Catholics/relic of St. John Neumann

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Expert: - 2/5/2012


Question
A friend bought a bracelet (roses with saints on the back of each) on ebay, and along with the purchase came a box full of saints' medals, rosaries, etc. She let some friends choose what they wanted, and I found a relic of St. John Neumann when he was Blessed. The spelling is B Joannes Neumann. It has Italy and RELIC stamped on the back, and the relic is red and has a cloth weave. I assume this is likely to be a third class relic, but is there any way I could find out more? Looking at the dates online, I know the medal had to be struck between 1963 and 1977, the date he was cannonized. Any ideas about what this might be? I know this is a long-shot question, but I thought I'd ask. Thanks very much.

Carol Whatley
Auburn, Alabama

Answer
First, about classes of relics:

A First Class Relic is a part of the saint's body--such as a chip of a bone.

A Second Class Relic is some person property of the saint---such as a piece of clothing or Mass vestment, or chalice, etc.

A Third Class Relic is something that was touched to a first class relic.  Third Class relics are usually pieces of cloth, etc but as far as I understand they could be anything---a statue of the saint touched to a first class relic, etc.  

Without actually seeing the relic, (and even if I could see the relic) I would have no way of knowing anything more about it. Thus, you are correct it is a long shot question.

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Father Dave Bechtel

Expertise

I am a Catholic priest in good standing. I am from the Diocese of Scranton PA. I can answer most any questions on the Catholic Faith accurately. My specific area of study is Systamatic/Dogmatic Theology. One of my interests specifically is on the differences between Catholics and Protestants. If you have general questions about the Catholic Faith/issues pertaining to the Catholic Faith, or on Catholic/Protestant issues I feel more then able to answer your questions.

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Formerly I was a member at CARM (Christian Apologetics Research Ministry.) I was a member from 2006 until around 2009. On this website I would respond to many threads attacking or asking questions about the Catholic Faith. I have also had correspondence with some Protestant apologists over the email. Robert Zinz of a Christian Witness to Roman Catholics and Mike Gendron who wrote a book called "Preparing Catholics For Eternity." I was not a priest at the time of correspondence with these people, nor were they aware of my aspirations to be a priest. I have had some polite conversations over the email with some Catholic professors of theology, some orthodox, some not so orthodox in their teaching. I answer questions on Wiki-answers about the Catholic Faith from time to time. None of this is to mention my day to day experience with people in the parish and in the surrounding community.

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Bachelors of Science-- University of Scranton PA Masters of Arts Theology---Saint Mary's Seminary and University Baltimore MD Masters of Divinity--- Saint Charles Borremeo Seminary Philadelphia PA

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