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A review by pagesofpins
Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs by Paul Koudounaris
5.0
Reeling from the Protestant Reformation in Germany, the Catholic church responded by appealing to those nostalgic for the relics of saints. The Roman Catacombs were discovered, and bones presumed to be martyrs (sometimes on very little evidence) were brought into Germany as Katakombenheiligen, or "catacomb saints". They were given veneration on par with recognized saints, encrusted with jewels, and generally admired as very fine.
Theology surrounding the veneration of the bodies of the faithful has been misunderstood from outside and inside Catholicism, notably in the instance that a Catholic woman was told to stop kissing a martyr's skull on the mouth before every time she took Communion, and she was so insulted she hauled off and funded the Donatist heresy, which lasted a century. Worship vs veneration, miracles performed by bones vs miracles being faked, authentic vs false relics, holy bones vs superstitious trash. The answers have not always been clear, even by major thinkers within the Roman Catholic church.
With the Enlightenment came embarrassment about the veneration of the corpses and the lack of proof of their authenticity, and out of thousands only a few remain. The book is chock a block with color photos of them, like a morbid treasure trove.
Delightful highlights:
-The time a pumice stone was mistaken for St Peter's brain
-The moving of a relic skeleton is technically called a "translation"
-Catholics desperately needed neato skeletons to keep people from becoming Protestant, hired Protestants to transport them and guard them, no one thought this through
-Monks and nuns gained fame and repute based on their skill at handling ancient bones and presenting delicately arranged corpses, jewels and tulle and all
-The phrase "skeletal sock puppets"
-Skeletons were coated in animal glue, which was someone's job, someone's really weird job
-The monk who stole a bunch of bodies when they fell out of favor and kept them around his apartment until the church would take them back, how does he not have his own lifetime movie
Theology surrounding the veneration of the bodies of the faithful has been misunderstood from outside and inside Catholicism, notably in the instance that a Catholic woman was told to stop kissing a martyr's skull on the mouth before every time she took Communion, and she was so insulted she hauled off and funded the Donatist heresy, which lasted a century. Worship vs veneration, miracles performed by bones vs miracles being faked, authentic vs false relics, holy bones vs superstitious trash. The answers have not always been clear, even by major thinkers within the Roman Catholic church.
With the Enlightenment came embarrassment about the veneration of the corpses and the lack of proof of their authenticity, and out of thousands only a few remain. The book is chock a block with color photos of them, like a morbid treasure trove.
Delightful highlights:
-The time a pumice stone was mistaken for St Peter's brain
-The moving of a relic skeleton is technically called a "translation"
-Catholics desperately needed neato skeletons to keep people from becoming Protestant, hired Protestants to transport them and guard them, no one thought this through
-Monks and nuns gained fame and repute based on their skill at handling ancient bones and presenting delicately arranged corpses, jewels and tulle and all
-The phrase "skeletal sock puppets"
-Skeletons were coated in animal glue, which was someone's job, someone's really weird job
-The monk who stole a bunch of bodies when they fell out of favor and kept them around his apartment until the church would take them back, how does he not have his own lifetime movie