
Kunstgegestände selbst gestalten. Rosenheim, Rosenheimer Verlagshaus, 1998 and I. Schmidt, Klosterarbeiten.
Alte Volkskunst neu entdeckt. Nürnberg, Helmut Seubert Verlag, 1998.
34
A. Solignac, 'Les pèlerinages spirituels,' in Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique. Paris,
Beauchesne, 1984, LXXVIII-LXXIX, 891-893, p. 891-892.

12
On the other hand, there are the 'pilgrimages to the holy places in the spirit' (Lat. peregrinatio
spiritualis). Monks no longer need to leave the monastery to make a pilgrimage to the most
significant places of the 'Holy Land', also because it is a long and dangerous undertaking. One
can also reap the spiritual benefits of such a pilgrimage by making it spiritual. An important
source for this are the Meditationes Vitae Christi of Pseudo-Bonaventura and the Vita Christi
of Ludolphus of Saxony. From the 15de centuries onwards, this tradition is more closely linked
to real pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Because the holy places there are less easy to visit and
pilgrims are often prevented from going there, the real pilgrimage is replaced by visits to local
shrines or by a series of pious practices in which the places are visited spiritually, for example
with the help of images. It is not without reason that devotion to the fourteen stations of the
Way of the Cross emerged in this period.35

Through numerous books, sometimes illustrated, the idea of spiritual pilgrimage was lifted
beyond the Middle Ages and remained popular until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Not infrequently, spiritual pilgrimages were given priority over real pilgrimages by writers on
spirituality because during a pilgrimage things often happened that were not really 'Christian'
and were mocked by various authors (cf. Chaucer, Boccaccio and later Erasmus and Luther).
At the end of the nineteenth century, spiritual pilgrimage was 'democratised' by means of
relics. On a map, numerous relics were placed that referred to holy places. They are often
small stones found at those places. The intention is that they help to meditate on the history of
salvation that is linked to that particular place. Around 1900, a card like this was produced by
Karel (Charles) Van de Vyvere Petyt in Bruges. It bears the name Memento Jerusalem, but in
reality it refers to eighteen different places in the Holy Land: Mount Carmel, Elijah's grotto,
Mount Zion, the birthplace of Mary, the tomb of St Anne, the place of the Visitation, the
birthplace of John the Baptist, Bethlehem, the cave of milk, the manger, Mount Thabor, the
tomb of Lazarus, the Pavement over which Jesus walked, the Mount of Olives, the cave of the
Agony, Mount Calvary, the Holy Sepulcher and the tomb of Mary.

Mass production for private use: (wooden) boxes and prayer cards

Between 1907 and 1909, the Dutch Jesuit custodian of reliquaries, Father Adriaan Geelen,
placed 531 relics ex veste (from the clothing) of Blessed Petrus Canisius in holders. They
were meant for Jesuit homes, but also to be handed out to some parish priests, with the

35
Ibidem, p. 891-892.

13
intention to "make some good catholics happy with them. [...] In this way and only in this way
can our blessed Dutchman become better known among the populace, for he is still very little,
and the veneration for him will also increase. Perhaps we will even see an acceleration of his
canonisation as a result." 36

Reliquary boxes

In addition to theca, tens of thousands of reliquary boxes - usually made of wood or metal
with a twist-off cap - see the light of day. These are cheap containers in which one or more
relics are kept. Their decoration is usually, but not always, simpler than that of the theca.
Sometimes, for instance, there is no fabric backing. However, there is always a cedula. These
reliquary boxes are often even cheaper than the theca themselves, which have been made of
ever cheaper material since the twentieth century.

Relic cards

The democratisation of the relic reached its peak with the phenomenon of relic badges and
medals. Never before have relics been distributed on a larger scale - and more cheaply - than
through prayer cards and medals. Between the death of Therese of Lisieux (1897) and her
canonisation in 1925, more than 17 million (!) relics of her clothing, bed curtains and wood
splinters of utensils from the Carmel of Lisieux were distributed. 37 The last person from
whom so many relics were brought into circulation is Padre Pio.38

Relic cards all look more or less the same. The front usually contains a large portrait (a photo
or painting) of the (candidate) Blessed or Saint, with the name of the depicted person
underneath. Also clearly visible on the front is the relic, although there are prayer cards where
the relic is on the back. ILLUSTRATION 1

The reverse side usually contains a short biography of the person in question and a prayer for
beatification or canonisation. The biography usually mentions that miracles have occurred
through the intercession of the person in question. It also asks that whoever has obtained a
36
Lindeijer, 'Massification of holiness,' p. 11.
37
G. Erret, 'Die heutige Bedeutung und Anziehungskraft des Reliquienkultes,' Eichstätt, 2003:
http://www.pfarrer.at/reliquien_buchenhuell.pdf (accessed 30 June 2019), reproduced by Jan Geisbusch, 'For
your eyes only? The magic touch of relics,' in E. Pye (ed.), The Power of Touch. Handling Objects in Museum
and Heritage Contexts. California, Walnut Creek, 2007, 73-88, p. 74.
38
J. W. Geisbusch, Akward Objects: Relics, the Making of Religious Meaning and the Limits of Control in the
Information Age [Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in
Anthropology]. University College London, 2008, p. 163-164.

14
favour should contact the postulator. The postulator is the person who follows the
beatification or canonisation process in Rome at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
The request to report favours is perhaps the most important purpose of most of the prayer
cards. They are a propaganda tool for the (candidate) blessed or saint to obtain his or her
beatification or canonisation as quickly as possible. 39 The back also almost always contains
the Church's approval for the publication of the prayer card, an imprimatur, a nihil obstat or
the text cum consensu ordinarii, cum consensu superiorum et ordinarii, or with Church
approval.

Almost without exception, the relic is clearly visible at the bottom of the picture; on the left,
the right or in the middle. The relics on reliquary pictures are usually clearly visible. They are
either glued to the image, or are hidden behind a small window (in younger specimens).
ILLUSTRATION 5 As has been the case since the Middle Ages, it is important that the relic
is clearly visible. Apart from exceptions, the nature of the relic is mentioned. Usually it is
brandea. More special specimens contain pieces of the coffin, pieces of a habit, an amict or
linen used by the (candidate) blessed/saint. Older specimens explicitly make the link with the
regular reliquary practice of "securing" relics with a red thread and sealing varnish.
ILLUSTRATION 3

The reliquary's function as a means of propaganda is expressed in another special way,

namely in function of the "pope worship" that started in the 1870s. Before Pope Pius IX
(1846-1878) and the First Vatican Council (1870-1870), the Pope remained a great unknown
to the population. The invention of the telegraph and the inexpensive manufacture and
distribution of printed press allowed the Catholic population worldwide to empathise with the
pope, who had become known as "the prisoner of the Vatican" due to the political
entanglements in what is now Italy. Portraits of the Pope now appear in Catholic living rooms,
are cheaply produced and efficiently distributed. From now on, the Catholic population not
only knows his name, but can also put a face to it. Slowly but surely, a devotion to the pope,
the like of which had never existed before in history, came into being. This 'papolatry' led,
among other things, to the rapid beatification and canonisation of popes in the twentieth
39
Reliquary cards are issued by diocesan or religious institutions. It is striking that dozens of different prayer
cards were published to promote devotion to Herman Weyns, but only two bear a relic. One 'prayer card' is a
photo of Weyns on which a brandeum (?) has been stuck with a bit of tape. The other (also undated) prayer card
was printed by the Friar of Charity in Tessenderlo and contains text by one of their brothers, but no fiat from a
higher ecclesiastical authority. Church authorities apparently use relic pictures for propaganda of their own
congregation or order members.

15
century.40 Completely in line with this veneration is the distribution of relic pictures of the
Popes. These are simple prayer cards, usually without a text or at least with a request for
elevation to the honour of the altars. A picture of Pope Pius X (1903-1914) was produced as
an authentic reliquary with red thread and sealing varnish. Other reliquary pictures depict him
with a halo, whereas he has neither been beatified nor canonised. The millions of prayer cards
with similar texts and powerful images succeed in installing a powerful sense of collective
identity. ILLUSTRATION 6

Relief medals

By incorporating relics into medals, they could be worn on the body, something that was
forbidden by the bishops at the Council of Braga in 675 because such behaviour smacked of
pride.41 However, such provisions have never stopped the individual use of relics by lay
people. From Antiquity, individual use is confirmed by a few archaeological finds. In 814,
Charlemagne was buried with a relic of the Holy Cross around his neck. 42 In the eighteenth
century, the custom became more widespread in the form of travel mementos. In the
nineteenth century, relics were incorporated into crosses worn by religious, which could be
unscrewed. Canon 1288 of the Church Code (1917) again permitted the use. Some orders and
congregations have medals made with branda incorporated in them so that all the faithful are
eligible to wear relics constantly on their bodies. Among the most widespread relic medals are
those for Anthony of Padua. ILLUSTRATION 15 a+b

Conclusion

The title of this contribution may sound pejorative or irreverent, but there is indeed an
evolution to be seen. Numerous technical discoveries in the nineteenth century gave rise to
what later came to be known as mass culture. New production techniques not only enabled the
mass, but also the cheap distribution of numerous cultural products, including devotional
objects: statues of saints, prayer beads, religious prints, etc. Mass production also led to the

40
J. W. O'Malley, Vatican I. The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church. Cambridge (MA) and
London, The Belkamp Press of Harvard University Press, 2018, pp. 240-241.
41
J.-M. Sanchez, Reliques et reliquaires. Jerusalem, Rome, Compostelle et ... la Provence. Méolans-Revel,
Éditions Grégoriennes, 2009, p. 21.
42
More examples in P. Boussel, De reliques et de leur bon usage. Paris, Balland, 1971, p. 202-205.

16
democratisation of many products. Because mass products are much cheaper, they come
within reach of the lower social classes. Relics also came in the wake of mass production and
democratisation. Whereas before the nineteenth century, relics were rather a prerogative of
the church and the nobility, they became common property from the second half of the
nineteenth century onwards.43 The Church even stimulated this by creating masses of them
and making them available through extremely cheap carriers.

The history of relics is a story that begins in the last quarter of the fourth century, when relics
were relatively rare, but much sought after. In antiquity, they were never really visible and
they certainly were not allowed to be distributed. Each particle of the saint was fully charged
with his power (virtus), and one needed this power to be freed from devils, to read the future
in a dream and to be cured of numerous illnesses. 44 From the last quarter of the 19th century,
relics were made accessible and domesticated for a very wide public. Where they used to be
stored in precious ostensoria, they are now kept in simple boxes or stuck to pieces of paper.

TEXTS ACCOMPANYING THE ILLUSTRATIONS

Ill. 1: A fairly early example of a reliquary (eighteenth century): a thread of the habit of St.
Ignatius. (Private coll. author)

Ill. 2: The spiritual pilgrimage. (Private contributor)

Ill. 3: Relief card of the Holy Paterke of Hasselt with the wax seal and the red thread. (Private
coll. author)

Ill. 4: Plaques with flora from holy places in Jerusalem. (Private coll. author)

Ill; 5: A special case of a secondary relic. As an "attachment" to Passerat's prayer card, there
is a piece of his cassock which has been cut up in the form of a cross with a Christ stuck on it.
(Private coll. author)
43
Private use by laymen has been documented since Constantine the Great. Constantine placed the cross nails
that his mother, Helena, is said to have discovered in Jerusalem in his helmet and in the bit of his warhorse to
show that the emperor is a second Christ. P. Raedts, 'Eulogiae. Relics for the common man,' Catharijne.
Magazine of Museum Catharijneconvent 36 (2018/3) 16-17. Ordinary people have been able to dispose of relics
for a long time, but then it concerns, for example, pieces of stone from the so-called Holy Land or twigs and
flowers from the Garden of Olives and so on.
44
The reference work for the oldest relic cult is R. Wiśniewski, The Beginnings of the Cult of Relics. Oxford,
Oxford University Press, 2019.

17
Ill. 6: Picture with a relic of Pope Pius X. The relic has unfortunately disappeared, but the
round wire and the seal of authentication have remained. (Private coll. author)

Ill. 7: An intact Agnus Dei from the early 19th century. (Private coll. author)

Ill. 8: A collage of tertiary relics from c. 1900, including dust from the house of Loreto, sand
from the place of the crucifixion of Peter, pieces from the chapel of Portiuncula, dust from the
tomb of St. Clare, to the brandeum of St. Maria Margaretha Alacoque ... (Private coll. author)

Ill. 9: Relic of Saint Barbara in a ring, displayed for veneration in the former Kruisherenkerk
of Diest.

Ill. 10: All kinds of relics in the simplest of packages. (Private coll. author)

Ill; 11: Material for making thecae from the former Clarisse monastery in Boom.

Ill. 12: Small reliquary filled with thecae. At the bottom, there is space to keep the
authenticity certificates. (Private copy author)

Ill. 13: A cross with relics hidden in it. These crosses were worn by religious people on their
habit. (Private coll. author)

Ill. 14: So-called "shrine pieces" containing fragments of the Agnus Dei. The third example is
a recent one made in the Carmelite convent of Uden. (Private coll. author)

Ill. 15 a+b: Relief medals. (Private coll. author)

18