Foi referido no programa do Olavo que o corpo do Padre Pio mantém-se intacto 40 anos depois da morte. A minha questão é: Não terá o corpo passado por um processo de embalsamento?
O corpo do Lenin também mantém a sua integridade até hoje e, no entanto, não foi santo nenhum.
You Will Be Amazed.
"The Incorruptibles" by Joan Carroll Cruz, Tan Books and Publishers, Rockford, Illinois,
On the very first page of her introduction, Joan Cruz specifies that she understands that she is treating a very special case in the preservation of the bodies of saints. First, she notes that there are three classifications of preserved bodies: (1) deliberately preserved, (2) accidentally preserved and (3) the incorruptibles. Ancient Egyptian mummies are probably the most familiar examples of deliberately preserved bodies; many of us have seen them in various museums. In her introduction, Ms. Cruz presents more details than most of us want to know about the modern techniques of embalming and its impact on the body of the deceased.
(Pages 27 to 32).
Accidentally preserved bodies include the more or less well known cases of bodies found in peat bogs in Denmark, Ireland and Scotland (page 32). Ms. Cruz presents the interesting case of Bremen Cathedral, Germany, where the cellar burial place tends to mummify any body left there. Experiments were run using the bodies of animals or fowls, hung in the open-windowed cellar, and the bodies of these animals became mummified.
The incorruptibles, however, are those bodies which have been preserved only since Christian times and their preservation is ..."even more baffling..." since it "...seems to be neither dependent upon the manner of burial nor on the temperature or place of interment". Joan Cruz makes a case for the intervention of God as a sign of favor to His saints. The mystery is "...further compounded ... (with) ...the observance of blood and clear oils" which flow from these incorruptibles. (Page 27). Her introduction to the book is a clear and pressing statement as to why the 100+ cases she presents are different from mummifying the bodies or from accidental preservation.
After her excellent introduction, Joan Cruz then presents, in chronological order, slightly more than a hundred documented cases of individuals whose bodies had been preserved from corruption after their death. In many of the cases, she provides photographs of the dead bodies, with, perhaps, the most striking and the most beautiful being that of the nun and saint, St. Bernadette Soubirous, (1844-1879), whose body has been preserved intact, "...without embalming or other artificial means", since 1879. This is a wonderful book, which will make anyone think again on his mortality, if the book is read with an open mind.