On 8/4/07, Udhay Shankar N wrote: > You missed out the important adjective "symbolic" in what Charles > said. I would be willing to bet that you were indeed aware of this: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_%28liturgy%29#The_Communion_Rite >
On the other hand, there is a tradition of saintly "Relics" among catholics. For instance, if a new congregation for a St.Mambo-X is being opened in Uzbekistan, the congregation can request the vatican for a "relic" of that saint. These "relics" fall into three classes (1,2 and 3) and are contained in a warehouse of the vatican. class 1 - usually bones, body parts (a head, arm, finger, piece of bone.....) etc.... class 2 - usually an item of clothing.... class 3 - usually the funerary garment.... If I remember right, the one of the hands of st.francis xavier (of goa) was sawn off and sent to the st.francis xavier mission in china...
