Relick Sunday (or Relic Sunday) is a

moveable feast A moveable feast is an observance in a Christian liturgical calendar which occurs on different dates in different years. It is the complement of a fixed feast, an annual celebration that is held on the same calendar date every year, such as Chri ...

in the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

calendar celebrated in mid July on the third Sunday after

Midsummer's day Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of European or ...

. The feast celebrated Christian

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

s of all kinds, in which offerings were given to relics. In England (Use of Sarum), the feast of relics fell in earlier times on the octave day of the nativity of blessed Mary (September 15), but in 1252 it was moved to the first Sunday after the Feast of the Translation of St. Thomas, therefore on the Sunday falling within July 8-14. A manuscript from the late fifteenth century carrying a sermon entitled ''In festo Reliquarum'' describes its commemoration:London, British Library, Harley MS 2247, f. 169v. Punctuation and spelling are slightly modernized from the original. "Worshipfull frendis, on Sunday next commyng shall be the holy fest of all relykis (called Relike Sonday), which that be left here in erth to the grete magnificence, honour and worship of god and profite to man bothe bodily and gostily, for in as much as we be in sufficient to worship and reuerence singulerly all reuerent Relikis of all seyntis left here in erth, for it passith mannis power. Wherefore holy Chirch in especiall the Chirch of Yngelonde hathe ordeynd this holy Fest to be worshipped the next Sonday aftir the translacion of seint Thomas of Cauntirbery yerely to be hallowed and had in reuerence." The Exeter Ordinal places this feast on Monday after the Feast of the Ascension.

References

Christian Sunday observances July observances {{Christianity-stub