The miracle of incorruptible saints

[Faith1960]

Keep in mind that many of the saints who’s skin became black was before the technology of glass coffins came.

As a result, they were laid in chapels with lots of candles burning and their skinned blackened.

St Bernadette and St Catherine of Laboure’s bodies avoided blackening of the skin because they had the knowledge to cover their skin with wax, but soon after, they had glass coffins to place their bodies in.

Even St Bernadette as beautiful as she looks, was not 100% incorrupted. Parts of her body which we can’t see, did start to decompose.

The miracle of all this is to give us living mortals hope, not for the benefit of the saint who is already with God in heaven.

Jim

Are there saints who were 100% incorrupt, who were in conditions that would’ve normally rotted their bodies?

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Are there saints who were 100% incorrupt, who were in conditions that would’ve normally rotted their bodies?

I’m not sure about 100%, but most, even St Bernadette were buried in conditions that were not conducive for preserving corpses.

In some cases like St Bernadette, their clothes had rotted while their bodies had not

Jim

 

[Burt_Macklin]

I don’t believe it is anything miraculous or mysterious, the conditions were just right to preserve the bodies.

There are non religious cases where this occurs, Lady Xin Zhui and La Doncela among others.

 

[Burt_Macklin]

My wife and myself went to Nevers France and saw St Bernadette and then in Paris I saw St Catherine Laboure at the shrine of the Miraculos Medal.

We went to Mass at both chapels where the saints incorrupt bodies lie in glass coffins.

Jim

St Catherine Laboure was preserved by non-supernatural methods upon her death and then mummified with an embalming solution when she was exhumed. I’m not sure about St Bernadette.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

St Catherine Laboure was preserved by non-supernatural methods upon her death and then mummified with an embalming solution when she was exhumed. I’m not sure about St Bernadette.

No St Catherine Laboure was not preserved through non-supernatural methods and neither was St Bernadette. The technology did not exist for preserving bodies as theirs are, and doesn’t exist today without using taxidermy methods on the body and keeping them in environments like Lenin is. Also, the convents where St Catherine and St Bernadette were, did not have the financial resources to do anything other than bury them.

Also, unlike Lenin, the incorruptibles bodies are soft and supple.

Keep in mind, Sainthood isn’t determined by incorruptibility so there’s no purpose in the Church fabricating incorrupted bodies, even if they had the means to do so.

Jim

 

[Burt_Macklin]

No St Catherine Laboure was not preserved through non-supernatural methods and neither was St Bernadette. The technology did not exist for preserving bodies as theirs are, and doesn’t exist today without using taxidermy methods on the body and keeping them in environments like Lenin is. Also, the convents where St Catherine and St Bernadette were, did not have the financial resources to do anything other than bury them.

Also, unlike Lenin, the incorruptibles bodies are soft and supple.

Keep in mind, Sainthood isn’t determined by incorruptibility so there’s no purpose in the Church fabricating incorrupted bodies, even if they had the means to do so.

Jim

St Catherine was buried in a triple coffin: an outer coffin of elm, an inner coffin of lead, and a final coffin of cypress. The purpose of the coffins was to prevent decay, and when her body was exhumed it had done just that. That’s what I mean preserved by non-supernatural methods. Upon exhuming her body in 1933 the surgeons present injected her body with a mixture of formaldehyde, glycerine, and carbolic acid. Again, nothing supernatural.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

St Catherine was buried in a triple coffin: an outer coffin of elm, an inner coffin of lead, and a final coffin of cypress. The purpose of the coffins was to prevent decay, and when her body was exhumed it had done just that. That’s what I mean preserved by non-supernatural methods. Upon exhuming her body in 1933 the surgeons present injected her body with a mixture of formaldehyde, glycerine, and carbolic acid. Again, nothing supernatural.

What’s the source for this information ?

It goes against what I have read and I also visited the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal and saw St Catherine’s incorruptible body.

Jim

 

[JimR-OCDS]

St Catherine was buried in a triple coffin: an outer coffin of elm, an inner coffin of lead, and a final coffin of cypress. The purpose of the coffins was to prevent decay, and when her body was exhumed it had done just that. That’s what I mean preserved by non-supernatural methods. Upon exhuming her body in 1933 the surgeons present injected her body with a mixture of formaldehyde, glycerine, and carbolic acid. Again, nothing supernatural.

I had to look it up in Joan Cruz’s book, “The Incorruptibles.”

Its as you posted here.

The one thing though is that the body wasn’t exhumed for 50 years after her death.
I would think normal decomposition would’ve taken place, especially where they found her clothing to be damp at the time they exhumed the body.

It wasn’t until after medical examination and confirmation of her incorrupted state 50 years after her death, that they injected the body with embalming fluids.

I had the time of her death wrong. 1830 was when she received the apparition.

Jim

 

[JimR-OCDS]

St Bernadette died in 1879, but was not exhumed until 30 years after her death, 1909.

She was found incorrupt and the sisters took charge of the body, removed the damp robe and mistakenly washed it… She was then returned to the double casket and returned to the tomb. They also placed the medical documents in the coffin with her.

She was again exhumed in 1919, and they noticed that the color of the face had darkened a little, probably from being washed. At that point a wax worker who was often hired to cover the face of dead in wax, was hired to cover Bernadette’s face. She was then placed into a glass coffin and put into the chapel at the convent at Nevers.

No embalming chemicals were used from what I’ve read.

Jim

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I don’t believe it is anything miraculous or mysterious, the conditions were just right to preserve the bodies.

There are non religious cases where this occurs, Lady Xin Zhui and La Doncela among others.

Not sure how Lady XIN was buried, but her mummified body is like a dried out prune.

La Doncela was found frozen ice.

Once defrosted decomposition began rapidly.

Mummies of Egypt, were disemboweled and filled with hot sand. They were also buried in a very dry environment which is conducive for preserving a mummified body.

Not so the incorrupt saints.

Most were buried in areas not conducive for mummification and other bodies buried next to them, decomposed but not the saints.

Jim

 

[JimR-OCDS]

A documented account of exhumation of St Bernadette is detailed here;

catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes/bb_bernadette_body.htm

Jim