relic

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Something that has survived the passage of time, especially an object or custom whose original culture has disappeared.
• noun Something cherished for its age or historic interest.
• noun An object kept for its association with the past; a memento.
• noun An object of religious veneration, especially a piece of the body or a personal item of a saint.
• noun A corpse; remains.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun That which remains; that which is left after the consumption, loss, or decay of the rest.
• noun The body of a deceased person; a corpse, as deserted by the soul.
• noun That which is preserved in remembrance; a memento; a sonvenir; a keepsake.
• noun An object held in reverence or affection because connected with some sacred or beloved person deceased; specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Gr. Ch., and some other churches, a saint's body or part of it, or an object supposed to have been connected with the life or body of Christ, of the Virgin Mary, or of some saint or martyr, and regarded therefore as a personal memorial worthy of religions veneration.
• noun Something dear or precious.
• noun A monument.
• noun Synonyms Remains, Relics. The remains of a dead person are his corpse or his literary works; in the latter case they are, for the sake of distinction, generally called literary remains. We speak also of the remains of a feast, of a city, building, monument, etc. Relics always suggests antiquity; as, the relics of ancient sovereigns, heroes, and especially saints. The singular of relics is used; that of remains is not.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun That which remains; that which is left after loss or decay; a remaining portion; a remnant.
• noun The body from which the soul has departed; a corpse; especially, the body, or some part of the body, of a deceased saint or martyr; -- usually in the plural when referring to the whole body.
• noun Hence, a memorial; anything preserved in remembrance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun That which remains; that which is left after loss or decay; a remaining portion.
• noun Something old kept for sentimental reasons.
• noun religion A part of the body of a saint, or an ancient religious object, kept for veneration.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun something of sentimental value
• noun an antiquity that has survived from the distant past