Book about Jewel Encrusted Skeleton ‘Saints’ released to vast enjoyment

Paul Koudounaris, who’s also known by his nickname ‘Indiana Bones’ in known as an writer, photographer and leading specialist on bone-decorated places and ossuarys. Earlier this year, Koudounaris released a book that includes high definition images of that 400-year-old ‘catacomb saints’ of Rome, a bunch of corpses that had been carefully adorned with jewelry and finery before being presented as ruins of saints to congregations across Europe.

During the Protestant Overhaul of that 16th Century, Catholic church buildings were routinely stripped of their relics, cryptogram and finery. In order to counter this, The Vatican had antique skeletons removed out of the Catacombs of Rome and generously adorned as the remnants of acknowledged saints.

Though mostly forgotten until Koudounaris published his book, the catacomb saints continue to fascinate concerned parties; they can also still inspire religious zeal. In 1977, the town of Ruttenbach in Bavaria worked hard to raise sufficient funds to purchase back 2 of their original saints from confidential collectors, the decorative skeletons had initially been auctioned off in 1803.

The book, which Koudounaris has surreptitiously titled ‘Heavenly Bodies’ sees its writer try to find and photograph each of these existing catacomb saints.

In their prime (a period that lasted over 200 years before finally coming to a close in the nineteenth century), the saints traversed in all places, being transported at great expense by the Church. They were adored as things of care, or conduits for prayer.

Though the saints could appear unusual to modern eyes (one Telegraph reporter described them as ‘ghastly’), it’s imperative that you understand that those who prayed at the feet of those gilded cadavers were considerably nearer to death than their modern counterparts. In the wake of The Black Death (which recurred regularly throughout Europe from the 14th to the 17th Centuries), art, literature and also worship had moved to accept such ghoulish, macabre images.

The remnants were regularly decked out by nuns and sometimes positioned in a range of natural poses, before being secured in glass cabinets. Some of the thorough decoration took as long as five years to complete, with jewellery and costumes being acutely grand.

Koudounaris’ book, ‘Heavenly Bodies’ is out there now.  

Book about Jewel Encrusted Skeleton ‘Saints’ released to vast enjoyment