Relics.

I won’t hear a bad word uttered against the holy stone of clonrickert. A class II relic, in my view, the best class II relic anywhere north of Montevideo.

They venerate it and get blessed with it. It's a very ancient Christian practice.

Is that where venereal disease came from ? All that kissin' and touching.

Thanks for that Enoch , how are things at the gate this morning?

Look, I'm not defending the practice and only answering a question.

The Enoch quip is a bit low just because you mistook the meaning of to venerate.

As far as I know Catholics have had this connection with relics for centuries and they are classed as Christian.

What’s any of that got to do with relics?

Yeah, Padre Pio reputedly suffered the stigmata and the wounds in his hands and feet constantly wept and bled. Consequently, he wore very large, padded mittens and these are now considered miraculous and are brought to people who are ill or in need of other divine interventions. I don't know if only one if his old gloves has this power or all of them.

I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth here to be honest. I snigger at the glove but I do actually pray to St. Therese, a habit my beloved Aunt instilled in me as a child. So yeah, I'm a big fat hypocrite.

I suppose when people started dropping like flies around it they figured it was powerful **** and stuck a glass dome over it and sent it on tour....

Seriously, I'm guessing because it was next to his stigmata wound it would be considered extremely holy . And probably more appealing than one of his socks. I wonder if they're miraculous too?

My old man has a relic of Padre Pio.

its a small card with a picture, prayer and a small plastic window type thing with an appropriately 2 millimetre squared piece of one of his religious garments… that brown habit thing he wore.

Good. Practice your spirituality any way you wish.

I choose to pray to St Therese the way my precious Aunt taught me.