venerating

The cold morning breeze and the reverent atmosphere (marshals made sure there was no picture-taking near the reliquary) made venerating more peaceful, calm and holy, befitting the holiness and humility of one of the most popular and revered contemporary saints.

The prospect of venerating dogs or folk heroes troubled some church leaders.

In the past, people of many nations around the world have experienced joy and peace in venerating these relics.

In the past people of many nations around the world as far afield as Russia, the USA, Iraq and Ireland, have experienced joy and peace in venerating these relics.

Yet that same opinion sparked a furious dissent from Justice Antonin Scalia, who asserted there is nothing wrong with the government "favoring religion generally, honoring God through public prayer and acknowledgement, or, in a nonproselytizing manner, venerating the Ten Commandments."

Some of the subjects attracted venerating followers, others performed their spiritual deeds in private.

While the custom of venerating relics may seem strange to the rationalist believer or even to Protestants who, following Luther, rejected the Church's sacramental system reducing religion pretty much to the reading of the Bible, for the Catholic Christian it seems the most normal and logical consequence of the Faith.

Yet Kammen surveys much more than such prominent instances of venerating (and sometimes ignoring) our past.