St. Barbara and Her Alleged Relics

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Saint Barbara (15th Century), Milwaukee Museum of Art, (Photo: Ron Huggins)

The following 28 saints and groups of saints (with the exception of Saint Cecilia were removed from the Roman Catholic Church calendar during the 1969 reforms of Pope Paul VI. The issue was that while they could not prove these saints didn't exist, the evidence that they did was lacking. St. Barbara is the last name on the list:

Saints who present serious historical difficulties: Greater difficulties are exhibited by: (1) Saint Paul the Hermit (January 15), Saint Maurus (January 15), Saint Martina (January 30), Saint Domitilla (May 12), Saint Boniface of Tarsus (May 14), Saint Venantius (May 18), Saint Pudentiana (May 19), Saints Modestus and Crescentia (June 15), Saints John and Paul (June 26), Saint Alexius (July 17), Saints Symphorosa and her sons (July 18), Saint Margaret (July 20), Saint Christopher (July 25), Saint Susanna (August 11), Saint Hippolytus (August 22), the Holy Twelve Brothers (September 1), Saints Lucia and Geminianus (September 16), Saints Eustace and companions (September 20), Saint Thecla (September 23), Saints Cyprian and Justina (September 26), Saints Placidus and companions (October 5), Saints Tryphon, Bacchus, and Apuleius (October 8), Saints Ursula and her companions (October 21), Saints Respicius and Nympha (November 10), Saint Felix Valois (November 20), Saint Cecilia (November 22), Saint Catherine (November 25), Saint Bibiana (December 2), and SAINT BARBARA (December 4).

The list is derived from the Calendarium Romanum: ex decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Pauli PP. VI promulgatum (Vatican City: Vatican Polyglot Press, 1969), 68-69.

Yet despite the difficulty of proving she existed, her relics can be viewed in various places, including Saint Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev: 



Although we are told her hand is kept in the Monastery of Saint Michael in Kiev.

But there have also been other relics of St. Barbara in Venice:



Below is a recent relic including a bit of Saint Barbara, Saint Anne, and Saint Carina





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