There's a good
chance that your average Catholic might have run into relics --the stray skull,
vertebrae or finger bones of some long-dead saint. But complete human
skeletons? And dressed up in gold and silver thread, precious gems, bejeweled
armor and sumptuous robes? And displayed
in public for all to see? Not so much.
In what might be a
spectacle worthy of a horror movie, many of these relics, on display in
churches throughout southern Germany, are documented by Paul Koudounaris in his
extraordinary book, "Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular
Saints from the Catacombs ." With dozens of full-page, beautifully-composed photographs as well as accessible, well-researched prose, Koudounaris
tells the story of the Katakombenheiligen or Catacomb Saints . These were the
supposed skeletons of Christians martyrs spirited out of Rome's catacombs from
the 1600s to the 1800s, and destined to replace precious relics destroyed
during the Reformation. Whether the bones could be proven to be martyrs or even
Christians mattered little; the fact that they were Roman was enough to merit a
trip beyond the Alps. After their "translation," or travel from Rome,
they were cleaned, assembled, dressed, bejeweled, posed and displayed in
churches in the German speaking world. Since in many cases the bones came without
provenance, they were often named by their new owners -- either after a popular patron of a local
monastery, for some virtue (St. Fortunatus, St. Clemens) or their lack of a
name (St. Incognito). These town patrons were regularly removed from their
niches and paraded through town for veneration, a few even in modern times.
Koudounaris brings
alive a time when gruesome displays of the dead were an aid to faith. Whether
you believe in the power of relics or not, the work done to them was
startling. There's nothing like seeing a skull, with jewels placed in its eye
sockets, staring back at you. Koudounaris also traces the history of the
Catacomb Saints into the modern era, starting in the 1800s, when such displays
were increasingly deemed tasteless, even to Catholics sensibilities. Indeed,
many of the Catacomb Saints now languish behind discrete covers, or in dusty
backrooms under broken furniture and other liturgical detritus.
I found the text of "Heavenly Bodies" stark, honest and unsparing but never dismissive. And that even tone helped me to inhabit the mind of those who once found such treasures to be -- not off-putting and tasteless -- but a moving testament to faith in the resurrection.
For more of Paul Koudounaris' images of catacomb saints, check this link:
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