relics of saints went on tour in the U.K. and the U.S. just last fall and attracted hordes of devotees.
relics, paintings, ancient texts, and other links to our past that were lost suddenly resurface in hard to explain places.
Anti-church violence and local subterfuge reduced the collection considerably, but the relics have always been endangered.
Or are they relics, totems of a strange faith that demands our allegiance?
These may be the up and coming younger members, waiting for their turn as ‘El Chapo’ and ‘El Mayo’ are viewed as relics.
The relics which it loves best are the relics of England's discomfiture.
We possess his relics and they are enclosed in the shrine under the high altar.
They take care, in a word, that there be plenty of relics, and their establishments are huge and active.
When I returned, I carried with me the relics of my childhood.
I will not enter into the subject of faith in the influence of relics.
early 13c., "body part or other object from a holy person," from Old French relique (11c., plural reliques), from Late Latin reliquiæ (plural) "remains of a martyr," in classical Latin "remains, remnants," noun use of fem. plural of reliquus "remaining, that which remains," related to relinquere (perfective reliqui) "to leave behind" (see relinquish). Sense of "remains, ruins" is from early 14c. Old English used reliquias, directly from Latin.
