Amazing!
Beautiful .... but not quite incorruptible. The body has been preserved with help from the wax sculptor’s art.
“As part of the canonization process, her body was exhumed three separate times, in 1909, 1919, and finally in 1925, when she was moved to the crystal casket. Her body was pronounced by the church as officially “incorrupt,” but it seems the qualifications for that term may have been somewhat lax. In the words of the attending doctor in 1919: “The body is practically mummified, covered with patches of mildew and quite a notable layer of salts, which appear to be calcium salts... The skin has disappeared in some places, but it is still present on most parts of the body.”
“After a few ribs were removed to be sent to Rome as relics, it was decided that the “blackish color” of her face might be off-putting to pilgrims, and so a “light wax mask” was in order. Her new face and hands were designed by Pierre Imans, a designer of fashion mannequins in Paris.”
http://atlasobscura.com/place/not-quite-incorruptible-st-bernadette-lourdes
Having been raised a Roman Catholic, I am familiar with the stories of “saint’s relics” that turned out to be false. Some of them were honest mistakes, and some of them were outright frauds, designed to fleece gullible pilgrims. It’s wonderful that Bernadette’s body is still intact, for the most part. But it is not incorruptible.
I need to hear a second (medical) opinion.
This is scientifically impossible.
Just WOW!
People all agog over this have no business calling other people’s religions weird IMHO.