Incorruptible Saints Somehow Remain Preserved After Death

We tend to imagine our incorruptible saints in a state of miraculous preservation. In many cases, incorruptible saints have been miraculously preserved and remained in such a state for decades.

But the ravages of time eventually have an effect on a human body — even a saintly one. While some of the incorruptible saints have taken on a mummy-like appearance over the centuries, the fact that their bodies remain in one piece is something of a mystery. At the very least, it's difficult to explain.

Over known history, the Catholic church has exhumed over 300 bodies of saints which they claim to be immune to the normal decomposition process.

However, many of these supposedly incorrupt bodies have been lost to time. Some have become subject to rot and had to have their face replaced with a wax mask, and some have been reduced to mere skeletons today.

In the 1970's, Catholic author Joan Carroll Cruz brought a renewed interest in the concept of incorrupt saints with her book "The Incorruptibles: A Study of the Incorruption of the Bodies of Various Catholic Saints and Beati." According to Cruz, the more than 100 examples of delayed decomposition in the book reinforced her Catholic faith, although skeptics would not likely be swayed be them.

Fraud

Some cases of incorruptibility have been revealed as fraudulent. In other cases where incorruptibility actually did exist, it was further preserved later by embalming the corpse.

In the 20th century, the Catholic Church discontinued the practice of using incorruptibility as a prerequisite for sainthood. The Church wasn't responding so much to the fraud of some cases, but to the cases in which incorruptible corpses didn't extol Catholic piety.

Corruptible and Preserved

Members of other religions have been discovered in uncorrupted states. And at least one case of incorruptibility was discovered in a person who clearly hadn't exactly lived a saintly life.

Cardinal Shuster, an Italian archbishop, had been a fascist and friend of dictator Benito Mussolini. His corpse was found uncorrupted 31 years after his death [source: Fortean Times].

1. St. Catherine of Bologna

It's easy to dismiss a corpse that's been mummified as a fraudulent incorruptible. Other instances aren't as cut and dry. Saint Catherine of Bologna died in 1463 and was buried casketless in the ground. After a few weeks, she was dug up, showing no signs of decay.

This didn't exactly convince anyone she was incorruptible, but the fact that she's been on display since 1500 suggests something pretty mysterious at work. Saint Catherine is seated in a chair among candles at the monastery chapel of Poor Clares (a Catholic sisterhood she oversaw) in Bologna, Italy.

Even though her skin is browned and her appearance is a little shriveled, her continued physical preservation hasn't been explained by science. Saint Silvan is another miracle incorruptible example, although some skeptics believe the body on display is a statue or wax figure.

2. St. Silvan

St. Silvan is on display at the Church of St. Blaise in Dubrovnik, Croatia. He was martyred in the 4th century. After nearly 1,700 years, his body remains intact. His eyebrows are still in place, and his curly hair remains in place. His life like face has retained a remarkable amount of natural color, as have his lips.

3. St. John Vianney

Saint John Vianney was a French priest who lived in a turbulent time for France. During his life, Vianney saw Catholicism banned during the French revolution, then reinstated by Emperor Napoleon in 1802. He himself got drafted by Napoleon to fight against Spain in the Peninsular War.

Unlike other incorrupt saints, Vianney's body is not preserved in full today but rather just his "sacred heart" which is kept in an ornate golden and glass case. The heart is mostly intact nearly 200 years after his death, but has taken on a blackened appearance, suggesting some decay has taken place.

4. St. Bernadette

Perhaps the most famous incorruptible is a young shepherdess, Saint Bernadette. She died at age 35 and achieved acclaim among Catholics for having been visited by the Virgin Mary. The Virgin instructed Bernadette to dig in a spot at Lourdes, France. A well sprung up and came to be regarded by Catholic pilgrims as a healing place.

Bernadette died in 1879 and was exhumed under candidacy of beatification in 1909. The saint's body was uncorrupted. She was reinterred in her crypt and dug up again in 1919 and 1923.

Upon the third exhumation, she was dissected. Her organs were still soft and malleable [source: Fortean Times]. She was placed on display in a reliquary, where she remains today, at the convent of St. Gildard at Nevers, France.

Bernadette stands (or lies) as a sterling example of incorruptibility. But her corpse also provides ammunition for skeptics. Her hands and face appear incredibly lifelike, but this is due to a wax covering. Beneath the waxy exterior, her skin has browned.

While there's no scientific explanation for why her body would have resisted decomposition without the aid of embalming or environmental conditions, she shows that all human bodies will eventually rot. Just how long that normal process takes, however, may depend on any number of factors.