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A Catholic group is calling out Harvard University for failing to return a holy relic to the Church. The relic in question is said to be of the martyr St. Sebastian, which would date it back to the 3rd century. The refusal to return the relic comes on the heels of Harvard’s decision to repatriate the remains of individuals thought to be enslaved and of Native Americans from the schools’ massive collection.
The College Fix reports that the university’s Houghton Library intends to keep the relic of St. Sebastian. It is reportedly a fragment of bone from the saint, which would make it a first-class relic. Second-class relics are articles of clothing or objects owned by the saint and third-class relics are objects touched to first- or second-class relics.
We refer to this particular relic of St. Sebastian in vague terms because the University has not allowed the Church to examine it. Director of Communications Kerry Conley told the College Fix that the relic is held in the university’s secured library stacks. She explained that “the item does not circulate,” and is only used “for research,” although she neglected to mention what such research would look like.
From her comments, it seems that Harvard could conduct its own research into its veracity, rather than allowing the Church to conduct an examination. She commented:
“Whether or not it contains human remains is a subject for the Committee to investigate further,” Kerry Conley said.
The university has come under fire for its decision to withhold the relic by the Catholic Action League, a Massachusetts-based religious activist group. The League noted that Harvard had recently returned the remains of 19 people who are believed to have been enslaved, as well as thousands of remains of Native Americans, to their respective descendants.
Harvard is putting quite a bit of funding toward this endeavor, going so far as to “provide travel funding for Tribal representatives to come to the museum for the physical repatriation of ancestors and associated funerary belongings.” Still, with all the repatriation going around, Catholics are left to wonder why the remains of an ancient holy martyr must languish in the collection of a secular university, rather than be returned to the Church where the relic can be venerated.
Executive Director of Catholic Action League C.J. Doyle noted that there is no evidence that the university acquired the relic through nefarious means, but a better home should be found for the relic. It is worth noting that, while not expressly forbidden, private ownership of first-class relics is discouraged by canon law, as relics are meant to be venerated freely by all.
Doyle told the College Fix:
“Nonetheless, the relic of a martyr is a sacred object, worthy of veneration, not a mere historical artifact, of antiquarian interest. The appropriate location for a relic of Saint Sebastian is a Catholic church, chapel, or shrine, not the library of a secular university.” Doyle added, “Harvard should do the right thing and donate it to a local Catholic church.”
