April 28, 2008

Incorruption

Padre Pio
The body of Padre Pio who died forty years ago and was declared a saint in 2002 is now on display in San Giovanni Rotondo.  While not totally incorrupt, his body was still remarkably well-preserved.  No sign of his famous stigmata was present.

There are more than 250 incorrupt bodies of Catholic saints whose bodies did not decompose in the normal way.

Posted by Jill Fallon at April 28, 2008 10:05 AM | Permalink
Comments

Could all these incorrupt saints just be really good example of adipocere? Does the Vatican have some secret embalming method? Saint Silvan is worth checking out. Death for over 1600 years. Or so claims the small Croatian church where he lies in state.

Posted by: Shay at April 28, 2008 9:20 PM

I had to look up "adipocere". No I don't think so. That wouldn't account for the beauty of some of them. Take Bernadette Soubrieres for example. http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2006/02/10/incorruptible.html

If the Vatican had such an embalming method, I am sure we would know about. I would doubt if any more than just a few were embalmed by the Vatican. Most were buried in other countries by locals.

If you don't believe that such incorruptibility is a special sign of their sanctity, I would just leave as a mystery that we can not explain.

Posted by: Jill at April 28, 2008 11:02 PM

This blog post is disappointingly credulous. In the case of Padre Pio, the method isn't even secret... Reuters:

"His face was reconstructed with a lifelike silicone mask of the type used in wax museums because it was apparently too decomposed to show when the body was exhumed.

...

The body of the bearded Capuchin monk was exhumed from a crypt on March 3 and found to be in "fair condition" after 40 years. Since then a team of medical examiners and biochemists has worked to preserve and reconstruct the corpse."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080424/lf_nm_life/italy_saint_dc;_ylt=AkBHG.HVABsid1rHIdVpQ91g.3QA

Posted by: Nathan at April 29, 2008 12:39 PM

Nathan

You are right about Padre Pio. I do know and failed to include the entirety of the story and the expert from Madame Tussaud's who was brought in to help reconstruct the face. Nor did I mention part of the push to do this was to attract more tourists to the site.

While the possibility of fraud should always be raised, the phenomenon of incorruptibility still exists.
I know there are Zen masters, Buddhist lamas and Hindi priests whose bodies have also been found incorruptible.


Posted by: Jill at April 29, 2008 4:06 PM

God is truely great.Praise God

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Posted by: Sat Anlage at December 31, 2010 8:48 AM