Saints whose bodies are incorrupt after buried... for centuries

[Radical]

I’m convinced that Sophia Loren’s body has been kept incorrupt!

agreed, but again there are allegations that the preservation has been aided by the judicious use of silicone (albiet, not for a mask as in the case of Padre Pio)

 

[crazzeto]

St. Silvan is a statue, dating from the 19th c from the looks of it.

Only St. Clare’s bones survive. The body of St. Therese became a skeleton. The face of Padre Pio is covered with a silicone mask. Bernadette’s face and hands are covered with wax masks. The Cure d’Ars face is a wax mask. Bl. John XXIII was embalmed. The display of a statue or covered face or an embalmed body inside a crystal or glass reliquary-casket is very misleading, as it implies incorruptibility. The bodies of the ancient Italian female saints are clearly mummified, probably as they were emaciated at death, with little remaining fat or muscle and their bowel emptied of contents due to diarrhea, vomiting, starvation, penance.

Here are some references:

Doctors’ statements re the body of Bernadette: this is the most important, as she is the main saint referred to as incorrupt:

catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes/bb_bernadette_body.htm

Bernadette died of TB at age 34, and was very emaciated at death, as her picture in her casket shows.

Also the following link, which includes others:

skeptoid.com/episodes/4126–which

Two books, both available cheaply on www.bookfinder.com (under $4.00 each, including shipping):

Nickell, J., Looking For A Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions and Healing Cures (Prometheus Books, 1993). Available for under $4.00 including shipping under bookfinder.com.

Pringle, H., The Mummy Congress : Science, Obsession, and the Everlasting Dead (Hyperion, 2001). Also available for under $4.00, including shipping, through bookfinder.com

Includes other references to false attributions of incorruptibility.

bluepanjeet.net/category/series/the-incorruptibles.

Also check the article in wikipedia.com.

There is a long list of saints, etc., supposedly incorrupt, in the Wiki article. Many of these include only descriptions from ancient times. Some have images, many of poor quality, which may been preserved as described above. If you check each name online, you also find descriptions of bodies found “incorrupt” on first exhumation, but later were found to have disintegrated, probably as the surrounding air/atmosphere changed. Bl. Pier Frassatti was originally ‘incorrupt’ , later found to be decomposing.

Why don’t Protestants, etc have incorruptibility? Protestants don’t canonize. They don’t dig up their dead–repeatedly. As another poster has mentioned, there are reports of lack of decomposition of bodies accidentally exhumed, but their preservation is felt to have been a natural phenomenon.

The attribution of incorruptibility needs to be verified by the use of modern technology and science.

Well thank goodness you cleared all that up =)

I hope you don’t mind terribly if I pray for you, God bless,

 

[Radical]

I too would like to thank 1234 for his(?) efforts in clarifying the validity of these miraculous claims. It is embarassing that Christians repeatedly assert that a miracle has occured w/o actually looking at the evidence…The claim that the Jesuits at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were protected from the bombs by Mary is another bad claim that I have seen on these boards lately. We are supposed to value the truth and should make very effort that we stick to it.

 

[crazzeto]

I too would like to thank 1234 for his(?) efforts in clarifying the validity of these miraculous claims. It is embarassing that Christians repeatedly assert that a miracle has occured w/o actually looking at the evidence…The claim that the Jesuits at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were protected from the bombs by Mary is another bad claim that I have seen on these boards lately. We are supposed to value the truth and should make very effort that we stick to it.

Certainly we should value the truth, this is something pulmigated by the Church… Mother church doesn’t take these things lightly in fact, particularly when making a claim of incoruptability.

 

[saveusfromhell]

I too would like to thank 1234 for his(?) efforts in clarifying the validity of these miraculous claims. It is embarassing that Christians repeatedly assert that a miracle has occured w/o actually looking at the evidence…The claim that the Jesuits at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were protected from the bombs by Mary is another bad claim that I have seen on these boards lately. We are supposed to value the truth and should make very effort that we stick to it.

would have been nice if you had have offered a link to your claim about Hiroshima. hard to get to your truth if you don’t offer it

 

[Radical]

would have been nice if you had have offered a link to your claim about Hiroshima. hard to get to your truth if you don’t offer it

link to which claim?

the claim that someone here claimed a miracle happened at Hiroshima?

the actual description of the alleged miracle?..it has a few variations

my claim that the miraculous didn’t happen as alleged?..I don’t know of a link that provides the evidence that must be gathered from a number of sources.

If you want to look at this alleged miracle, start a thread, pick the version of the miracle that you would like to support/evaluate and invite me to the party.

 

[saveusfromhell]

link to which claim?

the claim that someone here claimed a miracle happened at Hiroshima?

the actual description of the alleged miracle?..it has a few variations

my claim that the miraculous didn’t happen as alleged?..I don’t know of a link that provides the evidence that must be gathered from a number of sources.

If you want to look at this alleged miracle, start a thread, pick the version of the miracle that you would like to support/evaluate and invite me to the party.

i’m only aware of the story. you claim its not true. okay it may or not be i don’t know i’m just asking you to back up your claim with some evidence.

it’s unusual that there is no web site set up to show the false claims of this miracle. couldn’t find one myself.

it sounds like you have debated this on this web site a link to that will sufice
thanks

 

[Radical]

it sounds like you have debated this on this web site a link to that will sufice thanks

No, I haven’t debated it…only investigated it and satisfied my curiosity (and never corrected or responded to the miraculous claim on these boards)

 

[saveusfromhell]

link to which claim?

the claim that someone here claimed a miracle happened at Hiroshima?

the actual description of the alleged miracle?..it has a few variations

my claim that the miraculous didn’t happen as alleged?..I don’t know of a link that provides the evidence that must be gathered from a number of sources.

If you want to look at this alleged miracle, start a thread, pick the version of the miracle that you would like to support/evaluate and invite me to the party.

actually iv’e read your reply again and you knew what i was asking you. your just looking for an argument.
i read a thread you started.it was to take up from one that had been closed because it reached a 1000 pages. thanks but no thanks i’m not interested anymore

 

[Radical]

actually iv’e read your reply again and you knew what i was asking you. your just looking for an argument.

Well, with all due respect for your ability to read my mind from across the pond, I don’t even think that this is a matter that calls for a debate…it calls for an investigation. If the claim is that the Jesuits suffered no effects from radiation and the evidence indicates that one or more suffered badly from radiation sickness, then what is there to debate?..as a side note, I see you are inclined to make assumptions…that I know what you mean, that I have debated this matter, that I am looking for a debate. Please stop.

 

[1234]

I’m convinced that Sophia Loren’s body has been kept incorrupt!

um, did she die?

Or are you alleging, sir, that all of her has been replaced?

 

[1234]

I too would like to thank 1234 for his(?) efforts in clarifying the validity of these miraculous claims. It is embarrassing that Christians repeatedly assert that a miracle has occurred w/o actually looking at the evidence…The claim that the Jesuits at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were protected from the bombs by Mary is another bad claim that I have seen on these boards lately. We are supposed to value the truth and should make very effort that we stick to it.

What an obnoxious claim!

What were Jesuits supposed to be doing in these cities, anyway?

Why were they (supposedly) protected and others weren’t? Other holy people, maybe even Catholics?

 

[saveusfromhell]

Well, with all due respect for your ability to read my mind from across the pond, I don’t even think that this is a matter that calls for a debate…it calls for an investigation. If the claim is that the Jesuits suffered no effects from radiation and the evidence indicates that one or more suffered badly from radiation sickness, then what is there to debate?..as a side note, I see you are inclined to make assumptions…that I know what you mean, that I have debated this matter, that I am looking for a debate. Please stop.

you could have just replied with the first 4 lines of this post originally to my question and provided a link where you sourced this. Hard to investigate when people make claims they won’t substansiate.
if you didn’t know what i meant first time you obviously didn’t read my post as i said “your truth” in regard to you having debated this matter elsewhere i was looking for somewhere you might be able to give me some material on this topic. i guess your right i assumed you might have some thing to back up your claim. oh well silly me. i appolgise

 

[1234]

I am surprised that the Japanese gov’t hadn’t expelled the Jesuits.

I have never heard of this rumor. I find it extraordinarily offensive. I am sure that the Jesuits do not support it.

Re availability of the two books I listed, I found the cheapest prices thru amazon, not bookfinder–one penny each plus $3.99 shipping. Both came to under $9.00.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I’m alleging that the lady is in awesome shape for her age! She’s in the Diane Canon club!

um, did she die?

Or are you alleging, sir, that all of her has been replaced?

 

[Radical]

Why were they (supposedly) protected and others weren’t?

some versions of the claim credit them with being extraordinarily devoted to Mary…and that she intervened for that reason.

I have never heard of this rumor. I find it extraordinarily offensive.

I don’t find it offensive…from what I can see it simply gets repeated and expanded w/o verification, and that is unfortunate.

 

[Radical]

would you like some or are you not all that interested?

 

[1234]

I’m alleging that the lady is in awesome shape for her age! She’s in the Diane Canon club!

I’d agree with that!

And no one is alleging that she’s incorruptible!

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Lol! :d

i’d agree with that!

And no one is alleging that she’s incorruptible!

 

[Radical]

i guess your right i assumed you might have some thing to back up your claim. oh well silly me. i appolgise

Well it seems that you want to persist in attacking…what is it? Am I looking for an argument or is it that I am unable to provide any backing for an argument? Which of the versions do you wish to have addressed? Some versions are worse than others. Here is one of the more recent and more reserved accounts and here is one of the more outlandish of the versions that I found.

Here are samples of the claims for the miraculous in Nagasaki:
from Outlandish: *It was reproducible. It happened twice: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both sets of survivors were Catholic religious.
-Most other buildings were leveled to the ground, even at maybe 3 times the distance, but their house stood (apparently with some windows intact!) *

from Reserved: But in a strange parallel to what happened at Hiroshima, the Franciscan Friary established by St Maximilian Kolbe in Nagasaki before the war was likewise unaffected by the bomb which fell there. St Maximilian, who was well-known for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, had decided to go against the advice he had been given to build his friary in a certain location. When the bomb was dropped, the friary was protected from the force of the bomb by an intervening mountain. So both at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we can see Mary’s protective hand at work.

Is it really appropriate to say Nagasaki “reproduced” the alleged miracle at Hiroshima? At Hiroshima the bomb’s epicenter was less than a mile from the location of 4 Jesuits and at Nagasaki a mountain sheltered the Jesuits from the bomb’s blast. Is it really appropriate to claim that a miraculous intervention was involved in the selection of a site for a friary many years before the bomb was dropped? If so, should we declare that everyone who lived on the other side of the mountain was the beneficiary of a miracle?

Here is a sample of the claims regarding injuries at Hiroshima:

from Outlandish (with emphasis added): When Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb, all eight members of the small Jesuit community escaped unscathed, while every other person who was within a radius of roughly one and a half kilometers from the center of the explosion died immediately…Not only did they all survive with (at most) relatively minor injuries, but they all lived well past that awful day with no radiation sickness, no loss of hearing, or any other visible long term defects or maladies.

from reserved (with emphasis added): But in the midst of this terrible carnage, something quite remarkable happened: there was a small community of Jesuit Fathers living in a presbytery near the parish church, which was situated less than a mile away from detonation point,* well within the radius of total devastation**. And all eight members of this community escaped virtually unscathed from the effects of the bomb. Their presbytery remained standing, while the buildings all around, virtually as far as the eye could see, were flattened… (Schiffer) had a few quite minor injuries, but nothing serious, and indeed later examinations at the hands of American army doctors and scientists showed that neither he nor his companions had suffered ill-effects from radiation damage or the bomb.*

With respect “every other person died” within 1.5 km and “within the radius of total devastation" here are some stats from a source w/o any dog in this fight :

At 1.1 to 1.5 km from hypocenter - death rate on first day = 19.6% - total death rate = 45.5%

and here is a quote from that same source:

The location that was exposed to the lethal dose of 700 rad was a point approximately 925 meters away from the hypocentre (in Hiroshima); and in the case of the semilethal dose of 400 rad, approximately 1,025 meters. Anyone exposed without shielding within this distance is said to have been seriously affected by the initial radiation, and approximately 20% of deaths are said to be attributable to these effects. The location that was exposed to the permissible dose for human beings (0.5) rad was determined to be a point approximately 2.3 kilometers

Note the reference to shielding….the 4 Jesuits were 1.4 km from the hypocenter and I understand that they were shielded in that the Church stood between them and the bomb.