For those of you who remember my aborted dissertation topic, you know that I just can’t resist a story about corpses and spectacle. This article would have made excellent fodder for my analysis:
Some 15,000 worshippers gathered yesterday at the shrine of the Roman Catholic saint and mystic Padre Pio, as his exhumed body went on display for the first time since his death almost 40 years ago.
More than a million people are expected to file past a transparent casket holding his restored corpse between now and September 2009. Catholic practice allows for the remains of saints to be exhumed, checked for their state of deterioration and exhibited as relics for veneration.
Like I always say: “if you’re going to follow a religion, let it be decadent and grotesque.” Actually, I guess I always say “decadent and corrupt,” but I’m officially adding “grotesque” to the mix.
