Bodies that Do not Decay

      Bodies that Do not Decay - Part 2

The Mummies of the Capuchin monks

   The mummies of the Capuchin monks are a good example of the bodies that do not decay. Furthermore, the sites of burial are at times chosen in such a way that decomposition is delayed. The case of the Capuchin monks hanging like broken dolls in the catacombs in Palermo, Sicily, is well known. The bodies of the monks have not decayed although they were left exposed to the air. It was discovered that the air in these catacombs has the peculiar property of drying out the bodies and turning them into natural mummies.

   A 19th century traveler wrote about these mummies, “They are all dressed in the clothes they usually wore......the skin and muscles become as dry and hard as a piece of stockfish and through many of them have been here upward of two hundred and fifty years, yet none are reduced to skeletons.”

   The vaults of St Michan’s Church, Dublin, seem to have the same peculiar quality. In 1901 a survey was done and body of a pathetic baby corpse was discovered at this place. The faded white ribbons of the funeral were visible on the round plump wrists of the body. The date mentioned on the coffin was 1679. The scientists explained that the preservation was caused by the extreme dryness of the air and its freedom from dust. Such conditions prevail even in Kiev in Russia and many withered bodies lie in open coffins.

The Mummies of the St. Michan's Church

   It is true that there is something in the air which protects the body and keeps them intact. But it is also a fact that some bodies do decay and rot. The religion has its own explanation for this. The Catholic Church looks at it as a “divine favor” to a pious soul. 

   All of us known that, an Egyptian mummy is thousand s of years old in the Cairo museum. However, true incorruption of the body is extremely rare. Most of the stories floated about these phenomena have almost a similar structure. They mention about the persistent fragrance coming out of the incorrupt body and some supernatural accompanying event such as the presence of light around the grave.

An Egyptian Mummy

   Therefore, it follows that the nature of reality, its physical and spiritual laws and their interdependence should be thoroughly re-examined, so that the mystery underlying the “incorruption of bodies” be unraveled. Till it is done, such miracles have to be explained and understood on the basis of “faith” and Divine Blessings.

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