On Mon, 4 Nov 1996, Stephen A. Allen wrote:
> On more general legal points: the practice of using relics to dedicate a
> church appears to have begun in Late Antiquity, and it appears to have been
> considered the norm, even legally mandated, though the Middle Ages (and also
> unto today). The relics were central to the holiness of the church: altars
> without relics were supposed to be destroyed, and if a bishop wished to
> close a church for whatever reason (interdiction, settling a property
> dispute), several canons instruct him to remove the relics from the altar
> before locking and sealing the doors. For further information, I would
> heartily recommend the excellent study by Nicole Hermann-Mascard,
> _Les_reliques_des_saints:_formation_coutumiere_d'un_
> _droit_ (Paris: Klincksiek, 1975).
>
> Hope this all is helpful.
>
> Stephen A. Allen
> The Medieval Institute
> University of Notre Dame
> Notre Dame, IN 46556
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
The requirement that church altars have relics was first contained in the
Fifth Council of Carthage (401) and was often repeated during Carolingian
times (indicating, perhaps, that the rule was more breached than honored).
Relic processions played an important role in various (particularly
penitential) liturgies-- i.e. at church synods. In any case, I wd
supplement Hermann-Mascard's excellent study w/G.J.C. Snoek's Medieval
Piety from Relics to the Eucharist: A Process of Mutual Interaction
(Leiden, 1995).
MFH
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