The Strange
Strange Saints The Strange


The body of St Bernadette
                  as it is today.
According to the research I have done on the Catholic Church, in order to become a saint one must first pass two or more of a number of different qualifications or rather, miracles to be deemed an actual Catholic Saint.  One of these possible, but not mandatory and quite rare qualifications is that when a person dies, their body does not decompose or rot.  This, mind you, is not by way of embalming fluid.  The miraculous preservation of a Catholic Saint is without the aid of embalming fluid or any other preservatives except for a clean set of clothes and a clean casket.

Such was the case for Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.  She was born to a poor family in 1844.
After a miserable life of maladies including asthma and tuberculosis she died at the age of 35 in 1879.  Some thirty years later the body was dug up and it was found to everyone's amazement that her body had not decomposed, in fact, she hadn't even lost the color from her face.  She looked the same as the day she died and it was now thirty years later.

They cleaned her up and put new clothes on her and put her back in the ground in a new casket.  And ten years later, in 1919, they dug her up once more to find that she had not decomposed one bit.  It was at this time she was pronounced a Saint of the Catholic Church and was fitted with a beautiful glass and gold coffin and put on display at the Chapel of Saint Bernadette at the motherhouse in Nevers. 


The next  story in our focus on Strange Saints is: The changing of the crystallized blood of a saint that has been dead for 1600 years.  His name was St. Gennaro.

For the last 600 years they have kept the crystallized blood of this saint in a glass vial in Nepals Cathedral.  Twice a year, the first being the first Saturday in May and the second being September 19th, the feasting day of the saints, they gather and pray hard for an hour or so.
When they are done praying, this vial of powdered blood has turned into liquid blood.

This has been done twice yearly for over 600 years.  The only times that the blood has failed to liquefy inside the vial were times of great catastrophe.   One of these times was when there was a great plague that killed over 40,000 people.  Another time the blood failed to liquefy was when there was an earthquake that killed 3000 people in Italy.

By John McMahon, webmaster@thestrangedotcom.com

UPDATE:  One of my friends in the fringe community, Tim Renner has created a podcast about the saints known as The Flowered Path.
 It's very cool.  You should give them a listen!


Below are letters about strange saints that were sent to us.
Do you have a story about a saint?  Send it in! 
Mailto: webmaster@thestrangedotcom.com





This was sent in by Addie:

BLESSED ANNA MARIA TAIGI, 1769 -1837
    Anna Maria attained her position in Heaven by being an exemplary wife and 
mother amid poor and trying circumstances. However she was frequently in 
ecstasy, worked miracles of healing, foretold deaths, read hearts, and as a 
tertiary of the Third Order of the Most Holy Trinity, she fulfilled perfectly 
the obligations of the rule.

    Mention must be made here, Of the "mysterious sun" which she first saw in 
1790 or 91. The luminous disc, somewhat like a miniature sum, maintained a 
constant position before her. In the center of the disc the Beata saw a 
beautiful woman seated majestically, her face raised toward Heaven.  In this 
globe Anna Maria saw things of natural, normal, and divine order and could 
see present or future events anywhere in the world. She could also see the 
secret thoughts of persons who were far off. Anna Maris was granted this 
phenomenon for forty seven years until her death on June 9, 1837
 

    This and other similar stories can be found in the fascinating book, " 
The Incorruptibles" written by Joan Carroll Cruz. Tan Books and Publishers, 
Inc., Rockford Ill. 1977.        Contributed by Addie.




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