ABSTRACT
A widespread belief in the virtues of relics or of money does not mean that either is the mainspring of man’s faith. Each is simply a primitive manifestation of something more profound. In the middle ages there was no possibility of escape, except for a very few, from material wretchedness; the only solace of the many was God’s pity. Being simple yet imaginative, their concept of omnipotent God required tangible evidence: hence the multiplication of relics of the Cross, of the sanctified bones which could transmit the blessing of Divinity. Again and again reformers deplored that relics were becoming objects of worship. But for most men the cult of relics was the cult of the intermediary through which they could communicate with God who alone could bring liberation.
