The first public display in more than a century of the corpse of Spain’s beloved saint who died 440 years ago has split opinion, with some inspired and deeply moved, while others see it as macabre voyeurism. Source: Catholic Herald.
The body of St Teresa of Avila is on public display for the first time since 1914. Nearly 70,000 people have travelled from across Spain and as far away as Ascension Island to see St Teresa, reports The Times of London.
For the past two weeks, the saint’s corpse, with the skull resting above the habit of her order and reposed in an open silver coffin, has been exhibited in the Basilica of the Annunciation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Alba de Tormes, in northwestern Spain.
“It’s historic as she has only been viewed by the public twice before since her death in 1582 and this is the longest she has ever been on show,” says Miguel Ángel González, the prior of the Unshod Carmelites of Salamanca who are responsible for looking after the saint’s remains.
Near the coffin stand glass cases on permanent display containing a handless arm and a shrivelled human heart. “You can see the marks on her arm where slices have been cut for relics,” says the prior. “The phial for her heart is open because when they put it in a closed one it burst the glass, which is extraordinary.”
Among the pilgrims filing out of the church, Maria Jesus Bartolome, a pensioner from Galicia, said: “I was so emotional I had to put on my sunglasses to hide my tears.”
But not everyone approves of the prior’s initiative to display the remains of the great Spanish doctor of the Church.
“It is not a good idea to display the body of St Teresa in this way,” José Luis Retana, the Bishop of Salamanca, publicly declared. “It only serves to encourage people’s morbid curiosity.”
Earlier this year, the prior commissioned a special scientific study of St Teresa’s remains, which investigated the illnesses that the saint suffered from and the unusual physical aspects of her corpse.
It follows the discovery last year, when the tomb was opened, that the remains of St Teresa were in the same condition as they were when last inspected in 1914 – incorrupt.
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Public display of St Teresa’s remains divides opinion in Spain (Catholic Herald)
