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Someone is stealing the flesh and blood of Catholic saints - the questions are who, and why?
This week's theft of a tiny piece of cloth bearing Pope John Paul II's blood, from a tiny mountaintop church, is just the most recent event in a chain of thefts stretching back millennia.
They ususally involve the taking of relics believed to be saints' remains, with one of the most notable - and bizarre - occuring in 1983 when a relic said to be Christ's foreskin was stolen.
Just why would anyone want to steal pieces of Catholic saints and even the messiah himself?
Theories range from secret societies in the vein ofThe Da Vinci Codeto cloning schemes as featured in Hitler horrorThe Boys From Brazil. Subversive Satanists and "fringe Catholics" have also come under suspiscion.
But beneath it all may lurk a sinister black market supplying "stolen to order" artefacts to secretive cashed-up collectors.
The latest theft involves a tiny piece of cloth which was a part of the vestments worn by the Polish pope when he was shot by Mehmet Ali Agca in St Peters square in 1981. It had been donated to one of John Paul II's favourite churches - the tiny San Pietro della Ienca on the mountain trails of Abruzzo, Italy - in 2011.
The strange part is, in these days of growing religious indifference, it is the precious gold and gems surrounding the otherwise valueless and suspect human remains which are often discarded.
Pope John Paul II is due to be declared a saint in April. Would a tuft of cloth containing a saint's blood be far more valuable than one containing that of a mere pope …?
Perhaps the answer is contained within the stories of some of these holy keepsakes themselves.
Big deal ... the “monstrance” containing a tiny reliquary bearing Pope John Paul II's blood, stolen last week from San Pietro della Ienca chapel, in the Apennine mountains, near L'Aquila. Picture: AP/Associaciazione San Pietro della IencaSource:AP
JUST WHAT IS A RELIC ANYWAY?
From hearts and heads, feet and fingers, hair and hands … religious relics are everywhere. Particularly in Italy. Since the Middle Ages it has been a requirement that all Italian Catholic? churches have at least one object of particular reverence.
Perhaps the most well-known relic is the Shroud of Turin, said to the burial cloth that wrapped Jesus when he was placed in his tomb after crucifixion.
Not only are they items of memorabilia. They are supposed to be infused with the power of God as a result of the miracles enacted by these saints - events which are subjected to Vatican investigations before being accepted by the church.
Such objects have always been objects of desire. And relics have always been a "monetised" item.
Possession of a piece of a big-name saint would guarantee a church or monastery a steady stream of pious pilgrims - all willing to pay for the experience of getting close to their superheroes. During the Middle Ages, something of a "relic-race" developed, with ever escalating claims of evermore holy discoveries. This ranged from finger bones of local religious heroes through to slithers of the "true cross" upon which Christ was crucified.
Their theft is a well-established part of the process. Poverty-stricken remote monasteries would go to extraordinary lengths to get themselves a piece of the action. More political figures would lust after the righteous authority and recruiting power of their armies if a holy object stood at the head of their men.
In both cases, if they didn't launch raids on competing establishments to steal the objects under the guise of righteous indignation (such as in Conques, France, in 866), some would take the simpler course of action and simply make their own relics up (for example, there have been enough pieces of the True Cross to build a decent-sized boat).
This week's theft of a tiny piece of cloth bearing Pope John Paul II's blood, from a tiny mountaintop church, is just the most recent event in a chain of thefts stretching back millennia.
They ususally involve the taking of relics believed to be saints' remains, with one of the most notable - and bizarre - occuring in 1983 when a relic said to be Christ's foreskin was stolen.
Just why would anyone want to steal pieces of Catholic saints and even the messiah himself?
Theories range from secret societies in the vein ofThe Da Vinci Codeto cloning schemes as featured in Hitler horrorThe Boys From Brazil. Subversive Satanists and "fringe Catholics" have also come under suspiscion.
But beneath it all may lurk a sinister black market supplying "stolen to order" artefacts to secretive cashed-up collectors.
The latest theft involves a tiny piece of cloth which was a part of the vestments worn by the Polish pope when he was shot by Mehmet Ali Agca in St Peters square in 1981. It had been donated to one of John Paul II's favourite churches - the tiny San Pietro della Ienca on the mountain trails of Abruzzo, Italy - in 2011.
The strange part is, in these days of growing religious indifference, it is the precious gold and gems surrounding the otherwise valueless and suspect human remains which are often discarded.
Pope John Paul II is due to be declared a saint in April. Would a tuft of cloth containing a saint's blood be far more valuable than one containing that of a mere pope …?
Perhaps the answer is contained within the stories of some of these holy keepsakes themselves.
Big deal ... the “monstrance” containing a tiny reliquary bearing Pope John Paul II's blood, stolen last week from San Pietro della Ienca chapel, in the Apennine mountains, near L'Aquila. Picture: AP/Associaciazione San Pietro della IencaSource:AP
JUST WHAT IS A RELIC ANYWAY?
From hearts and heads, feet and fingers, hair and hands … religious relics are everywhere. Particularly in Italy. Since the Middle Ages it has been a requirement that all Italian Catholic? churches have at least one object of particular reverence.
Perhaps the most well-known relic is the Shroud of Turin, said to the burial cloth that wrapped Jesus when he was placed in his tomb after crucifixion.
Not only are they items of memorabilia. They are supposed to be infused with the power of God as a result of the miracles enacted by these saints - events which are subjected to Vatican investigations before being accepted by the church.
Such objects have always been objects of desire. And relics have always been a "monetised" item.
Possession of a piece of a big-name saint would guarantee a church or monastery a steady stream of pious pilgrims - all willing to pay for the experience of getting close to their superheroes. During the Middle Ages, something of a "relic-race" developed, with ever escalating claims of evermore holy discoveries. This ranged from finger bones of local religious heroes through to slithers of the "true cross" upon which Christ was crucified.
Their theft is a well-established part of the process. Poverty-stricken remote monasteries would go to extraordinary lengths to get themselves a piece of the action. More political figures would lust after the righteous authority and recruiting power of their armies if a holy object stood at the head of their men.
In both cases, if they didn't launch raids on competing establishments to steal the objects under the guise of righteous indignation (such as in Conques, France, in 866), some would take the simpler course of action and simply make their own relics up (for example, there have been enough pieces of the True Cross to build a decent-sized boat).