The Veneration of Saints and Relics

The Martyrs of England and Wales

In every saint there is an excellence of grace, which indicates the presence of Christ, and for that reason we honor them. In the relics of any saint, we can expect to see at the end of time the light of a glorified body. The reason for a special debt of honor we owe the martyrs is clear. They made Christ manifest in the world by imitating Him in His highest action, His Passion and Death, to the extent of bearing witness to the truth by shedding their blood. Certainly, if we are confessing the same faith as the Apostles, we owe it in part to the martyrs.

However, by the words, gestures and signs, many of which have been absorbed into the Church’s official worship, the faithful not only honor the martyr and ask for his intercession, but they also reaffirm that they share in the same reality with the martyr, that they are members of the same communion of Saints. This can be said of any saint, but the martyrs are the first born sons of our Holy Mother Church, elder brothers therefore, who deserve a special degree of reverence.

From an article by Fr.Hufford