Spectacular Even in Death – Jeweled Skeletons of the Catacomb Saints
What do you do when you’ve got a catacomb full of purported martyrs’ skeletons, and you want to remind the faithful of the heavenly treasures awaiting them? You bedazzle those bones with jewels, and then display the results in shrines! And when skeptics question the skeletons’ provenance and the gaudy display, you hide them away until someone comes along and writes a book … This all goes back to 1578, when thousands of skeletons were found in the Roman catacombs; the remains were assumed to be early Christian martyrs, and so they were packed up and sent to “many Catholic churches…