The Relic Project

What inspired you to start this business?

This mission was inspired by Fr. Carlos Martins ministry, Treasures of the Church. When we discovered a neglected relic at our church, it led us to ask more questions which led to an investigation in our local community on what relics we have. It turned out that we didn't know who was in our community so that's when this evolved into an international mission.

How does your faith shape your work?

The Catholic faith is what defines how we operate. It is only through the Catholic moral view and authority of the Roman Catholic Church that we are able to sustain ourselves.

What's a favorite patron saint or scripture?

St. Carlo Acutis and St. Anthony of Padua, Patron Saints of The Relic Project.

What's one thing you'd like customers to know?

Over the past two years, we have discovered a real pastoral need surrounding this tradition. Relics remain throughout the Church in parishes, sacristies, convents, shrines, archives, and sometimes forgotten cabinets, yet many Catholics have never encountered one or been taught why the Church venerates them. It is not enough simply to explain first-, second-, and third-class relics or the distinction between veneration and worship. We must also teach people how an encounter with a saint can open the heart to Jesus Christ. That is the pastoral space The Relic Project is trying to serve. Our work has developed around three interconnected ideas: mapping, formation, and pilgrimage. We document where relics can be publicly encountered. We form people to understand and venerate them properly. Then we encourage people to get off the screen, enter a church or shrine, encounter the saints, pray, and participate in the sacramental life of the Church. Put simply: documentation leads to discovery; discovery leads to pilgrimage; pilgrimage leads to prayer; and prayer opens the heart to Jesus Christ. One of our largest undertakings has been the Map of the Saints, which now documents more than 1,000 relics at over 200 locations. Supporting that map is our growing network of volunteer “Relic Hunters,” who visit churches, shrines, monasteries, and pilgrimage sites and help responsibly document relics that are publicly accessible. What began as a small network has already become global. We now have Relic Hunters around the world actively discovering and adding relics to the map, and we recently documented our first relic in New Zealand. A family can discover a saint across town. A Catholic school can build a pilgrimage around nearby churches. A parish can rediscover relics already entrusted to it. A traveler can encounter the Communion of Saints not merely as an idea, but as a living family. Our hope is to continue building a worldwide network through which Catholics themselves help document where the saints can be publicly encountered, transforming a digital resource into an invitation to real-world pilgrimage.