This is a sort of follow up to my previous post on relics and the Catholic Church. To recap, relics are most often body parts of saints believed to have miraculous power; many churches and cathedrals acquire(d) them as symbols of religious strength.
Places of worship were often founded over the tombs and resting places of significant saints. This leads us to our next creepy relic-keeping practice- the veneration of incorrupt bodies. The incorrupt are the bodies of saints that have not undergone significant decomposition. Obviously there is a measure of environmental chemistry involved in this phenomenon; much of the credit goes to arid tombs and other scientific factors. This does not prevent the discovery of an incorrupt body from having a certain mystic excitement about it, however. They are showcases of the might of God and the righteousness and piety of the saints themselves, and devout followers come from all nations to see this proof. These bodies are usually put on display in places of prominence in shrines or cathedrals where dedicated pilgrims may make offerings or leave requests with the holy person.
As you can imagine, Paris, with its deeply Catholic roots, contains more than a few examples of incorrupt bodies on display. There are five important saints in particular that are currently displayed in chapels around Paris: Madeleine-Sophie Barat, Pierre-Julien Eymard, Catherine Laboure, Louise de Marillac, and Vincent de Paul. I only saw two of these bodies, and frankly, that was plenty. They’re honestly creepy as hell; even though a saint may be incorrupt when exhumed, the change of environment involved in exhumation and other factors often degrade the corpse. Because of this, it is common to create a sort of wax skin or death mask to contain the bits and bones. Moreover, sometimes the physical body had decayed upon exhumation but certain important organs, such as the heart, were incorrupt. If there was enough of the saint left untouched by decomposition, these parts would be placed in a wax replica of the body.
Think of it as a big, nightmare-inducing reliquary. (The more ornate and individualized reliquaries themselves were usually reserved for smaller relics, such as a fingernails, individual bones, hair, or appendages.) These wax figures are often employed when there is a cohesion of incorrupt systems; if a saint’s flesh decomposed but their organs stayed intact, they would be placed in a figure instead of a reliquary.
St. Vincent de Paul is an interesting twist on one such case. Upon exhumation he was found to be incorrupt, but flooding severely damaged his corpse. Carbolic acid was employed to attempt to stave off more decay (this was a common practice with these bodies), but it did more harm than good. His bones and heart were retrieved and placed in a wax figure for display. It is currently housed at the Shrine of St. Vincent de Paul, in a place of honor above the pulpit.
The other body I saw was that of St. Catherine Laboure. It’s about a block away from the Shrine of St. Vincent, at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. My roommate and I (both devoutly agnostic) accidentally stumbled into mass when we went to see her and it was a very surreal experience. She is located at the same level as the pulpit on the left-hand side. Whereas Saint Vincent looks as though he’s about to wake up from a bomb ass nap, Saint Catherine looks like she’s about to pop out of her box and fuss at you for talking during services. St. Vincent looks like a cheesy Madam Tussaud’s with badly applied lashes, and St. Catherine looks like she’s alive but just with a bad cold. The difference is stark and chilling. If you’re a devout Catholic or just interested in creepy stuff, I definitely recommend taking a visit to see one of these bodies. It’s not an experience I’ll soon forget.
Mass was very awkward, especially since it was mixture of French and Latin. But it was still an interesting experience that I won’t soon forget! One part about this topic I appreciated was how well the shrine and church incorporated the “coffins” of the incorruptible bodies into the alter spaces themselves. It truly showed through the placement just how important these figures are to their faith.