Oil of Saints

In the days of the St. Paulinus of Nola (d. 431) the custom prevailed of pouring oil over the relics or reliquaries of martyrs and then gathering it in vases, sponges, or pieces of cloth.

[3]In Mugnano del Cardinale, a local woman on 26 August 1805 placed her hands into the oil lamp that burned in front of the sacred body of Saint Philomena and anointed the eyes of her blind child.

[5] The Oil of Saint Philomena has the status of a sacramental and devotees are usually anointed on the forehead with it by either a priest or layperson.

[citation needed] "Gregory of Tours (De Gloria martyrum, xxx: Patrologia Latina, LXXI, 730) testifies that a certain substance like flour emanated from the sepulchre of John the Evangelist.

The same Gregory writes (ibid., xxxi) that from the sepulchre of the Apostle St. Andrew at Patrae emanated manna in the form of flour and fragrant oil.