The Body of a Saint and burial

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LauraB1

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In the CC 23002301it talks about the respect and treatment of the body for burial for the hope of resurrection. How is it ok to separate body parts of Saints to use as relics and such as the case of Saint Catherine of Sienna’s severed head kept seperate from her whole body? Or bone fragments for relics! Is this ok?
 
Apparently, it is OK as long as they are reverenced or the Church wouldn’t be doing it. I can’t speak about St. Catherine as I don’t know her situation, but I do know that sometimes heads are separated from the body in order to keep the heads safe from desecration. This was done with Sts. Peter and Paul during the Christian persecutions prior to Constantine, and during the Muslim invasion of Rome in the 9th century. This is why their heads are in St. John Lateran and their bodies are under St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Paul Outside the Walls, respectively. St. John Lateran is inside the walled city of Rome, and had better protection than the original resting places of the two Apostles.
 
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The custom of venerating the earthly remains of a Saint go back thousands of years. Christians have the examples of the remains of the Prophet Elisha who miraculosely revive a dead man whose body touched the bones.
Also Moses took the bones of Joseph the son of Jacob when he departed Egypt, carrying them throughout the exodus until they reached the promised land of Israel. So as you can see it is hardly a matter of lack of respect. In fact many protestants accuse Catholics of necromancy precisely for this customs. But as you see they are deeply rooted from the Jewish roots of the faith.
Did you know that it is a custom to place a relic under the altar of the Church?
So yes it is ok, it is older than Christianity itself.
 
The taking of relics is considered respectful by the Church and I presume it is done in a respectful way. The relics are certainly venerated after having been taken. The Church also has churches where everything is built with the bones of the dead. I don’t see that as disrespectful either.
 
The church considers it respectful and I think it is cool.
 
When St Catherine of Siena died in Rome, her hometown of Siena, Italy, wanted her body. Realizing they would probably get caught if they took her whole corpse, the Siena thieves decided that it would be safer if they just took her head.
When they were stopped on their way out by guards outside of Rome, they said a quick prayer, asking for St. Catherine of Siena’s intercession. The guards opened the bag and did not find the dead head of St. Catherine, but a bag full of rose petals. Once the thieves were back in Siena, Catherine’s head re-materialized, one of the many miracles attributed to the saint.
The head of St. Catherine of Siena was placed in a reliquary in the Basilica of St. Dominic in Siena, where it can still be venerated today, along with her thumb. Her body remains in Rome, her foot is venerated in Venice.
I’ve been to the Basilica of St Dominic and felt a sense of peace looking at the metal box containing her head and praying for her intercession.
 
That is all so interesting! Thank you for sharing👍Saint Catherine pray for us! God bless🙏
 
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