Posted on 09/06/2013 7:15:37 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
A relic hunter dubbed 'Indiana Bones' has lifted the lid on a macabre collection of 400-year-old jewel-encrusted skeletons unearthed in churches across Europe.
Art historian Paul Koudounaris hunted down and photographed dozens of gruesome skeletons in some of the world's most secretive religious establishments.
Incredibly, some of the skeletons, said to be the remains of early Christian martyrs, were even found hidden away in lock-ups and containers.
They are now the subject of a new book, which sheds light on the forgotten ornamented relics for the first time.
Thousands of skeletons were dug up from Roman catacombs in the 16th century and installed in towns around Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the orders of the Vatican.
They were sent to Catholic churches and religious houses to replace the relics destroyed in the wake of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s.
Mistaken for the remains of early Christian martyrs, the morbid relics, known as the Catacomb Saints, became shrines reminding of the spiritual treasures of the afterlife.
They were also symbols of the Catholic Church's newly found strength in previously Protestant areas.
Each one was painstakingly decorated in thousands of pounds worth of gold, silver and gems by devoted followers before being displayed in church niches.
Some took up to five years to decorate.
They were renamed as saints, although none of them qualified for the title under the strict rules of the Catholic church which require saints to have been canonised.
But by the 19th century they had become morbid reminders of an embarrassing past and many were stripped of their honours and discarded.
Mr Koudounaris' new book, Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, is the first time the skeletons have appeared in print.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
As a Protestant raising my children in my husband’s Catholic faith, I must write that the Catholic bashing is quite unnecessary. Both Protestants and Catholics have historical issues, and they will continue to do so until Kingdom come. As long as humans are involved in anything there will be problems. To the anti-Catholics quoting scripture: A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. Peace be with you.
When I see these relics I keep thinking of Jesus’ words at Matt. 23:27 about the whitewashed tombs that appear outwardly beautiful but are full of dead men’s bones and every sort of uncleanness.
There is no reason to get nasty and insulting and try to tell me that I am not well traveled enough to be able to get over my revulsion at something that would revolt most Americans or that I know nothing of art.
If you look at this thread, it is clear from the defenses offered, that some Catholics see this Catholic shrine to the dead and Gold, as weird and bizarre as well.
Even you are defending it as something exotic and European, not American, something that a good ol American Christian conservative would have to become more worldly to learn to accept.
I don’t think “art” as you call it was what Jesus asked us to do. Yes, many of us may have that talent but if it takes us away from helping others then what good is it?
I think a balance in faith is needed and I also think that balance is something that the RCC nor some “protestant” types such as Word of Faith have.
And need I remind you what the Mexican culture has become? They are hardly representative of Christ. Art is wonderful, no doubt, and creativity is from God but it was never meant to be like this.
Disagree, GOP.
This is not how Christ would have us show our love for him. Especially when there are so many in need, then and now.
As I recall, maybe incorrectly, not all who were elevated to Sainthood were Priests and Nuns. Many were Kings and leaders who advance Christianity in their Kingdoms and the world. St. Edward, St. Constantine, St. Ladislau, St. Louis, St. Ferdinand, to name just a few.
“they glorified not their own bodies, but the memories of those who were now glorified by Christ.”
And this is where we part ways, dangus. We are not to glorify memories of the dead. The dead are the dead and have no need of anything from the living.
Only if you're trying not to understand. Is it still a practice? I don't think so - I've not heard of recent saints being bejeweled by Catholics. Is it an odd practice? From 21st century America, yes, I'd say so. But was there a reason for it consistent with Christianity? Yes - other posters have pointed out the Biblical use of expensive oils to anoint the dead. It makes sense to enshrine people that have led some aspect of life that others should follow.
-— But by the 19th century they had become morbid reminders of an embarrassing past -—
I missed the embarrassing part. It seems like excessive piety, at worst.
-— So how old does a grave have to be before it moves from grave robbing to archeology? ——
Whatever the “scientists” say. I am repulsed by all of this grave-robbing, regardless of religion. Let the dead rest in peace. What I find particularly repulsive is the display of corpses in museums. Enough of this modern freak show.
And as I said before, veneration is reserved for Jesus not saints or martyred saints. I am a saint in God’s eyes because of what Christ did and because I believe in His sacrifice for me.
Do you think Christ will look kindly on those who chose to use their wealth for a display such as this while the poor sitting in the pew behind them lacked food or clothing or decent shelter?
We are to treat the body of a dead person with care and give it a proper burial but that is as far as we are to take it. The living are so much more important. Truly, they are.
God bless,
Jodyel
What about the display of corpses in churches?
-— A great example of meekness, being humble, and taking a vow of poverty if I’ve ever seen one. -——
Read the article and try again.
Get what? Did you just read the headline, too?
No one need be elevated to sainthood by a church or religion or anything else. Ones belief in what Jesus did at the cross is all that is necessary for God to see the believer as a saint. I am a saint in God’s eyes.
I see a lot of what goes on in the RCC as man’s striving to still put himself above others and look good in this world instead of being humble and giving to others less fortunate.
God bless,
jodyel
You could sure save a lot of time and effort if you would just read the article, is either answers or corrects so much of what you post.
As other posters who love the practice point out, these are still there in the Catholic churches, for Catholics to do whatever they do to these shrines of Gold drenched skeletons.
Unless they were put in art museums for us hicks from America to be able to see as great art.
—— but this seems worse than anything that I have have heard of from any televangelist, ——
What exactly is worse than what?
Do you know that, to this day, people are buried wearing jewelry? Yes! It’s true.
If a husband chose to bury his wife with her $10000 jewelry collection, would you object? Why? Is such an act intrinsically evil?
Some pious medieval Catholics decorated with jewelry, the bodies of people who they mistook as saints. Why is such an act of love wrong?
That’s a respectable position for you to take. But the irony is that shortly after the Reformers destroyed all the bodies of the Saints, they went and glorified the likes of Martin Luther, King James, King Henry VIII, and their descendents in America went on to glorify George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Martin Luther King, Franklin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Stonewall Jackson, and so forth. And whereas the Saints were glorified in a context that made plain that their glory was the reflected glory of Christ, these latter glorifications glory solely in the image of the dead.
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