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Is this the question? "Which class of relic is presented at the canonization of a new saint?" I don't know that there is an answer to that question. Canonization is a procedure at the Vatican which follows investigation and documentation by the local bishop. That often involves exhumation of the body in a ceremony called a translation which takes careful stock of the condition. Although there are many relic fragments, local communities have a strong preferance for keeping their saints whole and intact.

With regard to the assertion that medieval people worshipped the saints, there is no evidence that they did. Abbot Peter the Venerable explained the practice of using rich reliquaries as recognition that they shone like pearls in heaven and were worthy of such honor on earth awaiting the resurrection of the body. The practice of praying at tombs is as old as Christianty, and persecuted Roman early Christians celebrated meals in cemetaries very early. The tomb was place where the spiritual realm intersected with earth. Today, people show photos of cemeteries with lots of orbs. They say that the orbs are the spirits of the departed. The saints are also the heros and role models of the living God.

Another thing, how many of us go to cemeteries and pray at the tomb of our loved one? Pray for them, and in my case for my husband, ask him to pray for me since he received the Annointing of the Sick before he died.

As i understand it, the relics are almost always body parts, pieces of bone. One off St. Mother Guerin's fingers was taken to Rome for her canonization and given to Pope Benedict.

All Saints have to have two miracles attributed to them--one to achieve beatification, the other for canonization. Mother Guerin became Blessed in 1992. A few years later, the facilities manger for the Sisters of Providence developed glaucoma. He prayed for Mother Guerin's intersession, and touched her tomb. The doctors had told him he would lose his eyes, but suddenly, his eyes were completely healed and cured. I have met this man, shaken his hand and discussed this event with him. To me, it was the most perfect proof of the existence of God I have encountered.