Written by  Fr. Dennis O'Neill

​Our Shrine of All Saints is home to the relics of about 3000 saints. When you  consider that the Church has gone through centuries or persecution, iconoclasm, wars, revolutions, and "reformations", the fact that many of these relics even survived to the present is rather amazing. Consider just a few examples. 

ICONOCLASM 
​For over 125 years, the Christian Emperors in Constantinople, mainly for political reasons, destroyed every religious image they could - including every image of the Dormition of the Virgin. Iconoclasm ended in 848. The one known exception is our bronze disk made in   Jerusalem between 400 and 450 - a souvenir a pilgrim would have purchased during a visit to the Shrine of the Dormition. It was excavated in Madaba, Jordan, in 2002.  ​

Dormition of the Virgin

THE REFORMATION 
A serious component of the 6th century Protestant Reformation was the destruction of innumerable images and relics throughout many countries in Europe. An illustration and an article from a chronicle of the period shows the looting and burning of images from the churches in Basel, Switzerland, at the beginning of Lent in 1529. You can see one of the reformers throwing images of the Virgin, St. Ulrich of Augsburg, St. Barbara, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and a Pope into a bonfire. In England, King Henry VIII closed and looted all the monasteries and convents and dismantled all of the great shrines of the saints in English cathedrals - often scattering their remains. The relics we have of English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh saints in our shrine were already safely in Europe before the time of Henry VIII. 

An illustration and an article from a chronicle of the period shows the looting and burning of images from the churches in Basel, Switzerland, at the beginning of Lent in 1529.

REVOLUTIONS
One of the components of the French  Revolution (1789-1795) was the looting and closing or destroying of churches throughout France and what is now Belgium. Many of our relics were saved by pious Catholics who bravely slipped into the churches and removed the bones from their reliquaries, hiding them in their homes until safer times. The reliquaries themselves were all stolen and melted down for the gold, silver, and jewels. After they resurfaced, the bones eventually reached the Archbishop of Lyon. Since Lyon is the oldest diocese in France, the archbishop is considered the Primate of France. It would have been his responsibility to recertify the rescued relics for their replacement in various churches. Until such a time as they were to be recertified, he placed all the relics in the care of the Poor Clare Sisters of Lyon. Many of our relics come from the Poor Clare stock of not-yet-recertified relics. But our relics of St. Colette and St. John Francis Regis came to us wrapped in letters written and signed in 1806 and 1818 by the very people who saved the relics. One of our reliquaries actually went through the Revolution. It is an arm-shaped wooden reliquary, carved in the 16h century, which was in St. Sulpice Church in Paris when it was looted. If the reliquary had been made of gold or silver, it would have been melted down. Since it was wooden, the looter settled for stripping off the silver or golden frame from  around the window housing bones of St. Sulpice. Then the wooden arm was tossed away, leaving it with a couple of finger tips broken, but the bones of the saintly bishop are still in the reliquary! We also have a newspaper photo of "Worshippers expelled from the church of St. Sulpice by the mob" in the revolution of 1848. 

Worshipers expelled from the church of St. Sulpice by the mob.

Bones of St. Sulpice

WARS
In the worst case of "friendly fire" during World War II, on March 3, 1945,  Britain's RAF intended to bomb the main central park in The Hague, because Nazis were using is as a rocketlaunching site. They missed the park and bombed the adjoining neighborhood, killing 550 civilians  and destroying most of the buildings - including the Martyrs of Gorkum church. While the church was hit and people taking refuge in it died, our two panels of St. Augustine and of St. Monica survived. They are now on the doors to our Eucharistic Chapel. During that same week, the Allies also bombed the Cathedral of Rouen and St. Maclou Church, across the street from it. One of the items destroyed was a large reliquary containing a bone of St. Lambert, Bishop of Liege and Martyr. While the reliquary was destroyed, the relic itself, the red wax seal, and a silver name tag survived. You may view them in the 20th century reliquary of St. Lambert on a pedestal behind our choir screen.

St. Augustine door from the Martyrs of Gorkum church, The Hauge, Netherlands

St. Monica door from the Martyrs of Gorkum church, The Hauge, Netherlands

St. Lambert, Bishop of Liege and Martyr

St. Lambert, Bishop of Liege and Martyr

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