In Winnipeg, relics are stepping back into the spotlight of Catholic life through the apostolate Sacra: Relics of the Saints, an initiative helping parishioners rediscover one of the Catholic faith’s most powerful, often-neglected treasures. 

Based in Minnesota, Sacra has been working behind the scenes for the past six years, delivering its dual focus of boldly teaching the history and theology of relics through talks, writings and parish presentations, while also supporting dioceses, religious orders and individuals by researching, authenticating and restoring potential and confirmed Christian relics.

What started as a childhood question from current director Sean Pilcher has since become a mission to correct misunderstandings and restore relics to their rightful place in the life of the Church.

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“ I remember being a young boy and asking a priest in our church, ‘What is this thing in the display case?’ Relics have always been an area of the Catholic experience that's been a little bit neglected, and now there is some resurgence of the broader interest in our history itself,” he told The Catholic Register.

While a large part of Sacra’s operation involves helping individuals, families, parishes and institutions research and authenticate relics, often discovered in estates, gifted through shrines or in general archives, the team works heavily with Catholic institutions and assists Orthodox Christians and others who value the Communion of Saints.

Predominantly in modern Catholicism, whether through beautiful church structures, music, the history of the saints or captivating liturgies, it is the revived interest in Catholic heritage, of which relics are a tangible expression, that Pilcher and the team are interested in sharing and preserving.

On June 23, Sacra will make its first major entry into Canada when Pilcher delivers the presentation “Discover the Spiritual Significance of Relics” on the vigil of St. John the Baptist at St. Timothy’s Parish in Winnipeg, where attendees will also have the opportunity to venerate a relic of the saint. 

There, Pilcher will provide an introduction to relics with hopes the faithful can integrate them into their 21st-century Christian lives while making clear some of the common misconceptions that remain around surviving artifacts. 

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“ The first larger problem is that, as humans, we are scared of death. As Christians, we don't have any reason to be scared of death, as it is the beginning of eternal life through what Jesus promised us.  The other idea is that somehow relics are disrespectful,” he said. 

“I hope we can step back and ask, ‘What is the approach toward death, dying and burial that Jesus Christ wants us to have?’ If we establish that, then we can take a step further and explain relics and the veneration of the saints as how we honour the dead rather than disrespecting or profaning them.” 

There are a multitude of reasons why relics matter from both theological and universal perspectives, reasons that many forget as relic tour dates flood dioceses across the world. Pilcher reminds audiences that relics highlight the incarnational reality — that God created us body and soul, and the saints, who lived in real places and times, can bring us to a fuller understanding and love of the Catholic faith through tangible connection to their remains. Relics are far more than mere historical artifacts, but links to those whose faith spans both continents and centuries.

Excited for his first presentation here in Canada, Pilcher spoke about how the universal reality is seen through local expression in the Canadian Martyrs — the skull of St. Jean de Brébeuf and the bones of St. Gabriel Lalemant and St. Charles Garnier, housed at the Martyrs' Shrine in Midland, Ont. 

“What a source of pride it would be to think these Martyrs' blood has watered the Church where I live or was born. For Canadian Catholics to be able to experience the faith that these Martyrs planted with their witness, labour and martyrdom, to be able to venerate their bones, is a beautiful thing,” he said. 

Pilcher hopes to build on the momentum from Winnipeg and bring Sacra’s mission to the Greater Toronto Area in the near future, following a trip to Europe later this year. 

“Toronto seems like a very natural place to go next,” he said, expressing openness to working with local dioceses, parishes and shrines eager to help the faithful encounter the living heritage of the saints.

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“ If (the Archdiocese of Toronto) needs any assistance or churches would be interested, I’d love to help with an event, give a talk or lead the faithful in some relic veneration.” 

For more on Sacra, visit sacrarelics.org.