Jan 19
Creepy sighting of the day
OK, this is just weird. While we were in Florence, we noticed that at a few of the churches they had some ‘relics’ of various saints and other figures. I had no idea what a relic was, so allow me to explain… it’s an actual part of a person’s body, usually a bone, encased in some kind of elaborate case that proudly displays the creepy thing. In most cases it was a small piece of a bone, maybe a finger or something smaller and was from a saint who was identified on the container. Some of the containers were shaped like an arm, for example, and had a little window somewhere along the length to display a little piece of bone, presumably where it actually would have been in the person’s arm. Here’s an example (it’s a tooth).
I find this all very, very strange. But what we saw in Florence paled in comparison to what we saw today at the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. Click with caution.
Yes, it’s a hand. Creepy.
January 19th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Funny you should mention these creepy relics. I was just reading some history of Venice and came across the story about the Venetians stealing and smuggling St. Mark’s “relics” from Egypt in 828. Having possession of his relics seemed to make Venice a religious power almost overnight. I was surprised to learn that having these bones had such an impact. Of course, St. Mark was credited with bringing Christianity to the region.
January 19th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Yup, apparently the Venetians developed quite a reputation for themselves in the body snatching department.
January 20th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
My people was very creative with this crazy staff too.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagen:10.2006_Brazos_relicario.jpg
January 20th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
[...] than the really creep relics, the Santa Maria dei Frari was a really amazing place. It’s a huge church that was built by [...]
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Did you know that after my freshman year in college I placed my infamous black jean shorts in an air tight container with some of my old thigh chafings. Surely they must be relics by now? You know I secretly stashed the container into your belongings in Venice to give you T power while abroad.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
[...] as I began to get over our experience with the creepy shriveled hand relic thing a few weeks ago, Hannah and I took a seemingly innocent stroll over to the Scuola Grande di San [...]