This should be fun...

http://www.livingmiracles.net/Incorrupt.html (there are some good pics)

Through history, the bodies of a considerable number of deceased Catholic Saints and other blessed persons, have not undergone the normal processes of disintegration. Without any kind mummification or embalming methods, their corpses have thus remained incorrupt, a few even after 1500 years. The accounts of incorruptible bodies are a part of Christian history from the first century right through to the 21st.

Many of those, whose bodies have been found incorrupt, had died either by violence or diseases, conditions which normally would encourage the disintegration processes rather than preserve the bodies. Some had been buried in close proximity to other bodies that decomposed normally. Some had been consigned to the bare earth. Others survived burial in such damp conditions that their clothes rotted off their intact bodies. Some had been lying in lime, water or left in the open. But apparently unaffected by exterior influences, the bodies were found preserved as if they were still alive.

From the beginning the phenomenon was seen as tangible proof of the sacredness and purity of a saint. The incorruptible bodies were therefore not buried but placed into sumptuous reliquaries and exposed above or behind the altar for everyone to see.

During the Middle Ages, churches that had one of these incorruptible saints became especially popular among pilgrims. It therefore became customary to exhume all candidates for beatification and canonization (the various steps on the way to sainthood).

Because of the Vatican’s quite strict canonization process, these exhumations have usually been witnessed with oaths and affidavits by ordinary working people as well as respectable doctors and medical specialists. The phenomenon is therefore among the most thoroughly documented of all alleged miracles.

Disregarding the irrational elements and proven frauds, there is enough evidence of remarkable occurrences surrounding the incorruptibles to take the phenomenon seriously. It hasn’t been systematically examined by science and no rational explanations have yet been offered. The devout therefore continue believing that the bodies of these individuals have been miraculously preserved by God because of their sacredness and purity - as a reminder of their wonderful deeds.

Other supernatural characteristics usually related to incorruptibles are: an absence of rigor mortis; a persistent pleasant fragrance emanating from the body; in rare cases a bleeding long after death (from stigmata wounds or injuries suffered in martyrdom); in a few cases bodies have been warm long after death; even more rarely there has been some kind of ritualized movement of the limbs (for example, giving a blessing or even talking), which cannot be accounted for by mere contraction of muscles.

Secret or long-forgotten burial places of incorruptible saints have often been revealed to the discoverers by dreams or visions. Sometimes the discovery has been caused by unusual noises or a strange light emanating from the burial place. Long-dead bodies, or their remaining parts, have sometimes exuded a fragrant, clear oil known as “Oil of Saints” or “Manna Oil of Saints”. This liquid, as well as any relic related with the incorruptible saints, like blood or clothing, are usually attributed great powers of healing.

This is just creepy more than anything. I'm sure a millenia worth of Church secrecy has absolutely nothing to do with this.

Ok. One vote conspiracy - check...

who's next?

Dude, you're trying to prove the existence of a Christian God through a Catholic website dedicated to random supernatural occurrences. The Catholic Church has a history of perpetuating false myths and hiding or denying the facts. There's no reason to believe anything that they say.

uh, i don't think so.

wouldn't this be huge national news if true, not just some lame website?

fake. check.

yep, what this guy said.

Does this mean no one with a medicle background has checked this out?

No. I'm not trying to prove anything. I didn't say that this proved anything about anything. I just wanted to see everyone's reaction.

This isn't some just random thing, though, you guys. There are at least ten of these bodies that are on display that you could go see TODAY. I'm just curious as to the explanation of it.

Nobody needs a medical background to see that those bodies are NOT eroding like normal bodies.

But they do if they want to see if they have been tampered with.

International Cemetary and Funeral Association

http://www.icfa.org/6.05_vatican2.htm

Doesn't prove anything, either. But it's still an interesting read.

This is the best article i've seen yet. It's the most unbiased one (either way) that i have read.

http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/15 ... rved.shtml

First of all, this falls under the category of "I'd have to see it to believe it".

Second of all, how exactly do we know if there is no embalming involved?

Third of all, doesn't the bible say "to dust ye shall return"? And doesn't the catholic church teach that the body is merely a temporary residence for the soul ( they do allow cremation now, after all). If you believe this is divine, what purpose does preserving a "soulless" body have?

If anything, this disproves God:

All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return."

Genesis 3:19

I don't really think it proves or disproves anything. Nobody is claiming that they know WHY this phenomenon takes place...only that it does take place.

I don't have a clue what this is about. I just think it's odd. I would also have to see it to believe it.

I like spontaneous combustion better.

So regular embalming would not let these people be perfectly preserved?

Maybe they lack some bodily protein that would allow them to decompose as usual. Or they don't stop producing something when they die. Or since they were saints, they never had sex, and the juices just never got flowing

I bet there is some biological explanation, but no one does research because it doesn't really really harm anyone.

any website that makes mention of Padre Pio, stories of stimata, and whatever other nonsense is on there as well as having no real information on it regarding the origin, who the people running it are, nor the basic reason for the existence of the website itself gets little to no credibility to me. I even googled it and it came up with just some film 'documentaries' about the same thing.

It's no different than a dyanetics website in my opinion. or maybe the John titor website.

There is plenty of other info out there about it.

So what are you saying? That these bodies don't exist because these websites are bogus?

What about the body of St. Bernadette or St. Catherine Leboure and the dozen or so others that are on display and seen by thousands of people every year?

I'm saying a shitty website isn't doing much for your case.

And you are trying to put this forth as viable, yet you're using religious propaganda in order to do so.