Centuries ago, the day was set aside to honor Catholic saints, to celebrate their lives and to revere their relics. What better day to send a message to the giant Internet marketplace?

"Our saints should be enjoying their eternal reward in peace, not having their body parts sold like cheap trinkets," said Tom Serafin, ICHR founder and president, in his call to arms on the group's Web site. "Our heritage and our faith are not for sale."

In a phone interview from his Los Angeles office, Serafin said his group, which includes Catholics, Orthodox and Anglicans, has been discussing the issue with eBay officials for years, but has not been satisfied by the outcome. As recently as this week, a seller was advertising three strands of hair from 19th-century St. Don Bosco, considered a first-class relic.

"In canon law, the buying and selling of relics is a grave sin called simony," Serafin said. "It's not that much of a revenue stream for eBay. Why can't they be more sensitive?"

It is trying to be, said eBay spokeswoman Catherine England from San Jose, Calif., who expressed frustration at the breakdown of dialogue between ICHR and eBay.

eBay's policies are clear: Humans, the human body or any human body parts may not be posted for auction, and that would include most first-class relics. Prohibited items include, but are not limited to, organs, bones, blood, waste, sperm and eggs. American Indian human remains, gravesite-related items and burial items may not be listed on eBay. American Indian masks and "prayer sticks" from all Southwestern tribes also are specifically prohibited, as are Native Hawaiian human remains, gravesite-related items and burial items.

However, items that contain human hair (such as lockets) as well as skulls and skeletons that are used for medical purposes, may be listed. eBay also allows the sale of second-class religious relics, which include items worn by a saint or martyr such as a sock, shirt or glove, or third-class relics, such as a piece of cloth touched to the body of a saint after his death or brought to the shrine (or site of the vision) of the saint.

It is almost impossible to police all eBay sellers, England said. At any given time, there are 105 million items for sale on the site, with 6 million new items added every day.

Several years ago, for example, some eBay sellers auctioned off Mormon undergarments. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider this apparel sacred and keep it out of public view. Last year, an individual sold a consecrated Communion wafer, an item central to Catholic worship. In both cases, eBay eventually recognized that the sales were offensive to the respective religious groups and banned the items from being marketed on the site.

The company has a staff of more than 2,000 people who spend their days looking for items that violate company policy. In some cases, the seller may simply not know the rules and will be required to take a tutorial in eBay policies. In other cases, the company alerts law enforcement.

"We work closely with various groups to help us develop policies that are well-informed," England said. "We try to be as consistent as possible. We do have some policies that allow us to use discretion on what's offensive and not offensive."

Serafin believes having strict policies is not enough. He wants the Internet company to be more serious about enforcement.

"You can have something online for 10 minutes and 1,000 people could have seen it already," he said. "We want to make sure they don't have that platform anymore. If you come back from Sweden with a box of pornography that's legal there but not here, I guarantee if you try to post it [on eBay], it will not get on."

Respecting relics is a passion for Serafin, who has been "rescuing" these sacred items for decades, finding them in cabinets where they were no longer venerated. He now has a collection of more than 1,200 relics from every age and region, including replicas of nails that Catholics believe were used in Jesus' crucifixion. The nails contain wood filings from the real cross, he said.

Rather than selling or trading his treasures, Serafin has taken them all across the country to show in churches and schools. It's a way for young Catholics to have a palpable sense for Christianity's founding stories, he said. "The term is sacramental, meaning the outward signs of our faith."

In 1998, Serafin launched Saints Alive, an organization geared toward educating people about relics. Within a year, he noticed that it was an "electronic Middle Ages," where people were trafficking in sacred objects online, just as peddlers sold them outside churches centuries ago.

"The very people who don't believe it could possibly be real are the ones who are selling it to those who do," Serafin said. "It can't be a big market share of their money. Why openly offend Catholics when it's not done with other groups?"

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* PEGGY FLETCHER STACK can be contacted at pstack@sltrib.com or 801-257-8725. Send comments about this story to religioneditor@sltrib.com.