wonderful.. for those that live in Ireland we have little St Victoria in St Marys cathedral kilkenny.. View attachment 1302
I will tomorrow , cause I not sure , somewhere Blenheim way in a chapel. One of the First French priests to come to New Zealand with +Pompalliar. Not a cannonised saint , incorrupt
Oh, ok- it is probably Marist Father Antoine Marie Garin. Apostle to Nelson. His body was disinterred 18 months after it was buried & the vestments had rotted but the body was apparently completely incorrupt. He is buried in the crypt of a memorial chapel dedicated to Saint Michael and named after Fr Garin, at the Wakapuata Cemetery, Nelson.
Well - we learn something new every day - I never knew that we had an incorrupt ( presently uncanonised) Saint here in Te Wai Pounamu. Wonderful!
Well, Its a mystery. I took my then 8 year old daughter to Lourdes and Fatima some years ago and in between the two, we made a side visit to Nevers, France, which is where Saint Bernadette lies. We arrived at dusk, in deep winter, disembarking the train in the midst of a terrible snow storm. We were booked to stay at the Convent where St Bernadette had lived & died, but the taxis were refusing to take us anywhere, because the roads were too treacherous. It was getting dark, we were strangers in a strange land & we were so worried, but we went across the road from the train station to a hotel and asked for accommodation for the night. At first they said they could not accommodate us as they only had one double bed left. We said we would be happy to share it and they gave it to us, thanks be to God. The next day dawned crisp and clear & we traipsed on foot through the completely deserted snowy streets to the convent. There we found that we had the Chapel where the Saint is reposing completely to ourselves! Because of the season and the weather, there was not another soul there except a little French lady who was cleaning the chapel. What a great grace to be able to kneel just a foot away from the beautiful Bernadette and gaze at her for a whole hour in the silence! I told her all my problems and she told me some things too. I took a photo of her, not realising that it is against the law! But it is a mystery why some of the Saints are incorrupt and others not - like St Anthony of Padua for example. All of his body decayed - except for his tongue.
Yes , in honor of his magnificent preaching, 'the hammer of heretics', I guess if it was to common it wouldnt be special? I didnt know Jacinta Marto was incorrupt, any photos of her?
I did not see her, because her tomb is covered with marble. She has had more than one place of burial and it was during disinterment processes that she was found to be incorrupt. Surely a HUGE saint! Lucia Wrote this poem to her. Swift through the world You went a-flying, Dearest Jacinta, In deepest suffering Jesus loving. Forget not my plea And prayer to you: Be ever my friend Before the throne Of the Virgin Mary, Lily of candour, Shining pearl, Up there in heaven You live in glory, Seraphim of love, With your little brother At the Master's feet Pray for me.
I studied this phenomenon for a while some years ago and opened a website devoted to the subject. Unfortunately many of the remains widely believed to be miraculously incorrupt were, in fact, subject to techniques to preserve the remains and those techniques used, even in quite early times (as early as the 14th century), were remarkably effective. There was a recent study by an Italian pathologist, Prof. Gino Fornaciari, who was given access to several bodies of Italian saints and beati that were generally believed to be miraculously incorrupt. He found that several of these corpses had been eviscerated and preservative materials packed into the bodies and skulls shortly after death. It was also found that exposed bodies can often be mummified naturally for very long periods in places that are very dry which explained some apparent cases. The bodies of some saints and blesseds that appeared to be incorrupt for a time then deteriorated and work was then undertaken, so confusing matters (in fact it is generally accepted even by the most devout experts that ALL 'incorrupt' bodies do deteriorate eventually). In some cases (e.g. Bl. Imelda Lambertini and St. Victoria in Kilkenny Cathedral) what is sometimes believed to be a preserved body is, in fact, merely a wax effigy. Bl. Anna Maria Taigi's body was certainly incorrupt but she was buried and a wax effigy lies above her tomb, however most people mistake the effigy for a body. Padre Pio's 'face' has been treated with wax to preserve a lifelike look as have other bodies widely believed to be totally incorrupt. I believe that the bodies of some recent Popes were also subject to some preservative work. Having said all this, there ARE dozens of cases that cannot be explained naturally such as that of Saint Charbel Makhlouf. If you want to know more, I recommend the book 'The Incorruptibles' by Joan Carroll Cruz
I heard before of Venerable Solanus Casey in the USA who after 30 years in the grave was found incorrupt. The miracles kept coming. Finally, in 1976, after receiving a ton of testimony (literally filling two large filing cabinets), Rome accepted the worthiness of Father Solanus’ cause. In 1987, his body was exhumed from the graveyard and moved into a crypt in the chapel of the Capuchin monastery. After thirty years in the grave his body was found incorrupt. Father Casey waited until all the family had left the room before surrendering his soul. Only the nurse saw him pass away. He was speaking inaudibly with his eyes closed when suddenly he opened them and stretched forth his hands and said, “I give my soul to Jesus Christ.” It was 11:00 a.m., July 31, 1957. It was fifty-three years to the day and to the hour that he ascended the altar to offer his first Mass. He was buried in the Capuchin graveyard at Saint Bonaventure’s Friary. http://catholicism.org/venerable-solanus-casey-ofm-cap.html
http://www.garabandal.us/prph_luis Father Luis is going to be a great blessing to the world when he is discovered incorrupt the day after the miracle. He died with a smile on his face in 1964.
Thanks, Mac! I loved seeing Venerable Mary of Agreda. It's documented that Indian tribes in Texas and New Mexico were catechized by her. When Catholic missionaries arrived and found the natives already had a jump-start on the faith, they described her and spoke of her beauty. The connection was made to her, and under obedience, she admitted to her confessor that she bilocated to teach them several times a day, and described one of the Indian chiefs in great detail. How wonderful to see that she's still beautiful!!!
