Paul Koudounaris, an expert on bone-decorated places and ossuaries, has published a book titled Heavenly Bodies featuring photographs of 400-year-old "catacomb saints" from Rome - corpses that were ornamented with jewels and dressed as relics of saints. During the Protestant Reformation, these relics were often stripped from Catholic churches. In response, the Vatican had skeletons removed from the Catacombs of Rome and decorated as the remains of recognized saints. Koudounaris' book attempts to locate and photograph each of the surviving "tomb saints." The saints were once transported across Europe and respected as objects of devotion, though they may seem strange today.

1. Koudounaris’ book, Heavenly Bodies is available right
away.
Paul Koudounaris, who is also identified by his nickname ‘Indiana Bones’ is an novelist,
photographer and foremost expert on bone-decorated places and ossuarys. Earlier this year,
Koudounaris released a hardback that includes hd images of the 400-year-old ‘catacomb
saints’ of Rome, a bunch of corpses that had been painstakingly ornamented with jewels and
finery prior to being offered as remnants of saints to congregations across Europe.
During the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century, Catholic churches were routinely stripped of
these relics, cryptogram and finery. So as to counter this, The Vatican had very old skeletons
removed from the Catacombs of Rome and generously decorated as theremains of recognized saints.
Though mostly forgotten until Koudounaris published his book, the catacomb saints continue to
fascinate concerned parties; they can also still encourage religious zeal. In 1977, the town of
Ruttenbach in Bavaria labored hard to raise enough funds to purchase back 2 of their original saints
from secretive collectors, the decorative skeletons had initially been auctioned off in 1803.
The book, which Koudounaris has surreptitiously titled Heavenly Bodies sees its writer attempt to
locate and photograph each of the present tomb saints.
In his glory days (a period that lasted over 200 years before finally coming to a close within the 19th
century), the saints traversed everywhere, being transported at vast expense by the Church. They
were respected as things of affection, or conduits for prayer.
However the saints may seem odd to modern eyes (one Telegraph reporter described them as
‘ghastly’), it is imperative that you remember that those who prayed at the feet of the gilded
cadavers were considerably closer to death than their modern counterparts. In the wake of The
Black Death (which recurred repeatedly right through Europe from the 14th to the 17th Centuries),
art, literature and also worship had come to accept such ghoulish, macabre metaphors.
The remnants were regularly garlanded by nuns and sometimes located in various realistic poses,
before being secured in glass cabinets. Some of the thorough decoration took as long as 5 years to
complete, with jewelry and costumes being exceptionally grand.
Koudounaris’ book, Heavenly Bodies is available now.