Many have considered relics to be a curiosity of another era, a time before scientific and industrial revolutions had come to the fore and challenged the more antiquated conceptions of magic and mysticism. But in today’s world, one rife with a rigorously rationalist approach to life, the mysticism of relics still holds an appeal for a wide array of Christians, namely Catholics and Orthodox Christians.

A relic is an object, preferably a part of the body or clothes, which remains a memorial of a departed saint. According to Roman Catholic Canon Law, there are three classes of relic: first-class relics are items directly associated with the physical remains of a Saint, e.g. a bone or hair; second-class relics are items which came into physical contact with a saint, e.g. a piece of clothing or a rosary; and third-class relics are objects which were touched and blessed by a first or second-class relic.

Relics are associated with many other religious traditions, other than Christianity, most notably in Buddhism and Islam. But early Christianity’s development in a polytheistic society, created a particular position for relics within the initial manifestation of the faith, something which has carried on to today’s Catholic practices.

However, relics aren’t relegated to ancient seats of early Christianity, like Rome. Come a little closer to home and you might be surprised. New York, a city with a rich and diverse religious history, has a surprising number of relics, strewn at various places of Catholic worship in town. This slideshow focuses on four different places, important to local Catholics — three shrines dedicated to recently canonized saints, and a church: Transfiguration Church in Chinatown, the Shrine of Mother Seton in Battery Park, the shrine of Padre Pio in midtown and the shrine of Mother Cabrini in Fort Washington.

If you plan a trip to Rome, chances are your must-see list will include well-known attractions like the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain or the Vatican Museum.

There is, however, a more ubiquitous staple of the eternal city that does not feature in any city guide but will certainly catch your attention while you’re there: nuns. There are hundreds of them, maybe thousands of them, walking around Rome’s cobblestone streets, their kind eyes wandering around in marvel like a soccer fan visiting Wembley stadium in England or Camp Nou in Spain.

They come from all over the world and all over Italy; though the “locals” live in centuries-old convents and monasteries surrounded by blooming gardens. It doesn’t matter, though: when in Rome they all feel at home.

Click here to read more about Sant’Egidio and the Roma in Rome.

In a short, but poignant video, Trinna Leong captures the Religio staff’s most memorable experiences from day 1 at the baggage claim in Rome’s Fiumicino airport to the farewell dinner on our last night.

In the eyes of the Catholic Church, the use of artificial birth control devices and drugs are strictly forbidden. The Vatican even likens their use to the medical procedure they most fear, abortion, saying that contraceptives and abortions are “the fruits of the same tree.” Yet, the incredibly low birth rate among Italian women suggests that birth control is widely practiced. There is evidence of this, even in the shadow of the Vatican where pharmacies openly sell condoms.

Meanwhile in the United States, the Obama Administration recently mandated that virtually all employers, including Catholic schools, hospitals and social service agencies, must have health insurance plans that cover contraceptives for their employees. The most strident opponents of this policy have been America’s Catholic bishops. In light of the ensuing debate, it is instructive to take stock of how influential the Catholic Church is on this topic in Italy, the home of the Vatican.

Zoran Maksimovic at his home in Ardea, approximately 25 miles outside of Rome. Zoran built the house because he wanted to provide a more comfortable and safe place for his family than the government built Roma camp also located in Ardea. He said there are often conflicts and crime within the camp, which is segregated according to religious and cultural backgrounds. | Photo by Bogdan Mohora

The Council of Europe estimates that there are anywhere between 110,000 and 170,000 legal and undocumented Roma living in Italy based on the latest Italian census data. Rough estimates are the closest thing to reliable data when it comes to statistics about Italy’s Roma population. During the day, elderly women can be seen outside of churches, kneeling with foreheads pressed to the ground and open palms and at night hastily built shelters can be spotted along the banks of the Tiber River. The Roma of Italy are nearly as visible as the dome of St. Peter’s but Italy has been forceful in relocating their communities to the fringes of its cities.

Mira Kostich, Zoran’s aunt, and her daughter Dana. Mira holds an icon of Saint Nicholas who is the patron saint of Italy and highly venerated in the Eastern Orthodox faith. | Photo by Bogdan Mohora

In Ardea, a southwestern region around 25 miles outside of Rome and near the Tyrrhenian Sea coast, around 1,500 Roma live in government supplied trailers.  They were relocated after the government evicted them from their original camp in the center of Rome. Cement and rebar fences divide the rows and rows of prefabricated homes into Muslim and Christian sections.  Orthodox and Catholic Christians from Serbia and Romania are in the center with Muslim Roma from Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina on either side. Many Roma, like Zoran Maksimuric who is from Serbia, want to leave the poverty, crime and often desperate living conditions found at many camps and integrate into mainstream Italian life.  Maksimuric was able to make enough recycling scrap metal and eventually move his family into a home outside of the camp. While he’s beginning to put down roots in Italy, Maksimuric still has close ties to the camp that continues to be home for his family and friends.

Click photos for captions.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR. Click here to read more on Roma families in Italy.

“There’s a crisis in priestly vocations.”

That’s the general impression circulating through contemporary America.

It’s usually prefaced with concerns like: “the number of priests is dropping at an alarming rate since the recent clerical sex abuse scandals,” or: “of course Catholics are turning their backs on backward-looking church dogma.”

None of these observations are entirely accurate.

Deacon Joe Zwosta in the common room at the North American College seminary, Rome | Photo by Ines Novacic

Catholicism is still the largest single religious denomination in the United States. The Roman Catholic Church comprises almost 80 million members.

Last year, there were 467 new priestly ordinations; up two percent from 2002.

“Bearing the Cross in a Changing World” examines the passage to priesthood in America, through the eyes of one young man from Brooklyn.

Meet Deacon Joe, a seminarian at the most prestigious American seminary, the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Located a stone’s throw away from the epicenter of Roman Catholicism, on a hill overlooking St Peter’s Basilica, what’s happening this year under the North American College roof is symptomatic of the priestly vocation in the US: numbers are up, and men are increasingly conservative.

For the first time in almost 50 years, the seminary is full, and most of it’s men seem to be true pupils of Pope Benedict, a Holy See far more traditionalist than his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

“Bearing the Cross in a Changing World” unlocks some of the secret doors of priesthood, and grounds the experience of seminary formation in a largely secularized, American context.

The story of an anonymous gay schoolteacher in Rome, who navigates the complexities of his sexual preferences with his religious beliefs. The teacher, who is 28 years old, came to terms with his sexuality only last year, when he fell in love with a male colleague. Though the feelings weren’t mutual, the experience helped him discover his sexuality. It was a discovery that would change his life completely. Homosexual unions aren’t welcomed by the Church, state or society in Italy, making the teacher’s dream of marrying the man of his dreams a near impossibility.  A devout Catholic, he prays for things to change, and has found support in local parishes — but not from the Vatican.  He is part of a network of Christian gay men in the city called Nuovo Proposta that meets each fortnight, often at a Protestant church. It’s the one place where the teacher can be himself. This video was filmed in a way that his identity would be protected at all times, as he stands to lose his job as a Catholic school teacher if his sexual preference is discovered.