Eastern Montana has many relics- one official in the Catholic bishop's office estimates the number at well over 100. Some are in altar stones in Catholic churches or in the antimension in Orthodox churches. Many others are in private collections.

Some relics are well-documented, complete with certificates of authentication from the Vatican. Most in altar stones are anonymous.

But the story of the relics - who they were, how they got here and what they mean to the people who have them - spans not only Montana's history, but the 2,000 years of Christianity itself.

In the first several centuries of Christianity, believers had to celebrate Mass in Rome's catacombs to escape persecution. They said the liturgy over the sarcophagi of Christian martyrs.

"Mass was frequently served on a portable altar on the tomb of a martyr," said Father Charles Robinson of St. Dennis Parish in Crow Agency. "That's why an altar is oblong, like a casket."

From that early practicality stemmed the practice of saying Mass over the bones of saints or martyrs.

"Peter and Paul were martyred, so they shed their blood for their faith just as Jesus did," said Father John Houlihan of St. Patrick's Co-Cathedral, 215 N. 31st St., in Billings. "The Mass is the celebration of the death and resurrection of the Lord, so you can see how everything was associated.

"I think that's where that custom started."

As the threat of persecution waned, the need for portable altars diminished, and churches and altars were built over the catacombs. Because not all churches could be built over the catacombs, relics were brought to the altars.

In Orthodox churches, that took the form of the antimension, a cloth about 2 feet square that is placed over the altar before the Divine Liturgy. The intricately patterned cloth contains a small relic sewn in a patch on the back.

"It gives you the authority to say the Divine Liturgy," O'Brien said. "A priest without one lacks the authority to serve the liturgy."

The antimension is portable, O'Brien said, so the priest isn't tied to the church building. O'Brien said he doesn't know whose relic is in the antimension at St. Nicholas.

In Roman Catholic churches, the practice took the form of altar stones. These small pieces of marble are roughly 1 foot square and about an inch thick.

A hole is drilled into the marble, into which is placed a relic, usually of an early Christian martyr. The hole is filled with plaster, and the stone is placed either in the base or in the top, or mensa, of the altar.

How they got here There are two classes of relics. First-class relics are pieces of bone or ash from a saint or martyr. Second-class relics are items that came in contact with the saint. Altar stones contain first-class relics.

Father Jay Peterson, the vicar general of the Diocese of Great Falls/Billings in Great Falls, said any priest wanting an altar stone could get one through the diocese.

The diocese would contact the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See - basically the ambassador from the Vatican - in Washington D.C. That office would contact the Office of Relics in the Vatican in Rome, which would prepare the altar stone and send it to Montana.

"They probably would just ship it," Peterson said. "The Apostolic Nunciature would facilitate the actual transfer of the relic."

No special precautions would be taken to make sure the relic arrives "because they don't charge anything for them," he said.

There is no accounting for the relics. Peterson said the diocese has no idea which churches have relics and from whom the relics come.

The nunciature in Washington, D.C., doesn't keep track of the relics that it ships. Several phone calls and faxes from The Billings Gazette to the Office of Relics in the Vatican have not been fruitful.

When Popes John XXIII and Paul VI began the reforms of Vatican II in the 1960s, the emphasis on altar stones was diminished. While many churches in Eastern Montana contain altar stones, many others do not.

"Having a relic is no longer essential," Houlihan said. "The new altar at St. Pat's doesn't have one."

A survey of Catholic churches in Eastern Montana revealed that, along with the altar at St. Patrick's Co-Cathedral, the altars at St. Bernard's and St. Pius X in Billings do not have altar stones.

However, Houlihan at St. Patrick's did find relics of Pius X and St. John Vianney, and Father David Reichling at St. Bernard's said his church has a relic from St. Anthony.

St. Joseph's in Big Timber has an altar stone dating from "probably 1910, when the church was established," said pastoral minister Tom Schleder. "I don't know who's in there."

"The only relics we have are in the altar stones," said Sister Mary Lou Mendel, who oversees Sacred Heart in Bridger, St. Joseph's in Fromberg and St. John's in Joliet. "I don't know who the relics are from."

Father Charlie Gorman at St. Mary's in Columbus said that church and St. Michael's in Absarokee have altar stones, and Fathers Fabian Fehring of St. Joseph's in Hardin and Jim Antoine at Our Lady of Loretto in Lodge Grass said their churches have altar stones.

While relics today are authenticated, in Christianity's 2,000 year history, that was not always the case.

"There was a time when there was a real misuse," Peterson said. "People were selling all kinds of relics whether they were real or not. But the authentication is now done all through the pope's office in Rome."

Robinson in Crow Agency elaborated: "Relics are never sold. The buying and selling of relics is a sin called simony."

But that doesn't stop the appearance of relics on ebay. A recent visit to www.ebay.com showed several reliquaries for sale, including one with 10 first-class relics for $699.

"They get around it by selling the metal disk around the relic and say the relic comes for free," Robinson said. "I'm sure the church officials are horrified."

What relics do Relics "are objects of devotion and prayers for healing," Peterson said. "You would turn to them for any kind of intercessory prayer."

Houlihan makes the distinction between central beliefs and peripheral beliefs.

"There's the central mysteries of our faith - The Bible, Mass, the sacrament, the creed, the Commandments, the Church - then there's room for a lot of personal devotion that may not appeal to other people," he said. "The business of relics is one of those.

"Since relics are not of the essence of the faith, a person like myself wouldn't propose them to people learning about the Catholic faith ....

"It's like visions or lighting candles. These are not essential to the faith, but they appeal a lot to some people. It's kind of like having a flag that has flown over the U.S. Capitol. I'm not opposed to having a flag that was flown over the Capitol if Conrad Burns wants to give me one, but it's not essential to my appreciation of being in America."

Some say miracles have been associated with relics. In the Bible, Mark tells of a woman being healed by touching Jesus' garment, and the Book of Acts tells of people touching handkerchiefs and aprons to Paul's body and using them to heal the sick.

"It goes on today," Houlihan said. "I've read that, in the last 10 years, people have been cured by praying to Padre Pio (an Italian stigmatist who died in 1968, was beatified by Pope John Paul in 1999 and will be canonized this summer).

"He and Mother Teresa and others - people have been cured by praying to saintly people. These are not minor illnesses. These are major things."

"It's something our Western minds have a hard time with," O'Brien said. "These are people who are constantly in the presence of God, so we ask them to remember us."

At St. Nicholas', O'Brien shows an icon depicting 10 of the Orthodox saints from North America.

"Notice how the beards and clothing are different on each, but the faces are identical?" he asked. "That's because it doesn't matter what they looked like. It's their life and how they lived their lives that's important."

O'Brien tells a story associated with his church's namesake, St. Nicholas of South Canaan, Pa., and bishop of Zica, Serbia.

Nicholas spent time in Dachau during World War II. Later, he lived in Paris, then taught in Tennessee and New York and eventually became rector of a seminary in South Canaan.

He rarely spoke of his experiences in Dachau, and one day an acquaintance asked if the suffering Nicholas endured at the camp destroys spiritual life.

"He said that you'd sit in a corner and hope for death," O'Brien said. "He said there was a period when he would pray for death, and the Lord would grant it to him. He would leave his body and ascend to God, which is something you cannot endure, and he would say 'Lord, I am not ready,' and he would return to his body.

"He said he would sit there hours upon end wishing for death and re-ascend and then again say. 'I am not ready.'

"The acquaintance expressed how horrible this must have been, and Nicholas looked at the woman and said, 'I would trade the rest of my life for one more hour in Dachau.' The woman said, 'I knew then I was in the presence of a man who had seen the face of God.'

"He was a man who was full of the Gospel kind of love, the love of Christ, and that's what set him apart."

While the Billings church doesn't have a relic of St. Nicholas, O'Brien said the bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church in America said he would have a relic of St. Nicholas sent from Serbia to the church in Billings.

Saints like Nicholas of South Canaan "are constantly in the presence of God, so we ask them to remember us," O'Brien said. "To have a piece of that saint with us further cements the connection."
 

By JOHN FITZGERALD Of The Gazette Staff

John Fitzgerald can be reached at 657-1392 or at jfitzgerald@billingsgazette.com.

 

Published on Sunday, March 24, 2002.