What are relics and what do they have to do with saints?
Relics are special things associated with saints. While there are literally millions of relics in the world, not all are official relics. In fact, our Church is really careful about officially naming something a relic, and rarely guarantees that a relic is authentic. There are different stages or classes or relics. First class relics are actual body parts of Saints, like bones or limbsor tongues. (Gross sounding I know, but really interesting) Second class relics are usually something used by the saint, like books or rosaries or some other special objectclothing would also usually count as a second class relic. Third class relics are usually anything touched by the saint or touched to a first class relic. Many altars (in churches just like yours) actually have a small piece of bone from a saint placed/built within them.
