Reliquias / Relics (DCH)

No. 2025-14

English Abstract: 

This entry presents and analyzes the doctrinal and legal foundations that promoted and regulated the devotion to relics within the Catholic world, with particular attention to the territories in Spanish America. The veneration of these sacred remains – bodies, fragments, or objects associated with saints and martyrs – reactivated centuries of theological reflection and canon law as it adapted to various forms of domestic and private veneration among Indigenous, enslaved, mixed-race, and criollo populations in Spanish America. After the Council of Trent and throughout the early modern period, normative and ritual systems were produced to ensure the authenticity of relics, regulate their circulation, and prevent heterodox forms of devotion. The entry is organized into seven sections that examine these aspects and concludes with a bibliographic overview.