While the Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics may not have relics from every saint, its celebration of All Saints Day will be big this year. Already having one of the largest relic collections in the United States, from over 850 saints, they are expanding this historic collection with relics of 11 contemporary holy men and women for permanent public veneration.

The hope is that in venerating the admirable lives of these saints, Christians might be led to Christ and aspire to become saints themselves.

Pilgrims to the Shrine typically gravitate to the Relic Chapel where they can encounter the saints. The modern holy men and women added will inspire visitors to live out their faith despite the current age’s challenges. “The saints of the 21st century are important to pilgrims who visit the Shrine because of our nature to want to connect to them,” explains Mark Travis, Executive Director of the Maria Stein Shrine.

New to the Shrine’s collection are first class relics (something from the body) of Sts. Louis and Marie- Azélie Guérin Martin, St. Therese of Lisieux’s parents. They were the first married couple to be canonized together, models of Christian marriage and family life. St. Edith Stein, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross as she was known in religious life, was murdered and cremated at Auschwitz, so hers is a second class relic, a piece of her clothing. She was a philosopher inspired by St. Teresa of Avila to convert to Catholicism, and then she became a contemplative nun.

Two Blesseds (those who were beatified and are potentially on their way to being declared saints) have connections to nearby universities. The Marianist Sisters, who minister at the University of Dayton, provided a relic of their foundress, Bl. Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon, that will rest next to that of Bl. William Joseph Chaminade because they worked together in early 19th century France. Another new relic is from Bl. Basil Moreau, also a Frenchman, who founded the Congregation of the Holy Cross, which established the University of Notre Dame where the congregation still ministers today.

From a native of this side of the Atlantic, there is a relic of Bl. James Miller, an American member of the Brothers of Christians Schools, a congregation founded for education. While ministering at a Guatemalan high school, he was martyred because of the brothers’ outspoken support of the poor being persecuted there.

A relic of St. Oscar Romero, a martyr who advocated for the oppressed, also joins the collection. This archbishop from El Salvador was killed while celebrating Mass. “I am most excited about St. Oscar Romero,” Travis said, “since I have been recently reading more about the heroic life he lived.

The method for acquiring relics is not always easy. For the last year, the Maria Stein Shrine has sought relics from multiple religious communities, dioceses and the Vatican. Hunting down holy relics is not a process for Indiana Jones, but more of a letter writing campaign to discover who has what relics and whether they will gift them to the shrine. Eventually, Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr sends a letter on the shrine’s behalf, often with a donation to cover postage and the metal reliquary that encases the relic. It is against Canon Law to sell the relics themselves.

On November 1, the Maria Stein Shrine will honor those holy men and women with four others, St. Paul VI, St. Josephine Bakhita, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity and St. Josemaria Escriva. Father Jacob Lindle will celebrate a noon Mass in the shrine’s adoration chapel, and the relics will be available for public veneration in the relic until 6 p.m. Once added to the shrine’s permanent collection, they can be viewed in the relic chapel during normal shrine hours.

This article appeared in the November 2023 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.