Relics have always been held to an extraordinarily high importance in most Abrahamic faiths; Christianity is no exception. At the time of Augustine, relics were beloved. Seeing one, let alone touching one, was said to be a sign of monumental fortune. Most people, however, were ever only exposed to the lower class of relics. The body of a martyr is of such importance because it’s a step above even the First-Class relics.

In order to understand the importance of relics, it’s responsible to first understand what relics are and why they’re venerated. Relic veneration has been around since the beginning of religion with items like spears, wine flasks, and portions of wood. The fear of many in the Christian faith, far before the time of Augustine, was that veneration of relics would lead to cultish worship. That would become true as the cult of the saints began to experience an incredible surge in membership.

Often, the relics most venerated were those of the First-Class. Relics are divided into three categories: Third-Class relics, Second-Class relics, and First-Class relics. Those of the third and second are items such as things touched by a First or Second-Class relic or items directly owned by a saint respectively. First-Class relics, however, are any items directly involved in the life of Christ or the remains of a saint (such as blood, hair, etc.). The body of a saint, however, is often seen as superseding the realm of relics. Moreover, relics of a martyr are extremely appreciated — even more so than most saints. When those martyrs are saints to boot, it’s no surprise people of the ancient world began to engage in cultish worship of them.

Augustine, I’d imagine, would not appreciate this cultish worship. A living contemporary to Saint Jerome, they likely would have reached the same conclusion. That honor — not worship — is how to express true faith when dealing with the saints. After all, it is contradictory to worship both God and the saints who work under him. The Cult of Saints ran counter to this. They believed the saints to hold the power to answer prayers. They even believed those of ascetic practices to hold supernatural powers and command over the Earth. As time went on, these strong feelings of veneration developed into full-blown worship; the Cult began to worship living saints in areas around the Roman Empire.

What does this mean for Augustine, however? His life is somewhat split. On one end, he dislikes theology presented by the Cult of Saints. On the other end, his mother is a strong believer in these new ideas. This would create an even bigger rift in Augustine’s life and birth an even stronger distaste for the Cult.

Augustine discusses his perceptions while inside of the Ambrosian Basilica with the martyrs’ bodies inside. It’s interesting to note that Augustine believes the upturning of these bodies to be an answer from God; one that would chide Justina for a time. It’s almost as if he writes such that Ambrose set out on expedition because of Justina but we know now, in modernity, that such a story isn’t true.

Immediately as the bodies are brought to the Basilica, I believe that Augustine did appreciate the intense martyr-veneration going on at the time. He even states that he’s glad God allowed him to remember this particular point in his life. God, he believes, is helping him at every turn and has been helping him even at a young age. Such is what his mentioning the “perfume of your unguents” means; God was making it so clearly obvious that he was there yet Augustine still chose something else. If nothing more, this passage puts Augustine’s intense faith on full display. He truly has moved away from his Manichaean inquiries and embraces the Christian faith wholly. God, he states, lives on completely within Augustine.

This entire passage, Conf.9.7.15-16, is an interesting delve into the mind of Augustine. It shows the precarious balance between his faith in God and his views on saint-worship; a very hot topic at the time. As it’s hard to find within Confessions, it leaves us wondering what kind of interactions Augustine may have had with the foremost relic-intellectuals of his time. His similarities to the life of Saint Jerome are innumerable (both were fans of Cicero), and the two even held “correspondence” rather often (though it was mostly misunderstandings due to letters being lost in transit). It’s very likely, then, that the teachings of Saint Jerome weighed heavily on Augustine.