As holy relics attracted pilgrims and these religious tourists needed to be housed, fed, and provided with souvenirs, relics became a source of income not only for the destinations that held them, but for the abbeys, churches, and towns en route. Relics were prized as they were portable.[22] They could be possessed, inventoried, bequeathed, stolen, and smuggled. They could add value to an established site or confer significance on a new location.[23] Offerings made at a site of pilgrimage were an important source of revenue for the community who received them on behalf of the saint.[24]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relic#Economic_effect
Further, the council insists that "in the invocation of saints the veneration of relics and the sacred use of images, every superstition shall be removed and all filthy lucre abolished."
"Most offensive", he writes, "was the worship of relics.
Nevertheless it remains true that many of the more ancient relics duly exhibited for veneration in the great sanctuaries of Christendom or even at Rome itself must now be pronounced to be either certainty spurious or open to grave suspicion.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12734a.htm
And, for your enjoyment.... http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2013/nov/19/heavenly-bodies-relics-catholic-saints