On the first floor of the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas, tucked away in the right-hand corner of the church, is a piece of history that gleams – a glass display housing eight relics, each encased in intricate gold, silver, and wood craftsmanship. This reliquary, recently established in the chapel, extends the chapel’s legacy beyond the saint’s namesake, carving out a home for a relic of St. Thomas Aquinas himself.
For decades, these first-class relics were stored in a sacristy safe. But recently, the Office for Mission and Campus Ministry worked together for a proper public display for the relics. In the Catholic tradition, relics are physical items or remains associated with a saint. It is believed these sacred remains serve as tangible links to the saints while asking for their intercession.
“The veneration of relics is a way to seek guidance from the saints – much like asking a friend to pray on one’s behalf,” said Christina Crow, sacramental coordinator for Campus Ministry.
All the relics on display are first-class relics – these are items that have the most sacred and direct connection to the saint. They include physical parts of a saint’s body, such as bone, blood, or hair. Other spiritually significant relics include second-class relics, which are personal items that belonged to the saint during their life, and third-class relics, objects that have been touched to another relic.
Relics are meant to be shared with the faithful, and when entrusted to someone, they’re often passed on to a parish or community to allow everyone to experience their spiritual significance and connect through shared faith.
The newly implemented reliquary at St. Thomas highlights eight different relics, two of which represent a model of the student-teacher relationship: St. Thomas Aquinas (student) and St. Albert the Great (teacher).
“Our goal as educators is to provide students with the necessary tools for lifelong flourishing, so I find it appropriate that these two relics flank the centerpiece of our reliquary from which all the saints flow,” said Dr. Jacob Benda, who serves as director of Music, Liturgy, & Sacred Arts at the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas.
There are 11 relics altogether in the chapel, all are first-class relics, including one that is not of bodily origin – it is a splinter from the True Cross on which Christ was crucified.
Students at the University of St. Thomas had the opportunity to be involved firsthand with the implementation of the new reliquary, helping to prepare the display for the public.
“I got to put in the relic of the True Cross. I felt very honored – seeing it there in the reliquary is really special,” said Abigail Zwilling ’27, liturgical assistant for the Campus Ministry and an economics major.
St. Therese of Lisieux (center) – French Carmelite nun whose autobiography, The Story of a Soul, tells of how everyone can grow into holiness through small acts of love and surrender.
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi (right) – Italian Carmelite mystic who promoted the spiritual renewal of the Church.
