Relics

Relics Relics: What was their influence, why were they so sought after and what means did people go through to get them' The need and strong competition for relics began in the beginning of the 5th century as a direct result of Canon in 401 A.D. The Carolingians made it necessary for all altars to have relics inside of them when it re-invoked and reinforced the Item Placuit of the Fifth council of Carthage. Relics would range from the ashes of a saint to their bones, or even something that belonged to them. Due to the sudden need for relics many churches went about illegal ways to obtain them. The methods they used included hiring thieves to steal them, sending monks to help steal them from other churches or even buying them from traveling merchants who had already stolen them. Churches were in demand of a small number or relics. This caused them to resort to such means as paying a person to steal a relic from another church. The most interesting thing I found out about this time period was that rivalries would develop between monasteries and churches for the acquisition of relics. In relics, saint, church, relic, churches, steal, conques, story, monks, body, one, saints, people, often, another, acquisition, set, money, holy, go, after, take, rome, popular, parishioners, order, off, new, need, monastery, merchants, however, even, desire, became