to
Petershausen Abbey, Germany In the early church, the disturbance, let alone the division, of the remains of martyrs and other saints, was not of concern or interest, much less practised. It was assumed that they would remain permanently in their often-unidentified resting places in cemeteries and the
catacombs of Rome (but always outside the walls of the city, continuing a pagan taboo). Then,
martyriums began to be built over the site of the burial of saints. It came to be considered beneficial to the soul to be buried close to saintly remains, and as such, several large "funerary halls" were built over the sites of martyr's graves, the primary example being the
Old Saint Peter's Basilica. The earliest recorded removal of saintly remains was that of
Saint Babylas at
Antioch in 354. Perhaps partly because Constantinople lacked the many saintly graves of Rome, translations soon became common in the Eastern Empire, even though it was still prohibited in the West. The Eastern capital was able to acquire the remains of Saints
Timothy,
Andrew and
Luke. The division of bodies also began; the 5th-century theologian
Theodoretus declaring that "Grace remains entire with every part". An altar slab dated 357, found in North Africa but now in the
Louvre, records the deposit beneath it of relics from several prominent saints. Non-anatomical relics, above all that of the
True Cross, were divided and widely distributed from the 4th century. In the West a decree of
Theodosius I only allowed the moving of a whole
sarcophagus with its contents, but the upheavals of the barbarian invasions relaxed the rules, as remains needed to be relocated to safer places. In the 4th century,
Basil the Great requested of the ruler of
Scythia Minor, Junius Soranus (Saran), that he should send him the
relics of saints of that region. Saran sent the relics of
Sabbas the Goth to him in
Caesarea,
Cappadocia, in 373 or 374 accompanied by a letter, the "Epistle of the Church of God in Gothia to the Church of God located in Cappadocia and to all the Local Churches of the Holy Universal Church". The sending of Sabbas' relics and the writing of the actual letter has been attributed to
Bretannio. This letter is the oldest known writing to be composed on Romanian soil and was written in
Greek. The spread of relics all over Europe from the 8th century onward is explained by the fact that after 787, all new Christian churches had to possess a relic before they could be properly
consecrated. New churches, situated in areas newly converted to Christianity, needed relics and this encouraged the translation of relics to far-off places. Relics became collectible items, and owning them became a symbol of prestige for cities, kingdoms, and monarchs,Relics were also desirable as they generated income from pilgrims traveling to venerate them. According to one legend concerning
Saint Paternian, the inhabitants of
Fano competed with those of
Cervia for possession of his relics. Cervia was left with a finger, while Fano took the rest. The translation of relics was a solemn and important event. In 1261, the
relics of
Lucian of Beauvais and his two companions were placed in a new
reliquary by William of Grès (Guillaume de Grès), the
bishop of Beauvais. The translation took place in the presence of
St. Louis IX, the
king of France, and
Theobald II, the
king of Navarre, as well as much of the French nobility. The memory of this translation was formerly celebrated in the abbey of Beauvais as the
fête des Corps Saints. Sometimes the translation was the result of an agreement between the original and the new possessors or was arranged by a superior authority, but other times the relic was acquired against the will of the previous holder. The new owners published accounts of their success and associated miracles to legitimate these ("holy thefts") as consented by the saint. On February 14, 1277, while work was being done at the church of St. John the Baptist (Johanniterkirche) in
Cologne, the body of
Saint Cordula, one of the companions of
Saint Ursula, was discovered. Her relics were found to
be fragrant and on the forehead of the saint herself were written the words, "Cordula, Queen and Virgin". When
Albert the Great, who had been residing in Cologne in his old age, had listened to the account of the finding of the relics, (in the golden reliquary held by Archbishop Georgy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas) visits the city of
Kstovo during its translation from
Nizhny Novgorod's
Pechersky Ascension Monastery to
Makaryev Monastery. Some relics were translated from place to place, buffeted by the tides of wars and conflicts. The relics of
Saint Leocadia were moved from
Toledo to Oviedo during the reign of
Abd ar-Rahman II, and from Oviedo they were brought to
Saint-Ghislain (in present-day
Belgium). Her relics were venerated there by
Philip the Handsome and
Joanna of Castile, who recovered for Toledo a
tibia of the saint.
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba attempted unsuccessfully to rescue the rest of her relics. Finally, a Spanish Jesuit, after many travels, brought the rest of the saint's relics to
Rome in 1586. From Rome they were brought to
Valencia by sea, and then finally brought to Toledo from
Cuenca.
Philip II of Spain presided over a solemn ceremony commemorating the final translation of her relics to Toledo, in April 1587. The translation of the relics continued into modern times. On December 4, 1796, as a result of the
French Revolution, the
relics of
Saint Lutgardis were carried to
Ittre from
Awirs. Her relics remain in Ittre. ==Notable translations==