On the veneration of relics:

“We do not worship, we do not adore, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the Creator, but we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore Him whose martyrs they are.  We honour the servants in order that the respect paid to them may be reflected back to the Lord.   If the Apostles and martyrs, while still living on earth, could pray for other men, how much more may they do it after their victories? Have they less power now that they are with Jesus Christ?”

St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church,  331-420 A.D.