Directory
Relics of the saints of the undivided Church — many of them now kept in Catholic and Anglican churches — relics connected with the Lord’s Passion and the Mother of God, and ancient monasteries. Choose a country.
Check access arrangements on the church’s website before travelling.
Amiens
Brought from Constantinople in 1206 after the Fourth Crusade. Kept in the cathedral treasury; Orthodox pilgrim groups regularly serve molebens before it.
Auxerre
The Carolingian crypts of the abbey (841–859) were built around the tomb of St Germanus of Auxerre (†448), teacher of St Genevieve and evangelist of Britain. His relics were scattered by the Huguenots in 1567, but the saint’s sarcophagus remains in the crypt together with the burials of some twenty bishops; here too are the oldest frescoes in France (9th century), showing the Protomartyr Stephen. The crypt can only be visited with a guided tour.
Bussy-en-Othe
A priest of the Russian emigration (1867–1934) who served in Savoy, glorified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2004. On 12 October 2004 his relics were translated from Ugine to the Orthodox Monastery of the Protection of the Mother of God; the shrine stands before the iconostasis. On Tuesdays after Vespers a moleben with the Akathist to the saint is served (except on great feasts and in Great Lent).
Candes-Saint-Martin
St Martin of Tours reposed at Candes on 8 November 397. In the 12th–13th-century collegiate church a chapel stands on the site of his cell, with the inscription “Here died St Martin”. From here his body was carried along the Loire to Tours.
Cannes
The monastery was founded around 400–410 by St Honoratus, later Archbishop of Arles. Lérins is the cradle of Gallic monasticism: St Vincent of Lérins and Saints Hilary and Caesarius of Arles lived here, and by tradition St Patrick was trained here. The relics of St Honoratus were brought back to the island in 1391. It is still a living monastery; the church is open to pilgrims, and boats run from Cannes.
Chartres
The Sancta Camisia — a veil which tradition ascribes to the Mother of God; given to the cathedral in 876 by Charles the Bald. It is displayed in an 1876 reliquary in the Chapel of the Martyrs, on the north side of the ambulatory. Historical note: The relic has been kept in Chartres since the 9th century (a gift of Charles the Bald in 876); its attribution to the Mother of God is a matter of tradition.
Chelles
St Bathild (c. 626–680), queen of the Franks, became after the death of Clovis II a nun of the abbey of Chelles which she had founded; she was known for her charity and for ransoming captives. The reliquaries of St Bathild, of St Bertilla, the first abbess, and of other saints honoured at Chelles stand in the apse of the church of Saint-André; 7th-century garments from their tombs are in the town museum.
Conques
The young martyr Faith (Foy) was beheaded at Agen around 303 under Diocletian; in 866 her relics were translated to Conques, which became one of the great shrines on the way to Santiago. Part of the relics rests in a modern reliquary in the apse, accessible from the ambulatory; the famous 9th–10th-century golden “Majesty”, containing the crown of her skull, is in the Treasury (currently closed until further notice). Feast: 6 October.
Eschau
Mother of the holy martyrs Faith, Hope and Love (2nd century). Her relics were brought from Rome in 777 by Bishop Remigius of Strasbourg; portions now rest in a 14th-century Gothic reliquary in the St Sophia chapel of the former abbey church, beside a carved group of the martyrs (c. 1480). The Orthodox parishes of Strasbourg hold services of intercession here, especially on their feast, 17/30 September.
Langres
Langres Cathedral is dedicated to St Mammas, the young shepherd martyr of Cappadocia (3rd century), greatly venerated in the Orthodox East. In 1209 the saint’s head, brought from Constantinople, was entrusted to the cathedral; the reliquary bust containing it is kept in the treasury, together with a relic of the True Cross from Clairvaux.
Le Mont-Saint-Michel
According to tradition, the Archangel Michael appeared three times to St Aubert, bishop of Avranches, commanding him to build a sanctuary on the rock in the middle of the bay; it was consecrated in 708. Since the Middle Ages it has been one of the great pilgrimages of the West. The skull of St Aubert, bearing the mark of the “Archangel’s finger”, is kept in the treasury of the basilica of Saint-Gervais in nearby Avranches.
Les Andelys
In 511 St Clotilde, queen of the Franks, through whose prayers King Clovis was baptised, founded a monastery at Les Andelys. According to tradition, when the builders suffered from thirst, at her prayer the spring water took on the strength and taste of wine. The spring became famous for healings; in early June, for her feast, a pilgrimage goes from the collegiate church of Notre-Dame to the spring. Historical note: Saint Clotilde († 545) is a saint of the undivided Church; the story of the miracle at the spring is a local tradition known from later sources.
Ligugé
Founded by St Martin in 361 near Poitiers, close to St Hilary: the oldest monastery in the West still inhabited by monks. Excavations uncovered a 4th-century church and a 7th-century basilica; the crypt and the bell tower with 11th–12th-century frescoes can be visited.
Locronan
St Ronan, an Irish hermit of the early Middle Ages, lived in the forest of Locronan in Brittany. In the Pénity chapel beside the church of Saint-Ronan stands his 16th-century granite tomb; his relics were kept at Quimper from the 13th century. Every year on the second Sunday of July the “petite troménie” procession goes round the ancient monastic lands, and every six years the “grande troménie” (about 12 km). Historical note: The Life of Saint Ronan is known only from late sources (13th century); his veneration is a local Breton tradition.
Luxeuil-les-Bains
Around 590 the Irish monk St Columbanus founded a monastery at Luxeuil that became one of the great monastic centres of Gaul; his successors were Saints Eustasius and Walbert. The Saint-Martin archaeological site displays an early Christian funerary basilica, sarcophagi and the crypt of St Walbert.
Lyon
The oldest Christian sanctuary of Lyon: by tradition the hieromartyr Irenaeus, second bishop of Lyon, and the martyrs Epipodius and Alexander (178) were buried here. The tombs were desecrated by Protestants in 1562; the 9th–10th-century crypt keeps an ossuary with the bones from the violated graves and the “well of the martyrs”. The crypt is closed for works until autumn 2026 — check before visiting.
Lyon
Here in 177 the holy Martyrs of Lyon, among them St Blandina, laid down their lives for Christ; their passion is recorded in the letter of the Churches of Lyon and Vienne preserved by Eusebius. The remains of the oldest Roman amphitheatre in Gaul, excavated since 1956, can be seen on the slopes of the Croix-Rousse hill.
Marseille
One of the oldest monastic sites in Gaul, founded by Saint John Cassian around 415. The crypt holds early Christian sarcophagi and venerated relics.
Ottrott
St Odile (7th–8th century), born blind and healed at her baptism, founded the monastery on the mountain around 680; she is the patron saint of Alsace. Her tomb is in a chapel next to the cloister; below it flows St Odile’s spring, where pilgrims pray for the healing of eye diseases.
Paris
A saint of the undivided Church (c. 420–502). The reliquary with particles of her relics stands in the chapel to the right of the altar; most of the relics were destroyed in 1793. The Orthodox parishes of Paris serve molebens here on her feast (3/16 January).
Paris
Since 1820 the relics of St Helen, Equal to the Apostles, have rested in the crypt of Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles, the capitular church of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Orthodox faithful come regularly to venerate them; each year at the feast of the translation of the relics (November–December) Orthodox and Catholics pray together by candlelight in the crypt, with Orthodox clergy taking part.
Paris
The relic was brought to Paris by King Louis IX in 1239. After the 2019 fire it was kept at the Louvre; on 13 December 2024 it returned to the cathedral, to a new reliquary in the axial chapel. It is displayed there every Friday from 15:00 to 18:30; on the first Friday of the month and on Good Friday it is offered for veneration in the nave.
Paris
According to tradition, it was on the slopes of Montmartre, the “mount of martyrs”, that the hieromartyr Denis, first bishop of Paris, was martyred with his companions Rusticus and Eleutherius. A chapel stood on the site by about 475; the present underground crypt is a place of ancient Christian burials and of pilgrimage. Historical note: The association of this site with the martyrdom of Saint Denis is a tradition attested since the 9th century; the present crypt was discovered in 1611.
Poitiers
St Hilary (c. 315–367), bishop of Poitiers, was a great defender of Orthodoxy against the Arians and the teacher of St Martin of Tours. The church of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand stands on the site of his burial; a small crypt, the “confession”, beneath the choir keeps his relics in a casket of 1658, housed since 1892 in a large bronze shrine.
Poitiers
St Radegund (c. 520–587), a Thuringian princess and queen of the Franks, left the court for monastic life and founded the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Poitiers, for which she obtained a relic of the True Cross from Constantinople. The crypt of the church bearing her name keeps the sarcophagus in which she was buried in 587.
Reims
St Remigius (Remi, c. 437–533), bishop of Reims, baptised Clovis, king of the Franks — the founding act of Christian France. The 11th-century basilica was built to house his relics; his tomb (1847) stands in the middle of the choir. Admission is free.
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
In the 7th century the relics of St Benedict, father of Western monasticism, were translated from ruined Monte Cassino to the abbey of Fleury on the Loire. They still rest in a shrine in the crypt of the Romanesque basilica; the community, refounded in 1944, lives by the Rule of St Benedict. Feast: 14 (27) March; Fleury also solemnly keeps 11 July.
Saint-Denis
The first bishop of Paris (3rd century) and his companions Rusticus and Eleutherius. The basilica over their burial place is the necropolis of the kings of France.
Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert
St William (Guilhem, †812), a commander of Charlemagne, left the world and founded a monastery in the Gellone valley, where he reposed. According to tradition, around 806 Charlemagne gave him a relic of the Lord’s Cross received from the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The reliquary of the Cross and the shrine of St William stand in niches of the eastern piers of the abbey church nave. Historical note: The relics of Saint William († 812 or 814) have been venerated here since the 9th century; the tradition that Charlemagne gave a fragment of the Cross is known from later sources.
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Around 1087–1098 the Lorraine knight Aubert de Varangéville brought a finger bone of St Nicholas from Bari. The great basilica was built for it and became the main centre of St Nicholas’s veneration in France. The arm reliquary is displayed in the treasury room; the great procession is held on the Saturday nearest 6 December. Historical note: According to local tradition, the relic of Saint Nicholas was brought from Bari at the end of the 11th century.
Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois
The largest Russian cemetery abroad, with more than 5,200 Orthodox graves. The Novgorod-style Church of the Dormition was built in 1939 at the initiative of Metropolitan Evlogy (architect Albert Benois); Metropolitan Evlogy himself, many clergy, theologians and figures of the Russian emigration are buried here. A place of prayer and remembrance for Orthodox pilgrims.
Toulouse
St Saturninus (Sernin), first bishop of Toulouse, was martyred around 250, tied by pagans to a bull. The largest Romanesque church in France rises over his tomb; the crypt and ambulatory hold the saint’s tomb and many reliquaries of apostles and martyrs, as well as a reliquary of the True Cross.
Tours
Once bishop of Tours, St Martin founded a hermitage on the banks of the Loire that became the famous abbey of Marmoutier. The remains of three successive churches survive, together with the “resting place of St Martin” cut into the hillside and incorporated into the north transept. Visits are by guided tour run by the city heritage service.
Tours
Apostle of Gaul (c. 316–397), one of the most venerated saints of the West, honoured also by the Orthodox Church. The tomb is in the crypt of the basilica.
