Manna Oil of Saints

Manna Oil of Saints

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11228d.htm


An oily substance, which is said to have flowed, or still flows, from the relics or burial places of certain saints; sometimes the oil in the lamps that burn before their shrines; also the water that flows from the wells near their burial places; or the oil & the water which have in some way come in contact with their relics. 

These oils are or have been used by the faithful, with the belief that they will cure bodily & spiritual ailments, not through any intrinsic power of their own, but through the intercession of the saints with whom the oils have some connection. 

In the days of the St. Paulinus of Nola the custom prevailed of pouring oil over the relics or reliquaries of martyrs & then gathering it in vases, sponges, or pieces of cloth. 

This oil, oleum martyris, was distributed among the faithful as a remedy against sickness. 

According to the testimony of Paulinus of Pétrigeux in Gaul this custom was extended also to the relics of saints that didn't die as martyrs, especially to the relics of St. Martin of Tours. 

In their accounts of miracles, wrought through the application of oils of saints, the early ecclesiastical writers don't always state just what kind of oils of saints is meant. Thus St. Augustine mentions that a dead man was brought to life by the agency of the oil of St. Stephen.

Read the rest of this excellent article at the link above.