Hello! I am curious: how do non-Catholics view, and subsequently explain, incorruptibility? Do you believe there is some sort of unknown scientific explanation for them, that elements in the Church are perpetrating hoaxes, that actual miraculous events are occurring, or that something else entirely is happening? Also, what does it mean to you that nearly all (with very few exceptions) of incorruptible bodies are those of Catholic saints?
God bless,
Dean
Just curious: what are those few exceptions outside the catholic church?
St. Bernadette Soubirous is an amazing example.
"Her body was first exhumed 30 years after her death. On September 2, 1909, in the presence of representatives appointed by the postulators of the cause, 2 doctors, and the sister of the community, the coffin was removed by workmen from the place where it was intombed. On opening the lid, they discerned no odor and the virginal body lay exposed, completly victorious over the laws of nature.
The arms and face were completly unaffected from corruption and had maintained their natural skin tone. The teeth were barely visible through her slightly parted lips. The rosary in her hands had become rusty, and the crucifix was coated with verdigris.
The sisters, with the best of intentions, thoroughly washed the body and reclothed it in a new religious habit before placing it in a new casket. After the official documents pertaining to the exhumation were placed beside the body, and the double casket officially sealed, the remains were again placed in the tomb.
The second exhumation took place at the end of the Process on April 3, 1919. The body of the Venerable was found in the same state of preservation as 10 years earlier, except that the face was slightly discolored, due to the washing it had undergone during the first exhumation. A worker in wax who was experienced in such duties applied a coating to the face of the Saint who had been dead 40 years."
