Furta sacra

Furta sacra (Latin, "holy thefts") refers to the medieval Christian practice of stealing saints' relics and moving them to a new shrine.^[1] Trade in and thefts of relics led to the creation of a new genre of hagiography that aimed to legitimize the actions that brought relics to their new homes; in these writings, the translation of the relics is often portrayed as morally necessary, or even requested directly by God.^[2] Sometimes, hagiographers would try to downplay the theft, but in general it was believed that a relic could not be stolen without the permission of the saint; a successful theft thus indicated saintly approval of the action.^[3] Saints Marcellinus and Peter are a famous example. Saint Faith is another. A monk from Conques brought her relics to the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy after spending ten years undercover as a secular priest in Agen, where her relics had previously been housed.^[4]

Taking the body of Saint Mark the Evangelist from Alexandria and hiding it into a basket. 11th-century mosaic in St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice.

The translation of the relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari. By Radul (1673–74), Patriarchate of Peć, Serbia.