Tour featuring more than 150 relics to visit Omaha Archdiocese

A fragment of a veil belonging to the Blessed Virgin Mary on display at a Treasures of the Church exposition. COURTESY PHOTO

A woman from Wichita, Kansas, healed of her obsessive compulsive disorder. A man in New Orleans cured of his cancer, and a former alcoholic from Los Angeles freed from his addiction.

These are just a few of the many testimonies from Catholics across the country who have reported healings after visiting the “Treasures of the Church” exhibit, a teaching and exposition of more than 150 sacred relics presented by Father Carlos Martins of the Companions of the Cross in Detroit.

As part of its 20th anniversary theme, “Together on a Journey to Sainthood,” Spirit Catholic Radio is bringing “Treasures of the Church” to the Archdiocese of Omaha July 18-25. Among the relics to be displayed are those of St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Faustina Kowalska. There will also be a piece of a veil believed to have belonged to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and one of the largest pieces of the true cross remaining in the world.

July 18: St. Mary Church in Norfolk
July 19: St. Isidore Church in Columbus
July 23: St. Patrick Church in Fremont
July 24: St. Patrick Church in Gretna
July 25: St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Omaha
All expositions will begin at 7 p.m.
According to sacred tradition, relics are physical objects that have a direct association with the saints or with our Lord. They fall into three classes. First class relics are the body or fragments of the body of a saint. Second class relics include the personal belongings of a saint, and third class relics are items touched by a saint or by another first, second or third class relic.
“Relics serve as a reminder of the heroes of our faith,” said Father Martins, founder of Treasures of the Church. “They’re sacred remains, connected even now to the soul of the saint who is in heaven.”

The church venerates relics to bring honor to the saints, and so that God may bring about healing through them, he said.

Approximately 50 testimonies of healing have been shared on the Treasures of the Church website (www.treasuresofthechurch.com/healing) by Catholics across North America who have benefited from Father Martins’ ministry.

For example, Elizabeth Turner, a Catholic from Tucson, Arizona, had been diagnosed with retinoschisis (splitting of the retina), an incurable disease that can lead to eventual blindness. She visited the Treasures of the Church exhibit in El Paso, Texas, and touched the relic of St. Lucy, patron saint of blindness, to her head, near her eye.

After visiting the exposition, Turner saw an ophthalmologist and retina specialist, and both agreed that the tear was healing spontaneously, she said.

The veneration of relics is an important part of the Catholic faith because it unites the church on earth with the communion of saints in heaven, Father Martins said.

“Our faith life here on earth is a communal thing, not an individual thing, and that community extends far beyond the people who are alive with us on earth,” he said. “(It) also extends to the church triumphant, those who are already born into eternal life and who form part of the mystical body that we ourselves are connected with.”