Report: Parishioner turns over human skull to local priest, says skull was used for witchcraft

  • Thread starter Thread starter mdgspencer
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Last edited:
Unfortunately, this is actually not unheard of in the United States, especially Louisiana and elsewhere in the South where Voodoo/Hoodoo are practiced. The skull has a ritual significance and use.

In Haiti, where the population is “80% Catholic and 115% Voodoo”, some people say there’s hardly a skull left in the older cemeteries. An Orthodox priest known to our parish went down to Haiti on a mission trip and died under mysterious circumstances (probably poisoning), and his body had to be cremated quickly to keep Voodooists from getting any part of it. Cremation is banned in Orthodoxy, but in this case they made an exception.
 
Last edited:
mdgspencer said:
The video posted with this article says it is actually not illegal to own a human skull.
Click to expand...
There are websites where you can buy them online in the US. Certain states have import/ export restrictions, but most states you can just order up a skull and have it shipped to you. I won’t post links but a simple Google brings up quite the selection.
 
ReaderT said:
Unfortunately, this is actually not unheard of in the United States, especially Louisiana and elsewhere in the South where Voodoo/Hoodoo are practiced. The skull has a ritual significance and use.

In Haiti, where the population is “80% Catholic and 115% Voodoo”, some people say there’s hardly a skull left in the older cemeteries. An Orthodox priest known to our parish went down to Haiti on a mission trip and died under mysterious circumstances (probably poisoning), and his body had to be cremated quickly to keep Voodooists from getting any part of it. Cremation is banned in Orthodoxy, but in this case they made an exception.
Click to expand...
Voodooism is totally incompatible with the Catholic Faith. Those who are both Catholic and Voodoo are not in good standing with the Church.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
48.png
mdgspencer:
The video posted with this article says it is actually not illegal to own a human skull.
Click to expand...
There are websites where you can buy them online in the US. Certain states have import/ export restrictions, but most states you can just order up a skull and have it shipped to you. I won’t post links but a simple Google brings up quite the selection
Click to expand...
How lovely, I was just looking for a special Christmas gift idea… 🤣
 
I toyed with the thought for a couple minutes, thinking I could have my very own “Alas, poor Yorick”, but unfortunately most of the skulls come from places like China or India, and not only would I feel sad that some poor Chinese person’s head was not in a proper grave and was so far from his home, I’d also be worried about how the skull was obtained in the first place, like did somebody rob a grave or worse.

There have been in past centuries saints and holy monks who would keep a skull in their cell or on their desk, to remind them that life is fleeting and soon over. Of course, those were also the days when monasteries would dig up the bones of deceased members and make “bone churches” out of them, so a monk who wanted a skull probably had his pick from the ossuary.
 
Last edited:
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

St Jerome studying. Note the skull beneath Our Lord.

Mind you, in this day and age, it would be a very peculiar practice indeed. Not to mention that trading in skulls might be forbidden by the Church or at least be morally dubious.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

I think that a standing crucifix is sufficient for religious items on one’s writing desk.
 
If the skull was used for religious purposes in another religion should it not be returned to a leader of that religion to allow its continued use? I am sure if Voodoo or Wiccans began acquiring relics venerated by Catholics there would be a huge outcry! Doesn’t this come under the religious freedom idea now promoted by the Church?

I have a personal aversion, culturally induced, to the display of any human remains. But I do not interfere with those who wish to do so.
 
First, the item in this case was owned for 40 years by the family who gave it to the priest. They own it, they get to give it to who they want, whether that’s give it to the priest or sell it to a dealer in skulls. It’s not the property of some other church or some other religion. If they had stolen it from another church, then the police would likely return it following their investigation. If I decided to give my Protestant KJV, that I own and that has been in my family for decades, to the priest, it’s mine to give him and he’s not expected to turn it over to the Presbyterian Church. This is just common sense property law.

Second, the skull being human remains, it will be investigated by the police to make sure that it doesn’t have a connection to any crimes such as homicide or grave robbing. Again this is standard practice for what police in USA would do with any skull that turned up with unknown provenance.

At the end of that process, I’m guessing that either the police or the church will probably inter it in some manner, because as discussed above it is not a “relic” that belongs to a church; it is a random piece of human remains that was gifted to a priest.
 
Last edited:
I’d rather have a crucifix than a skull.

The only time I’ve seen an actual human skull was in art class. We were learning how to draw portraits.
 
Last edited:
I read on the skull sales websites that apparently dental students used to be required to each have their own real skull to use in their dental school studies, and that a lot of them ended up getting put on sale by dentists or their kin.
 
Would you really expect Catholics, who believe that occult practices like wicca and voodoo are means of serious sin, evil, and spiritually dangerous, would help others participate in those practices by giving them an object used in them? Respect for others’ religion doesn’t stretch that far. And as much as every human being deserves respect, not all spiritualities do.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Of course, those were also the days when monasteries would dig up the bones of deceased members
Click to expand...
For the record, we still do that in Greece where the monasteries have been around for 1000 years and there’s no more room to bury new … uh … “occupants”:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
The Capella Dos Ossos in Portugal has something similar inscribed over its entrance, if I’m remembering correctly: We, the bones who are here, await yours.
 
I’ve heard people say this before, that we in this century don’t think about death. However, I don’t think that’s universally true. I think a lot of us think about death frequently, especially if we have had loved ones die. I also think the degree to which we think about death may be related to whether people have any belief in an afterlife, Christian or not.
 
I don’t want to derail the thread here, but if you would ever like to talk about the afterlife or the possibility thereof, you can always DM me. For what it’s worth, I think you do pretty well here at being honorable and keeping your word, and I think the forums would be poorer without you.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top