Have you heard of the incorrupt?

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i was wondering how much you folks have heard about the incorruptibles. please feel free to share what you know or have heard on this thread.
 
I only know what i have read jeff, that some saints are preserved in perfection in death and do not seem to decay or ‘corrupt’. some say there is a smell of flowers accompanied.

I’d like to know how the Church views this?
 
ya, i’ve read most of the book by joan cruz on the subject - that there are saints who have been disinterred and were found to have not decayed at all. and some of them ooze a liquid with healing properties and a sweet fragrance. and some move! some have opened their eyes or moved an arm.

does anyone know what the church teaches regarding the incorruptibles?
 
My sister (who spent a little time with the Daughters of Charity) visited the church where St. Catherine Laboure is interred. She is incorruptible, but I believe her hands are somewhere else.

John
 
Whether or not the body of a person is incorrupt is not necessarily proof of saintliness. Incorruption can be caused by environmental conditions in the area. The life of the person always needs to be examined. Many great saints in the church when exhumed have been found to be decomposed.
 
I second what deaconswife said. We need to take these claims with an extra grain of salt. I do think some are certainly authentic though. On the other hand, some of these bodies really stretch the definition of “incorrupt” I was very disappointed when I was in Siena and saw St Catherine’s “incorrupt” head - it looked pretty corrupted to me!
 
I also think it’s interesting that incorrupt bodies are almost entirely a mediterranean phenomena - almost everyone is french, italian, or spanish.
 
i don’t think many people consider incorruption to be automatic sainthood. i’d also point out that these are the incorruptible folks that we’ve FOUND. who knows how many are incorrupt and we don’t know?

i find it an interesting phenomenon, something cool that God does, for reasons we don’t entirely understand. has anyone read the book by joan cruz?
 
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jeffreedy789:
i don’t think many people consider incorruption to be automatic sainthood. i’d also point out that these are the incorruptible folks that we’ve FOUND. who knows how many are incorrupt and we don’t know?
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Some years ago a friend of mine had a relative in Italy whose grave was ‘recycled’ (if this is a proper term), making room for newer graves… or possibly it was due to excavation?(not sure). Anyway, the cemetery was very old and when they opened the tomb they found his body was incorrupt. I guess Church authorities started an investigation into his life and he was found to be a very pious man who was very kind and generous to the poor…:twocents:
Annunciata:)
 
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Minerva:
On the other hand, some of these bodies really stretch the definition of “incorrupt” I was very disappointed when I was in Siena and saw St Catherine’s “incorrupt” head - it looked pretty corrupted to me!
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You misunderstand what is meant by incorrupt. It does not mean that the flesh does not necessarily decompose. Even bones disintegrate over time, the bones of saints do not, however, thus they are incorrupt. In some cases, the flesh does not decompose but becomes mummified, still remaining soft and pliable. In a few rare cases there is no change in the flesh at all, remaining exactly as if the saint was still alive even to the point of hair and fingernails continuing to grow.There are other phenomena such as the streaming of myrrh from relics or the strong odour of sanctity that surrounds the relics of many saints, to the hand of Saint Mary Magdalen remaining at body temperature. All these point to the fact that the saints are indeed alive in Christ and are still actively interceeding on our behalf.

There is also the other side of the coin, the totally corrupt. There are a few cases I know of where the bodies of heretics who denied the true faith were found not to have decomposed as such, but rather had become swollen and bloated with hair sprouting all over their bodies and producing an unholy stench.

John.
 
wow. never heard of that. totally corrupt, huh?

i also never heard of mary magdalen’s hand being warm. where did you get this info? i’d be interested in learning more about it. is mary incorrupt? where is she? i have a great devotion to mary the magdalene.
 
sorry but I’m just not that impressed with someone’s bones remaining after 700 years. If that was a criteria for holy incorruption, then the entire pagan city of Herculaeneum was full of saints, since the skeletons of its inhabitants remain to this day, 2000 years after Vesuvius buried the city and its well-known sister Pompeii.

do you have a source for the story about the “totally corrupt” heretics?
 
you might note a difference between bones being preserved through natural means (like mummification or volcanic eruption) versus their preservation through no known natural means at all.

does anyone have info on the ‘totally corrupt’? i’d love to read about it.
 
Fossils are not bones but rocks which have formed in the cavity left by bones after the bones themselves have disintegrated and dissolved. They are rock castings in a way 🙂

Saint Mary Magdalen’s hand is at the Holy Monastery of Simonopetro on Mount Athos in Greece, one of the monasteries I have not yet visited but is high on my list 👍

John
 
Jeff see the links Joanna has left, I checked them out they are very good.xx
 
i checked out the links, and i don’t see anything about the totally corrupt, or on official church teaching on the subject. did i miss something?
 
prodomos,

the skeletons in Herculaeneum aren’t fossils - they are actually skeletons. Bones last a LONG time in all kinds of circumstances. A skull that is 700 years old is not miraculous; it is normal. St Catherine was an extremely holy woman and a model for us all, but her head isn’t incorrupt.
 
so - minerva - have you seen examples of truly incorrupt? i’m wondering if you have something with which to compare your experience.
 
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