Minor point but, the article reads...
"...Cardinal Newman's dying wish that he be buried with his closest friend..."
Not that there's anything wrong with that!
The idea that he wanted to be buried with his "friend" is creepy.
“making him an idolatrous object of veneration”
I’ve never looked at the practice like that before, but thinking about it now...
Well said.
2. The BBC reported that Cardinal Newman's body was not found. That makes it sound like somebody stole it -- but a wooden coffin in damp ground is not going to impeded total decomposition. Nothing about 'scraped out what was in his coffin regardless', unless you simply mean the bits of wood & coffin plate remaining from his coffin. Source?
3. Exhumation is S.O.P. when a cause for sainthood is pending. Certain phenomena such as incorruptible corpses, odor of sanctity, inexplicable preservation of parts of the body (e.g. St. Anthony of Padua's tongue), are observed in the case of some saints.
4. Since they didn't find his body, he wasn't moved, so he got his wish after all.
5. Preservation of the relics of a saint is not idolatrous. Nobody's worshipping the saint's mortal remains! I know plenty of folks find it odd (it's more common in Latin than Northern European countries, but then again Germany has the astounding spectacle of the bejeweled skeleton of St. Munditia, Virgin Martyr, in the Peterskirche.)
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. There’s something wrong with honorable friendship? I suggest that you read Aristotle and Cicero on the subject.
De Amicitia was especially influential.
You wrote:
“Can anyone explain to me how it is justified to violate a man’s last will and testament like this for the sake of making him an idolatrous object of veneration?”
Since venerating the saints is not idolatrous, your question is based on a false premise. Try again, this time maybe with a little more respect for the dead as well as for Christianity.
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
I have a general question.
Are Catholics and the Catholic Church itself placing any value on relics today? (My Catholic school nuns and Catholic relatives were when I was a child.)
If the Catholic Church does believe that relics have spiritual potency could someone explain the reasoning behind this belief?
“an idolatrous object of veneration”
I am hearily sick of these constant attacks from the ignorant theological left. Therefore, from now on, I shall respond to them in a manner befitting their utter lack of merit.
I shall respond to all such malign, boneheaded sallies from the theological left (protestants) by asserting, “All protestants, each and every one of them, bugger a little boy every day.”
That will be as true, as charitable, and as honest as the statements to which it responds.