becomes partaker, in some degree, of his holiness, on account of the grace residing in them. Wherefore, precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints.” Serm. in hæc verba Psal. cxv. in append. T. i. p. 375.-"I am greatly pleased that you
have raised an edifice to the name of Christ.-And I am desirous, should I be able to procure some Relics of Martyrs, to join you in your solicitude and labour.” Ep. xlix. al. ccccviii. Arcadio Episc. T. iii. p. 142.
ST. EPHREM, G.C.-" The dead operate as the living: they heal the sick, expel devils, and by the power of Christ, put to flight all their malicious designs. The grace of the divine spirit, which works miracles in them, ever resides in the Relics of the Saints." In Encom. omnium Mart. T. ii. p. 308.—" See how the Relics of the Martyrs still breathe ! Who can doubt of these Martyrs being still alive? Who can believe that they have perished?” He then extols the virtues of Relics, and exhorts the faithful, in every distress, to have recourse, with confidence, to them: “For the deity dwells in the bones of the Martyrs, and by his power and presence, miracles are wrought.” T. v. p. 349.
St. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, G. C.-“ From the fact of a dead man being restored to life, by touching the body of Eliseus, we learn, that, when the soul is departed, a certain virtue remains in the bodies of Saints; and that, on account of the merit of the souls which resided in them. Of this we cannot doubt: for if the handkerchiefs and aprons, mere external appendages, (of which we read Acts xix.) cured the sick that touched them; how much more efficacious was the body of the Prophet in raising the dead ? Catech. xviii. n. xvi. p. 293.
