RE: JUDE C. OKORO’S REFUTATION OF FR. OLUOMA’S DEFENCE OF CATHOLIC VENERATION OF RELICS OF SAINTS

Fr. Dr. Okhueleigbe Osemhantie Amos

1.In recent days, images of the veneration of the remains of St Agatha. have circulated widely on the Internet, provoking questions about what some perceive as idolatry and, especially in an African cultural context, what may appear uncomfortably close to fetishism. The sight of a human skull in the hands of a bishop can understandably be disturbing to someone unfamiliar with the Catholic theology of relics. Fr. Oluoma attempted to explain the practice within Catholic faith and devotion. Mr. Jude C. Okoro, unconvinced, offered a thoughtful refutation.

2. I welcome the seriousness of the objection. Catholic apologetics should not defend every popular devotional excess, nor should Catholics become incapable of distinguishing authentic doctrine from superstition. But if the question is whether the Catholic veneration of relics is intrinsically idolatrous or biblically indefensible, then the objection must be tested against the whole of Scripture, the sacred tradition and the actual teaching of the Catholic Church, rather than against an isolated text or an assumed rule that Scripture itself never establishes.
3. Mr. Jude, your starting point is partly correct: a miracle does not create doctrine. Catholics do not believe that because something miraculous happened, a new article of faith has thereby been established. But the argument becomes problematic when it appears to assume a further principle: whatever is not explicitly authorised in Scripture must be rejected as illegitimate Christian practice. Where, precisely, does Scripture establish that rule? Scripture itself commands Christians to hold fast not only to what was written but also to what was handed on orally (2 Thessalonians 2:15; 2 Timothy 2:2). The New Testament itself emerged within that apostolic Church.
4. Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture come from the same divine source and together constitute the one sacred deposit of the word of God entrusted to the Church, while the authentic interpretation of that deposit belongs to the Church’s living Magisterium (Dei Verbum 9–10). This does not place Tradition above Scripture. Scripture does not contain an inspired table of contents, nor does the word Trinity appear in Scripture. Yet Christians rightly confess the Trinity because the doctrine expresses the coherent teaching of Scripture received within apostolic faith.

5.The argument concerning relics cannot be separated from the doctrine of the saints. Catholic Church does not believe that saints become gods after death, nor does she teach that Christians should worship them. The entire doctrine rests on a fundamental Christian conviction: death does not sever the members of Christ from Christ or from one another (Luke 20:38; Romans 8:38–39; Hebrews 12:22–23). Revelation 5:8 and 8:3–4 show elders and angels presenting the prayers of the saints before God, proving that the redeemed in heaven do not cease all concern for the Church on earth.

6. Scripture affirms that there is “one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Catholic doctrine does not add another redeemer beside Jesus Christ. However, “one mediator” does not eliminate subordinate intercession, as Paul commands Christians to offer prayers and intercessions for others (1 Timothy 2:1). Asking a saint to pray participates in Christ’s one mediation without replacing Him (Lumen Gentium 49–50; CCC 2683).

7.Regarding the physical remains, 2 Kings 13:21 shows a dead man restored to life upon touching Elisha’s bones. Catholic argument is simply that God chose to work through the physical remains of His prophet. Similarly, God worked extraordinary miracles through handkerchiefs and aprons that touched Paul (Acts 19:11–12), and a woman was healed touching the fringe of Christ’s garment (Matthew 9:20–22). Material objects associated with God’s servants become instruments through which God chooses to act.

8. Through the Incarnation, “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14), Christianity establishes that matter is not spiritually irrelevant. Water is used in Baptism, oil in anointing, and bread and wine in the Eucharist. The physical body itself is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). The question is whether the material thing is being treated as God, or whether it is being honoured because of its relationship to God’s work and servant.

9.The bronze serpent demonstrates this distinction. God commanded Moses to make it (Numbers 21:8–9), but King Hezekiah destroyed it when Israel turned it into an object of idolatrous devotion (2 Kings 18:4). This proves that a legitimate sacred object can be abused, not that every sacred object is idolatrous. The proper response to abuse is purification and correct doctrine, not necessarily abolition.

10. Scripture prohibits making images as idols (Exodus 20:4–5), but does not prohibit all religious representation, as God commanded cherubim for the Ark (Exodus 25:18–20) and artistic representations in the Temple (1 Kings 6:29). Drawing on the Second Council of Nicaea, the Church teaches that the honour rendered to an image passes to its prototype (CCC 2131–2132). Relics and images point beyond themselves.

11.The Church distinguishes latria (the adoration owed to God alone) from dulia (the honour given to saints due to God’s grace in them). St. Paul instructs Christians to “give honour to whom honour is due” (Romans 13:7). Canon Law regulates public veneration (Canons 1186–1188) and expressly prohibits the sale of sacred relics (Canon 1190) to prevent magic and superstition from corrupting Christian devotion.

12.The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy explains that relics principally include the bodies or notable parts of the bodies of saints, or objects touched by them. The Church venerates relics because the person belonged to Christ and was/is a temple of the Holy Spirit. A relic points backward to the saint’s earthly witness and forward to the resurrection of the body.

13. While the sight of a skull can trigger associations with African traditional practices, resemblance in outward appearance does not establish identity in theological meaning. A Catholic does not view a bone as containing an appeasable spirit, as a deity, or as a mechanical source of miracles. The Catholic honours what God accomplished in the person and asks for their intercession within the communion of saints.

14.The Church explicitly warns against devotional excesses and condemns superstition (CCC 1674–1676, 2110–2111). If a person treats a relic as possessing autonomous power or treats a saint as a god, that person is violating Catholic teaching, not demonstrating it.

The public display of the relic, which widely circulated online, took place during a solemn historical commemoration: the 900th anniversary of the return of the saint’s relics (1126–2026) after they had been carried away centuries after her death. Saint Agatha, a young virgin martyred in Rome around A.D. 304 during the Diocletianic Persecution, offered her life rather than renounce her faith or her vow of chastity. The retention and return of these sacred remains, kept preserved across centuries, serve as a living historical link to the early Church’s era of martyrs, honoring the exact homecoming of a heroic witness of the faith

The veneration of her incorruptible remains, specifically her skull, which is preserved in Rome as a distinct primary relic, is justified within Catholic theology as a celebration of God’s grace over bodily mortality. Rather than worshiping the physical bone itself, the Church honors the temple of the Holy Spirit that bore heroic witness to Christ, looking forward to the ultimate promise of the bodily resurrection. Celebrating nine centuries of the relic’s preservation and return reinforces the communion of saints, drawing the faithful away from superstition or idolization and redirecting their gaze to the triumph of Christ in the life of His martyr.

Thanks for reading

Fr. Dr. Okhueleigbe Osemhantie Ãmos, is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Uromi and a Lecturer at CIWA, Port Harcourt, Nigeria