On the front page of a recent Providence Journal was a reminder of one of the many reasons I am a “recovering” Catholic.
The front-page photo features people giving public veneration to the skull of St. Thomas Aquinas, who lived from 1224 to 1274 AD. It is one of two touring skulls that may have belonged to the Roman Catholic theologian. For Providence College the opportunity to display the skull is considered an honor and a very big deal.
Death is something we all experience. We will lose people in our lives. We will experience our own mortality.
How we memorialize the people who have died takes many forms. There are graveyards and tombstones, mummies from Egypt, tsantas (shrunken heads) from South America, and pieces of saints and martyrs. Some of these practices we call barbaric, some we call pagan, some we call primitive, and others religious or sacred.
When we go to a museum and see human remains on display, they are presented as artifacts a source of scientific and culture information. Many Museums are dealing with the ethical questions of human remains in their collections. Plus, Society usually frowns upon someone keeping human remains in their home.
However, in the Roman Catholic church human remains are sent on tour for the faithful to view and celebrate. What makes this sacred and not barbaric?
St. Thomas Aquinas was not beheaded. His head was removed over a century after he died. I remember Fr. Haller (head of the Providence College Music Department when I was a student) telling me about St Francis Xavier’s toe being bitten off by a pilgrim when St. Francis’s body was displayed for public veneration. I never thought dismemberment of someone was a sign of celebration or reverence.
Veneration is defined as the honor and reverence appropriately due to the excellence of a person. But I have never read any mention of relics and their public veneration in the New Testament. Historically the practices surrounding relics grew around 150 AD and has been kept and expanded. Veneration is supposed to be a symbol of hope and a reminder of the resurrection to come.
We all seek symbols to inspire, to give guidance, to give solace and to give hope.
I know the bones from saints and martyrs that are venerated are thought to be more than human remains. But those are symbols from the grave.
We need symbols for personal action. We need to emulate inclusion, acceptance, and the great commandment of loving our neighbor as ourselves.
The veneration of old bones doesn’t get us there.