Her death drew much public attention. The nuns noticed a fragrance coming from the grave, the same fragrance that they said had been noticeable around her during the last days of her life and around her body after her death. On July 4, 1583, her coffin was opened. Although the coffin lid had rotted and smelled of mildew, her body was found to be as incorrupt as it was the day she was buried. The nuns washed her and prepared to dress her in a new habit. Father Gracian cut off her left hand, which he took to Avila. From it, he kept one finger, which he wore around his neck for the rest of his life. In 1585, Father Gracian and another man opened her grave again cut off what remained of her left arm, finding it still incorrupt, bleeding from the cut, with the fragrance. They took her body back to Avila. On the Pope’s order, her body was returned to Avila the following year. Her body was exhumed again, and her transverberated heart, right arm, right foot, a piece of her jaw, and bits of flesh were taken as relics at various times. Most of her remains are now in Alba.
