Must there be Saints’ Relics in an Altar?

by Michael Shackleton · November 8, 2022

(Photo: Juan Plancarte/Cathopic)

By Michael Shackleton –

Question: Do altars contain relics of saints? How does a parish get these relics? And which saints do they use?

Answer: In this 21st century, not all altars contain relics of saints, but in the past they did. Rather, they contained the relic of at least one martyr and one other saint.

The close association between the death of Christ and the death of martyrs for his sake was meaningfully expressed when Mass would be celebrated in the catacombs of Rome. Here Christians hid from their persecutors and shared space with the martyrs’ tombs, which served as altars for the liturgy. From that time on, the Church began to put martyrs’ remains into church altars, and that eventually became the norm.

Altars such as those in most parish churches were made of stone, unmoveable and fixed to the floor. The local bishop would consecrate them for liturgical use only. At the same time he would ensure that the prescribed relics were firmly housed in position.

That was the usual practice until the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), after which the Church began to stress that the Mass is not only the Eucharistic sacrifice but also the Eucharistic meal. This shift is evident in the rite before Communion. The priest shows us the sacred host as the sacrificed Lamb of God who not only takes away the sins of the world but also calls us to his supper. Facing the people across the altar, the priest draws our attention to the altar as the table at which we share the Bread of Life.

The value of having sacred relics in an unmoveable altar has not been abandoned but today both canon law and the Rite of Dedication of an Altar make the placing of relics an option rather than an obligation.

Altar relics are obtained from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which authenticates them as genuine. The relics may be of any particular saint or martyr, but it is always fitting that they are, if possible, of the saint to which the place of worship is dedicated.