The Bones

I just finished reading a FASCINATING book. It’s Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, by Paul Koudounaris. It’s heartbreaking to me to read about how these bones and skeletons of supposed martyrs were once, so lovingly adorned in precious jewels, beautiful wire work, and hand-made beautiful cloth, and revered, in the 1800s, and how present day, most (almost all) have been stripped of their jewels and clothing. Most skeletons have just been discarded like trash. Or even those who are lucky enough to remain intact, are shut away in attics or storage containers, never to see the light of day again.

At first, I was heartbroken because these skeletons were exhumed and then shipped out to various Catholic Churches, regardless of who they were (or weren’t as the case may be). But then to hear of how lovingly revered they were by their community was beautiful to hear. And then the end, where they are all mostly gone, mostly forgotten, and no longer in any standard of respect, just crushed me.

There are so many layers to sort through. I 100% support ancestor worship, and I fully believe that this was a version of that. While the skeletons may not have been martyrs, that is what they SYMBOLIZED and embodied for the people. They were a physical representation of that linage that linked them back through the ages to the very beginnings of Christianity. And I am sure, even if most of the bones were from non-Christian individuals, reverence is reverence, and that feeds the spirit (both those of the living and the dead). And to go from such a place of reverence and love…..to just being dumped into an unmarked grave? That’s just….cruel, in my eyes.

Oh, and the PHOTOGRAPHY in this book? ::chef’s kiss:: It is BEYOND perfect. I mean, just look at the cover photo alone:

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