Incorruptibility is the property of a (usually human)
non-decomposed corpse after death, despite not having been embalmed and
preserved in any way.
Incorrupt bodies of saints
The Catholic Church, among others, has traditionally considered
the cadaverous incorruptibility of certain characters, particularly saints and
blessed, as a miraculous sign of his holiness and for this reason there are
many corpses called uncorrupted venerated in Catholic shrines. The belief that
an uncorrupted body was a sign of divine grace is found in the Western world since at
least the Middle Ages.
The idea of the uncorrupted body usually gives rise to
the idea that these bodies are kept more or less as they were at the time of
death. The corpses are often publicly exposed and they have layers of wax
coated to help prevent further deterioration of the corpse led by exposure. Some
bodies are exposed in their natural state and the deterioration is appreciable.
There are also incorrupt bodies that have not received
any treatment and keep well and others that some parts of their bodies have
become corrupted, some parts have endured (the case of St. Anthony of Padua-of
which the only remains uncorrupted is the tongue, St. Catherine of Siena, whose
head is still preserved without rotting, Santa Margarita - whose brain remains
intact).
-There are certain phenomena or characteristics that
occur when a body is incorrupt:
- Odor
The phenomenon, known by the technical name of
osmogenesia, consists on the releasing of a nice and soft scent of the mortal
body of saints or of the graves where his/her relics lie.
- Flexibility
The preserved bodies by mummification, whether natural
or artificially induced, show no flexibility phenomenon in regular
bodies. They are hard and rigid bodies. The stiffening on the members begins
within hours of death. Most incorrupt saints don’t suffer this rigidity; they remain
flexible for many centuries.
- Blood
Another phenomenon that defies scientific explanations
is the emanation of fresh blood that comes from a good number of these bodies,
many years after their death.
- Oil
In some cases oil flows from the uncorrupted bodies from time to time . It is said that these same oils preserves the body.
There will always be skeptics about this topic, people
without faith(not religious faith) on anything. Even if God himself would come down from heaven, this people will still refuse the existence of miracles... even if a miracle punch them in the face (so to speak). It's great to question things ... with an open mind. " What if..." will take our minds to many places.
I mean I believe in miracles, magic and reason, but
why be an extremist? All or nothing? Some people question: why these bodies are
not in perfect conditions, why some of them have a thin layer of wax, why some
of the bodies wear masks if they are Saints!?. The reason is simple; they are delicate bodies.
These bodies have been uncorrupted for centuries! Of course that these bodies
will start to deteriorate and of course you have to help the bodies to stay in one
piece with wax. If you buy a 100 year old antique, you will probably put it in a box or
inside a glass cloche/bell glass to preserve it for more centuries, that’s what
the church did with the bodies.
I think it’s very important in life to be
an open minded person, you have your own beliefs but you have to consider other
possibilities. To the people that repeat “Religion is the opium of the
people" I say to them: “Hate is the blindness of the people”. Just
because most of these stories are related to the Church, why should
non-believers brand them as fake? There are so many mysteries and so many
things that mankind ignores ... just because we can't explain it with reason,
it doesn't mean it's not real.
+My question to you is: Do you think this bodies are trying to say something?
Thank you for reading this post. I hope to read your comments and if you liked it, share it to the world!
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