Do you consider pre-Christianity the "Dark Ages"?
As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet. (2 Kings 13:21)Where does the Bible say that the remains of the dead are to be despised?
Do you throw the remains of your deceased family members in the garbage, or do you bury them with a headstone?
Do you honor their memory by visiting their graves? If so, why? Are you worshipping them?
And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them (Acts 19:11-12).The early Christians, despite the objections of nineteenth century Fundamentalists, venerated relics of the saints.
Smyrnaean account of Polycarp's martyrdom (A.D. 156)Protestants don't realize that they do exactly what they accuse Catholics of, namely, following the human traditions of Luther and his disciples, rather than the Sacred Traditions preserved by Christ's Church, "the pillar and foundation of truth.""We took up his bones, which are more valuable than precious stones and finer than refined gold, and laid them in a suitable place, where the Lord will permit us to gather ourselves together, as we are able, in gladness and joy and to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom."
Jerome
"We do not worship, we do not adore, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the creator, but we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore him whose martyrs they are"
"If he will not listen to the church, treat him as a pagan or tax collector." --Jesus
Vatican archaeologists in 2002 began excavating the 8-foot(2.4-meter)-long tomb of St. Paul, which dates from at least A.D. 390 and was buried under the basilica's main altar. The decision to unearth it was made after pilgrims who came to Rome during the Roman Catholic Church's 2000 Jubilee year expressed disappointment at finding that the saint's tomb — buried under layers of plaster and further hidden by an iron grate — could not be visited or touched.The top of the coffin has small openings — subsequently covered with mortar — because in ancient times Christians would insert offerings or try to touch the remains.
The basilica stands at the site of two 4th-century churches — including one destroyed by a fire in 1823 that had left the tomb visible, first above ground and later in a crypt. After the fire, the crypt was filled with earth and covered by a new altar. A slab of cracked marble with the words "Paul apostle martyr" in Latin was also found embedded in the floor above the tomb.