#BreakingNews the Body of Saint Teresa of Avila is Found Incorrupt after Nearly 500 Years!


The body of Saint Teresa of Jesus remains incorrupt almost five centuries after her death
Opening of the silver urn containing the body of Saint Teresa (photo: Order of Carmel)
The Diocese of Avila in Spain announced: “Today the tomb of Saint Teresa was opened and we have verified that it is in the same condition as when it was last opened in 1914.” This is the most anticipated statement on this 28th of August, and it was pronounced by the Postulator General of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, Fr. Marco Chiesa. And it is the first conclusion reached by the experts after the opening on 28th of August of the tomb of the Saint of Avila , whose body has remained incorrupt since 1582.

The Carmelites have detailed how the process of opening and transferring the urn to the work room in the cloistered area of ​​the monastery was. Father Miguel Ángel González explained how early in the morning “the community of Discalced Carmelite Mothers together with the General Postulator of the Order, the members of the ecclesiastical tribunal and a small group of
religious have moved the reliquaries with austerity and solemnity to the place set aside for study. We did so singing the Te Deum with our hearts full of emotion.”

The process to reach the silver urn that contains the body of Saint Teresa is extremely complex. First, the marble slab in the tomb had to be removed. Then, in the room used for the studies that the Saint's major relics will undergo, and only with the presence of the scientific medical team and the members of the ecclesiastical court, the silver tomb was opened. The tomb, according to them, had attracted their attention due to its "excellent" workmanship and the "magnificent" state of preservation in which it was found, and which was given to them at the time by King Ferdinand VI and his wife Barbara of Braganza.
To begin the study of the relics of the heart, arm and hand of Saint Teresa, the collaboration of the Salamancan goldsmiths Ignacio Manzano Martín and Constantino Martín Jaén was counted on, who will be present on the first and last day of work. And the famous ten keys of the tomb were used: the three that are kept in Alba de Tormes, the three that the Duke of Alba lent them, and the three that the Father General keeps in Rome, in addition to the king's key. Three of these keys are to open the outer gate, three are to open the marble tomb, and the other four are to open the silver urn.
Before proceeding to examine the body, those present prayed before the body of the Doctor of the Church, and then proceeded to a first visual inspection, which concluded that the body remains incorrupt, just as it was in 1914. A spiritual contribution, that of this study, which is concrete in determining the state of Saint Teresa at the time of her death. “We know that the last years were difficult for her to walk, in the pains that she herself describes. Sometimes, looking at a body, one discovers more than the person had. Analyzing the foot in Rome, we saw the presence of calcareous thorns that make it almost impossible to walk. But she walked. Alba de Tormes came and, then, death, but her desire was to continue and move forward, despite her physical defects,” explained Fr. Chiesa.
The postulator of the Order also recalled that the images from 1914 are in black and white, so “it is difficult to make a comparison.” However, he affirmed that “the parts that have been uncovered, which are the face and the foot, are the same as they were in 1914.” “There is no color, there is no skin color, because the skin is mummified, but it can be seen, especially in the middle of the face. It can be seen well. The expert doctors can see Teresa’s face almost clearly,” he stressed.

Regarding the results of the studies that are going to be carried out, the General Postulator has stated that it is still too early to give details. “The Order sees fit to do this work and it will be the specialists who, after their exhaustive work, will give us conclusions. We know, from similar studies, that we will be able to learn data of great interest about Teresa and also recommendations for the conservation of the relics, but that will be at another stage,” commented Father Marco Chiesa.

 

Comments

Post a Comment