7 Surprising Secrets about Rare Relics and Reliquaries

1. House reliquaries and St. Maur

You may know the detective story of the discovery of the reliquary of St. Maur and the process of its restoration, you may have even seen it with your own eyes at the chateau in Bečov nad Teplou: a separate tour is dedicated to it, during which you will get to know the Romanesque goldsmith’s relic of incalculable value in every detail. The Reliquary of St. Maurus, discovered in November 1985 under the floor of the chapel in the castle in Bečov nad Teplou, is said to be the second most valuable art object in the Czech Republic after the crown jewels of the Czech kings. The monument was not hidden under the floor of the castle chapel for long: less than fifty years passed between its hiding and its rediscovery. But the story of the relic’s discovery is a combination of detective story, adventure thriller and hard-to-believe coincidences.

The Reliquary of St. Maurus is a perfect example of of tumbum or house reliquarieswhich resemble ancient sarcophagi or sturdy medieval chests. According to historians, this type of reliquary originated in ancient Lorraine, in the Rhine and Maas basin regions between 1150 and 1250. The St. Maurus reliquary is 138.5 cm long, 42 cm wide and 64.5 cm high. One of the largest of its kind is the reliquary of the Three Kings in Colognewhich measures 220 cm in length.

2. Treasure from the medieval vault from Milevsko

New interest in reliquaries was awakened by the year 2020 and the discovery of a relic missing for 600 years in the Milevsky monastery. In the Church of St. Giles, behind a secret passage and a seemingly empty medieval vault, there was another secret cavity where archaeologists discovered the remains of a wooden box, decorated with gold and silver, a gold plate with the letters IR, the Latin abbreviation for Iesus Rex / Jesus the King, and relic in the form of a six-inch-long iron spike with a golden cross inlaid.

Could it be a part of one of the three nails with which Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross? We do not know and perhaps we will never know, but what is certain is that the relic from the monastery in Milevsko was already of great value at the time of its storage. Did the monks hide it in fear of Hussite raids? Maybe so, it was probably the most valuable thing they had. We know that on 23 April 1420 the monastery was raided by the Hussites and we also know that the Hussite troops destroyed most of the valuables that the monks had taken to Příběnice Castle before the conquest of the monastery. However, there is not a single mention of the mysterious box hidden in the secret passages in the Church of St. Jilja.

3. Passion Relics

The age of the wooden reliquary box from Milevsko has been dated by scientists using the radiocarbon method to the fourth to fifth century AD, exactly the time when the search for rare Passion relics, objects associated with the Passion of Jesus Christ. For monasteries, churches, cities and rulers, such objects brought not only enormous social prestige but also profit: thousands of pilgrims travelled to the relics, often staying at the site for long periods of time. Moreover, unlike the royal crown, no one dared to steal or stop the Passion relic, which was shrouded in the ancient story of Christ’s passion.

Immediately after objects that accompanied the life and death of Jesus Christ are especially prized relics associated with the cult of the Virgin Mary. Only after them come the clothes, shoes, mitre rings and crutches of saints, saints and martyrs, including their bodily remains. A separate group then includes contact relics: objects that have come into contact with the relics of saints or martyrs and have themselves become relics.

4. Empress Helena’s Treasure

The whole Christian world has been longing for the relics of the Passion since the fourth century AD, thanks to Empress Helena of Constantinople (255-330). She set out for the Holy Land and, according to the legend told by St. Ambrose, managed to find the tomb of God on 13 September 326 on Golgotha Hill. On her return to Europe, she brought with her, among other things, several parts of the Cross of Christ, thorns from Christ’s crown, and two of the three (according to other versions of the story, four) nails with which the body was nailed to the cross; these relics are still preserved in Basilica of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem in Rome.

Helen’s son, Emperor Constantine the Great, had the spikes cut into several pieces and presented them successively to distinguished guests. One part of such a spike is part of the St. Vitus Treasure in Prague. Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia Charles IV. as the most famous collector of rare holy relics in Czech history, even set a special feast of the spikes of Christ and the spear of Longinus, the spear with which, according to legend, a Roman soldier pierced Jesus’ side. Tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over Europe came to Prague for these festivities, making the city a major pilgrimage site.

In the new treasury of St. Vitus Cathedral and in the depositories of the Metropolitan Chapter at Prague Castle the so-called St. Vitus Treasure, the largest temple treasure in the Czech lands and one of the largest in Europe. Among the hundreds of objects of incalculable historical and artistic value is, for example, a half-metre gold reliquary crosswhich was used at coronations, the cross with the relic of Christ’s loincloth or the reliquary of St. Catherine. A special type of reliquaries are monstrance, bowls, goblets and chalices or boxes with the shape of the retained body part: these are represented in the exhibition by, for example, a gothic reliquary of the arm of St. George from around 1275 or reliquary busts of St. Vitus, Wenceslas and Vojtěch, the main patrons of the cathedral. There are also the so-called veraicons, images of the true face of Christ, venerated as well as relics.

5. Remains of the first disciple in Teplice

In the centre of Teplice on the Castle Square stands Baroque Church of St. John the Baptist. From the lookout tower you can see the city like the palm of your hand, see the collection of paper models of towers and lighthouses and also the infamous room. In it, a drunken watchman fell asleep and failed to warn the inhabitants of the city’s biggest fire, during which much of Teplice was burnt to the ground in 1793. A drunken town bailiff still sleeps in a bed in the room on the tower, and legend has it that whoever touches his thumb will have a wish come true.

In the same square you will also discover the originally Catholic, now Orthodox Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It is a modern pilgrimage site: the relics of the Christian first-martyr St. Clari of Dalmatia, martyred in the 4th century, can be seen here. It is not only a rarity that the relics are complete, but that their history is also well mapped: Pope Urban VIII (pontificate 1623-1644) donated them to the princely bishop John IV. Marcus von Aldringenabbot of the monastery in Seckau, Austria. The bishop was a member of the princely Clary-Aldringen family and was inherited by the family after his death. The coincidence of the names Clari – Clary is only coincidental, however, already at that time Teplice was a spa famous throughout Europe and the relics of the saint, who is considered to be the patron saint of the spa industry and also the patron saint of the sacrament of marriage, were literally a godsend for the city.

The remains arrived in Teplice in traveling reliquary, in which they were placed on ruby velvet cushions; they still rest on them today, but protected by a glass coffin. Only remnants of the original reliquary and its decoration survive; the two original plaques are placed in a disused Baroque reliquary to the left of the entrance to the chapel containing the relics.

6. Relics from Broumov Monastery

V Church of St. Vojtěch in the Broumov monastery is located about ten reliquaries. The rarest among them is a box containing the relics of St. Procopius, the founder of the Sázava Monastery. Indirectly, a unique copy of the Shroud of Turin from 1651, found in 1999 in the monastery church of St. Vojtech behind a gilded stucco wreath in a wooden box, could also be included among the relics. The imprint of a male figure is visible on the linen cloth, in which the body of Jesus Christ was wrapped shortly after being taken down from the cross. The name of the shroud is derived from the Italian city of Turin, where this relic has been kept since 1578. The Broumov shroud is almost identical in size to the original (length 4.36 m, width 1.1 m) and can be seen during a normal visit to the monastery.

7. Holy Crown of Thorns

According to another rare Passion relic, the thorn from Christ’s crown, was named the South Bohemian monastery of the Holy Crown of Thorns / Sancta Corona Spinea. Its founder, King Přemysl Otakar II. allegedly obtained the thorn from King Louis IX of France. Saint. Originally, the thorn may have been stored in a two-storey chapel of Sainte Chapelle, a jewel of high Gothic architecture and part of the royal palace of Paris. The chapel, which housed the crown of thorns and other precious relics such as a fragment of the cross of Christ or the skull of John the Baptist, is in the form of a reliquary. Looted during the Great French Revolution, the reliquaries that were saved found a new home in Notre Dame Cathedral.

The Holy Crown of Thorns changed its name to the present-day Golden Crown in the early 14th century, but the thorn, presumably stored in a crystal box in the Chapel of the Guardian Angels, disappeared forever during the Hussite storms.

History of the veneration of relics

The history associated with the veneration of relics began to unfold around the second half of the 2nd century AD at the graves of Christian Martyrs especially in the Roman catacombs. Christians were persecuted and visiting these burial sites was even considered an offence against the state. When Christianity became a recognized religion, a new custom was added to the commemorative visits and masses at graves in the 5th centurythe placing of small remains in various boxes. Simple linen bags were soon replaced by wooden boxes, altar boards, crosses, monstrances, models of monasteries or churches or sumptuous tombs.

The most important period for the veneration of relics and the creation of reliquaries was the Middle Ages. Magnificent reliquaries were part of the decoration of rich churches, royal and princely chapels. They were made from a variety of materials, from wood to precious textiles to precious metals, and decorated with precious stones and scenes from the lives of saints. Gems had a hidden meaning: angelic beings and unearthly powers could use them to penetrate from their immaterial, spiritual world to ordinary mortals. At the same time, people believed that the light coming through the gemstones multiplied the power emanating from of the relics in the reliquary.. Adoration, worship or touching the reliquaries was supposed to bring blessings or special grace, help or healing to the faithful in conjunction with prayer.