Relics in the Shrine of All Saints at St. Martha of Bethany Church in Morton Grove, Illinois

About the Book

A relic can be anything from the past that has survived to the present. In some branches of the Christian Church, relics are more specifically either the bodily remains of the saints or their clothing, items they used, things they touched or which were touched to their remains, or things associated with the life of Christ or of his blessed mother. Throughout history, many people have venerated holy relics because the saints’ bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit, through which each of them, in their own individual ways, channeled the presence of Christ to their contemporaries. In the early Christian era and in the Middle Ages, people believed that the aura and the energy of the saints continued to exude from their remains, even after their deaths. Just as people who knew the saints personally during their lifetimes often experienced them as radiating Christ’s presence through the many ways they were a blessing to others, so honoring their remains and their images were considered valid ways of honoring them and of imploring their assistance.

About the Author

Dennis O’Neill was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1947. He received his education in the seminary system of the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and was ordained a priest in 1973. He graduated with a Bachelors Degree in English Literature from Loyola Universtiy in 1969 and a Masters of Divinity from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois, in 1973. In 1974, he received an S.T.B and an S.T.L. from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary. Since ordination, he has served in four parishes in Chicago and is currently pastor of St. Martha Parish, in Morton Grove, Illinois. He is author of Lazarus Interlude: A Story of God’s Love in a Moment of Ministry (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1982). And he has written either the introductions of the texts for several books published by British Celtic Artist, Courtney Davis: the Introduction to Celtic Illumination: the Irish School New York: Thames & Hudson, 1998); co-authored St. Patrick: A Visual Celebration (London: Blandford, 1999); and Celtic Beasts (London: Blandford, 1999), authored 101 Celtic Crosses (Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles, 2004), and Passionate Holiness (Trafford Publishing in 2005 and Second Edition in 2010).