Posted on 09/06/2013 7:15:37 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
A relic hunter dubbed 'Indiana Bones' has lifted the lid on a macabre collection of 400-year-old jewel-encrusted skeletons unearthed in churches across Europe.
Art historian Paul Koudounaris hunted down and photographed dozens of gruesome skeletons in some of the world's most secretive religious establishments.
Incredibly, some of the skeletons, said to be the remains of early Christian martyrs, were even found hidden away in lock-ups and containers.
They are now the subject of a new book, which sheds light on the forgotten ornamented relics for the first time.
Thousands of skeletons were dug up from Roman catacombs in the 16th century and installed in towns around Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the orders of the Vatican.
They were sent to Catholic churches and religious houses to replace the relics destroyed in the wake of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s.
Mistaken for the remains of early Christian martyrs, the morbid relics, known as the Catacomb Saints, became shrines reminding of the spiritual treasures of the afterlife.
They were also symbols of the Catholic Church's newly found strength in previously Protestant areas.
Each one was painstakingly decorated in thousands of pounds worth of gold, silver and gems by devoted followers before being displayed in church niches.
Some took up to five years to decorate.
They were renamed as saints, although none of them qualified for the title under the strict rules of the Catholic church which require saints to have been canonised.
But by the 19th century they had become morbid reminders of an embarrassing past and many were stripped of their honours and discarded.
Mr Koudounaris' new book, Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, is the first time the skeletons have appeared in print.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Nobody forced you.
Excellent question! Like Abraham told the rich man in Hades, who had begged him to send a risen Lazarus back to his family to warn them of hell, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." (Luke 16:31)
1Cor 1, 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.
Why don’t you READ my complete statements.
I have stated in this post you ‘cut and pasted” from(yes, I too, am an “individual’ that’s not prefect)
And not just “cherry pick” the ones you thinks puffs up yourself.
And the Catholic Church isn’t the only sect that thinks it’s got an exclusive connection to God.
Truer than so many realize.
That’s it in a nutshell.
And there you have it.
Period.
I ponder upon those verses from II Peter 3:10-12
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire?
That every worldly thing we place value upon and strive to possess will one day be vaporized SHOULD make us realize where our TRUE treasure should be. And, when we truly get it that nothing tangible on this earth (art, money, jewels, mansions, cars, etc.) will escape this end, WHAT kind of people will we be and how will this knowledge effect the way we live our lives before Almighty God??? When I first read that passage, it hit me right between the eyes and gave me an entirely new outlook on what really matters in this life.
Sure, we like to look at pretty things - but I have YET to view a painting, no matter how talented the artist, that compares to the real thing. I've seen some amazing sunsets in my life but none I ever photographed came close to the reality. Will not the creator of it all not have much better to replace it with? Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (I Cor. 2:9)
I know, creepy stuff. Creeped me out as a little kid in Catholic school, STILL creeps me out. If you think about it, EVERY religion has some kind of "miracle" which proves to their adherents it is the TRUE religion. Some are more outrageous than others, but there is something that appeals to the ones who follow it. It answers what they were looking for in some way. And in every religion in the world - EXCEPT Christianity - man must do something to bind his way back to God. Those who diligently seek Him, who search for Him with all their heart, WILL find the true way - and it IS only ONE way - Jesus Christ. It isn't what we must do FOR God, but what He has done for us.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)
It reminds me of the story I heard about a rich man who wanted to take it with him when he died.
He bargained with God that when he died, he could take a suitcase full of gold.
So the night comes, the guy dies, and on his way out, grabs the suitcase.
He gets to the pearly gates, lugging his suitcase but St. Peter stops him and tells him he can’t bring it in. Nobody is allowed to. The guy states that it’s all been taken care of. He’s got permission from God Himself.
Peter says he’s going to have to check on that but asks if he minds if he takes a peek first. The guy says *No* and opens the suitcase.
Peter takes a look and asks the guy, *Why in the world would anyone want to bring pavement?*
I thought it put it in perspective rather nicely.
“Miracle juice”???? Nasty!
Yes, but we can be grateful (and should be grateful) for what we do have too, while we remain in the bodily forms that we are. Ok --- but you know all of that and more, and really don't need me to tell you much, as near as I can determine...
Carry on. Be encouraged.
You can be sure that the mess at Vatican City will be one of the first targets Yeshua strikes when he has finished with Jerusalem and NATO.
Good story! I hadn’t heard it before. Thanks.
THAT my friend is the key! Be content in whatever state we are in, because we KNOW we have the Lord, who will never leave us or forsake us.
what an asinine statement....do you really think that God will care whether or not we were rich or poor?.....that we have some gold trinkets or not?....get real, the RCC is the church that Jesus HIMSELF founded....He will be far more interested in those that followed His call the those who followed some man made religion because they couldn't make it as a Catholic.
Somehow I missed the *decorating dead bodies with ridiculous amounts of wealth and making relics of them* part.
Matthew 25:34-40 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and those in prison are the mark of His followers.
Decorating dead bodies with ridiculous amounts of gold and jewels and making shrines of them is the mark of followers of man-made religions.
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