“What Is Bred In The Bone Will Out In The Flesh”

Ex Ossibus
Father M.

Toward the end of my freshman year of high school I was summoned for some now long-forgotten infraction to the office of the Academic Vice-Principal, a certain Sister Margaret Mary, IHM. What ever chastising, snorting and venting she was doing fell on deaf ears after my eyes alighted upon four little, round filigreed containers on her desk. I could only read the small label of the one closest to me, “St. Margaret Mary, Ex. Oss.” After she finished her harangue she looked at me over the top of her glasses and told me I was free to go. “Sister, what are these?” I asked, pointing to the relics on my way out the door. “Those?” she replied incredulously, “those are first-class relics of saints.” As she did not elaborate, and I recalled that curiosity had been the death of more than one cat, I thanked her and took off down the hallway. Later, a saintly old Jesuit priest, my guidance counselor, filled me in on the meaning and significance of relics and their use in Catholic devotion since the times of the catacombs. It would be years before I would see another relic but the idea of seeing pieces of the bones of saints, or in Latin, “ex ossibus,” fascinated me.

Within the walls of the Portuguese Castle of Ourem, a handful of kilometers from Fatima, there is a small chapel of recent vintage built on the site of a former Carmelite convent, which, unbeknownst to most passers-by, holds the greatest treasures of Christendom: Many relics of the saints who inspired us, the popes who led us and the martyrs who died for us. I have had the opportunity to not only visit, but say Mass on the sacred altar of the museum’s chapel using the chalice of Saint John Vianney and the vestments of Pope Benedict XV. The Relic Museum, open by appointment, charging no admission and possessing no website, is a unique repository of the sacred. The relics, or bits of bone (ex ossibus or first-class) or bits of clothing (ex indiumentam or second-class) are displayed in beautiful cases and reliquaries and occasionally displayed in groupings, such as, relics of all the pope-saints (an ever-growing collection with the recent status of Blessed John XXIII and Servants of God Pius XII and John Paul II!) or Jesuit saints (um, acquisitions have slowed a bit owing to a lack of new ‘inductees’) Here the bones mingle with the rosary of St. Bernadette, the scapular of Sr. Lucy, the visionary of Fatima, the delicate artwork of The Little Flower and all manner of Catholic ephemera culled from the lives of the saints. The most precious, of course, are the bones, these hallowed reminders that, as an English proverb states, “What is bred in the bone will out in the flesh” as we contemplate our own mortal bodies and immortal souls. These bits and pieces of others’ sanctity may be gruesome to some and precious to others but they are, ultimately, a reminder of the possibility for holiness which exists within each one of us, even Sister Mary Margaret.

Comments

[Mr. Peperium]

Or, to misuse one of Cardinal Newman's best one-liners: "To be deep into history is to cease being Protestant". I've spent years visiting battlefields, drawing inspiration and courage from the unit markers along the farm lanes and wood lots of Antietam and Shiloh, or gazing on the uniforms and accoutrements displayed behind glass in museums. So when it came time to make a decision between the Church of England in America and The Church Universal, the latter's veneration of relics, of the greatness in it's own past as a doorway to it's future greatness, made perfect sense. Basically, the same thing I was after at the battlefields and museums, but in pursuit of a much greater goal.

[mario mandingo]

Father M.

You wrote this beautifully!

mario

[Fr. M.]

Thank you very much, Mario!

[Christine]

How blessed that you've been able to visit Fatima, and what a lovely description you give of this little chapel. I hope one day to make a pilgrimage there myself.

[miriam's ideas]

Thank you for elucidating this so clearly. You have added to my store of knowledge.

[Athos]

Thank you, Father M, for an interesting and delightful post that is helpful for this convert's understanding of relics.