Christian relics that are still missing

While historians and archaeologists do their best to preserve and discover objects, many of those that are key to Christianity have somehow disappeared and are yet to be found. Some Christian relics have been lost, others were stolen, and many were never found in the first place. Objects such as Noah’s Arc or the Holy Grail are still the subject of much speculation, and the quest to find them never seems to come to an end.

The Veil of Veronica

A woman named Veronica used her veil to wipe the blood and sweat of Jesus while he was walking along the Via Dolorosa, on his way to be crucified.

The story goes that, as a result, Jesus Christ’s facial features were imprinted on the veil.

The veil was supposedly passed on to Apostle John, and by 1199 it’s believed to had reached Rome. It was reportedly stolen sometime in the 16th or 17th centuries, and there have been claims that it’s held either in Rome or Manoppello, Italy.

The Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant is a gold-covered wooden chest where the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments are supposedly stored.

It was kept by the Israelites in the Temple in Jerusalem, but then the siege carried out by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in 597 BCE happened, and it has been missing ever since.

What happened to the Ark? Not even Indiana Jones knows! Numerous locations have been pointed to as possible sites for the the Ark of the Covenant, including Ireland’s Hill of Tara, Ethiopia, a cave in Africa’s Dumghe mountains, and even underneath Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock (where the First Temple was located).

Aaron’s rod

While the tablets of the Ten Commandments might get all the credit, the Ark of the Covenant contains two other relics, one of which is Aaron’s budding rod.

The walking stick carried by Moses’ brother, Aaron, had sort of magic powers. From turning a rod into a serpent, to summoning the Plagues of Egypt, Aaron’s iconic rod is yet to be found.

Jar of Manna

And in addition to the tablets and the rod, there was also a jar of manna in the Ark. Manna was a food that God provided for the Israelites while they were in the desert during the 40 years of Exodus.

Manna might have a divine connotation, but it’s actually the name for a sweet sap found in some shrubs and trees such as Manna ash.

The True Cross

The story goes that the True Cross (the cross on which Jesus was crucified) was discovered by St. Helena (mother of Emperor Constantine) in 327 CE. She reportedly brought one piece with her to Rome and left a piece in Jerusalem.

After that, it gets a bit confusing. Parts are believed to have been taken by Persians at one point, then the Crusades happened and the story gets blurry. Today, there are a few churches who claim to have fragments of the True Cross.

These include the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem (the latter of which is actually in Rome). According to the National Catholic Register, “Today, it is virtually impossible to distinguish which relics of the cross are genuine, although the relics displayed in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and Rome’s Basilica of the ‘Holy Cross in Jerusalem’ are probably authentic.”

Joan of Arc items

The French heroine was burned at the stake in 1431, and years later was canonized as a saint.

While Joan of Arc couldn’t read or write, she did dictate a few letters (and signed them). One of these letters reportedly had a strand of her hair in the wax seal, but it disappeared sometime in the 19th century.

But there’s more. Joan of Arc’s hat was passed down through several generations, until it was reportedly burned by revolutionaries in 1792.

Noah’s Arc

Science has confirmed that the Great Flood might have actually happened, and indeed that the Ark would have floated according to calculations. But where is it?

The Arc supposedly ended up in Mount Ararat in Turkey, according to a 2009 expedition whose participants claimed to have found it.

Though another expedition in 1959 had already claimed that the Arc’s final resting place was at the Durupınar site, located south of the Mount Ararat summit.

The Holy Grail

The Holy Grail is supposedly the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. But despite the name, there is actually no description of what it actually was. A chalice? A plate? A stone?

The quest for this Christian relic has been going on for centuries, with over 200 cups and chalices from all around the world surfacing as potential candidates. Thus far, the real one is still up for grabs.

Fatima

The miracle at Fatima took place when the Virgin Mary appeared to a group of Portuguese children on May 13, 1917.

Siblings Jacinta and Francisco Marto (left and center) died in 1920 and 1919, respectively. Though cousin Lúcia dos Santos (right) lived until she was 97.

The relics in question are in fact pieces of the children’s clothing. They were stolen while on a pilgrimage tour across Italy in 2019.

Treasures

The Copper Scroll is one of the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls. What’s so special about this one? Well, it has a treasure map!

The scroll includes information on no less than 63 locations where gold and silver treasures can be found. Sounds great, right? Well, not so fast.

The instructions mention places that no longer exist, so no one really knows where they are. The texts make reference to locations such as the “Reservoir of Manos,” or “the portico in Zadok’s tomb,” among many others, making it virtually impossible to find.