Dec 16, 2017
St Maximus in Bürglen, Switzerland, a patron of the poor.
ph: Paul Koudounaris
from 'Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs' These bodies, mistaken for the remains of martyrs, were imported by the dozen for churches in Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria, mostly in the XVII and XVIII centuries. They were articulated in suitable poses, clad in gems and displayed in glazed niches for popular devotion. At first they seem deliberately grotesque, a memento mori. But the author, Paul Koudounaris, insists that on the contrary, the intention was to give them the highest dignity by ornamenting them with gems mentioned in the Book of Revelation’s description of the heavenly Jerusalem.
