The Open Episcopal Church


A member of the International Council of Community Churches & the World Council of Churches

RELICS GIVEN TO THE CHURCH

A relic of bone of St Philip Howard, martyr, kept at Arundel Cathedral, detached by Anthony Wale, Administrator of the Cathedral of Our Lady and St Philip, on the authority of the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. 17th May 1989.

Howard, Twentieth Earl of Arundel and much of his family, remained Catholics during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when it was very dangerous to do so and attempted to leave England without permission. While some might have been able to do this quietly, Howard was second cousin of the Queen. He was committed to the Tower of London on 25 April 1585. While charges of high treason were never proved, he spent ten years in the Tower, until his death of dysentery. He had petitioned the Queen as he lay dying to allow him to see his wife and his son, who had been born after his imprisonment. The Queen responded that if "If he will but once attend the Protestant Service, he shall not only see his wife and children, but be restored to his honors and estates with every mark of my royal favor." To this, Saint Philip replied, "Tell Her Majesty, if my religion be the cause for which I suffer, sorry I am that I have but one life to lose." He refused and died alone in the Tower.

A relic of the body of St Teresa of Avila, registered in 1991, registered by Fr Simon, Postulator General of the Sacred Family of the Carmelite Order. 1991.

Teresa was born in 1515 in Spain. She  tried to run away from home at age seven to serve God.  Later she resolved  to found a reformed Carmelite convent. The absolute poverty of the new monastery, established in 1562 and her renunciation of property , at first excited a scandal among the citizens and authorities of Avila.  Her last words were: "My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time to meet one another."

Pope Paul VI bestowed on her the title ˜Doctor of the Church" in 1970 along with Saint Catherine of Siena making them the first women to be awarded the distinction. Teresa is revered as the Doctor of Prayer and the mysticism in her works exerted a formative influence upon many theologians.

A relic of the body of St Leopold Mandic, registered by Fr Bernardunus n Senis, Postulator General in 1983.

Saint Leopold Bogdan Mandic, an ethnic Croat was born in 1866. He was disabled and had great difficulties in speaking and walking.

He became known as Apostle of Unity. In the mid-1880s, Bishop Joseph Juraj Strossmayer began an ecumenical movement which focused on unity in diversity, consecrating the cathedral of Djakovo i Srijem (Bosnia) "for the glory of God, church ecumenism, and the peace and love of my people." Leopold dedicated himself to the same end, repeatedly praying, "One flock, one shepherd.", the famous prayer that is the forerunner of today's ecumenism. 

A relic of bone of St Sabina registered by Fr Simon, Postulator General of the Sacred Family of the Carmelite Order. 1991.

Sabina was accused of being a Christian and martyred in 125 AD in the city of Vindena in the state of Umbria, Italy under the reign of Hadrian.

 A relic of bone of St Marcellus,  registered by Fr Simon, Postulator General of the Sacred Family of the Carmelite Order. 1991.

Marcellus was a centurion stationed at Tingis (modern-day Tangiers) who refused to participate in the general birthday celebrations of the Emperor Maximian, which would have entailed sacrifice to the Roman gods. Throwing off his military belt, weapons, and vine-branch (the insignia of his rank) and pledging his loyalty to Jesus alone. For these actions he was beheaded in 298.