The meaning of the cult of relics in the Catholic tradition

This article by Benedictine theologian Patrick Prétot examines the meaning of the cult of relics in the Catholic tradition through an anthropological, historical, and theological approach. The study is structured in two parts: it first establishes the universal anthropological foundations of this cult, present in many religious traditions, before clarifying its specifically Catholic significance. The central idea is that the cult of relics expresses a fundamental human aspiration to salvation, taken up and transformed by the paschal mystery of Christ. The relics of martyrs and saints thus constitute mediations of the salvific power of Christ, not objects of autonomous power. On the theological level, the article offers a rereading of the Catholic magisterium — from Trent to Vatican II — which connects this cult to faith in the resurrection, to the communion of saints, and to the living Tradition of the Church, while also proposing criteria for discernment in the face of historical excesses.