(Photo is of the mythical "chains" of the mythological St. Peter inthe church of St. Peter in Chains in Rome)
I love this one.
According to Answers.com: "Before the reform of the General Roman Missal today was the feast of St. Peter's Chains. It celebrated the dedication of the basilica of St. Peter ad Vincula in Rome which was built in about 432 on the Esquiline Hill in Rome and consecrated on August 1."
Now the important part: "It was also the commemoration of the Holy Maccabees. The seven Machabees (sic) were brothers martyred with their mother under Antiochus Epiphanes in about the year 150 before Christ. There is an account of their wonderful death in the Old Testament. Their relics venerated at Antioch in the time of St. Jerome, were translated to Rome in the sixth century, to the church of St. Peter's Chains."
Holy Hanukkah! I didn't know that!
Well, the story about Antioch may be fishy. No one really knows how or when these bones got to Rome. Even after they were supposedly "translated" to Rome, Antioch and Modin also claimed possession!
You're gonna love it. "In the 1930s it was discovered that the 7 bones at Rome believed to be theirs (the Maccabees) were in reality canine remains."
The Church therefore "immediately" withdrew them "from the veneration of the faithful."
So, for 1500 years, faithful followers of the Roman church knelt before dog bones to worship and adore them. The word is "venerated," which, no matter how the Romanists try to fudge things, means "worship and adore" in the minds of most Catholics.
Or as one skeptic asks: "If the Christian God does exist, then why did not the so called (sic) Holy Spirit see fit to inform some high ranking (sic) cleric that his flock was venerating dog bones instead of pre-Christian martyr bones?"
Arf!
You can read more here.
2 comments:
I visited dem bones in 1970 in Rome. No one told me they were dog bones!! People still kiss the case around them. At the front door, one is greeted by a priest seeking money. Further back is the statue of Moses, with its few bright lights that require coins to light the area so one can see the most remarkable work, covered in dust and badly in need of a dusting. I thought it was shameful but the church didn’t.
Bob Poris
Surely the disturbing thing is not the theatrics of relics but the story (http://www.conorpdowling.com/46/the-holy-maccabees) where an easily offended god is placated with scalps and smoking bodies. And yet, this is the story that resonated with the relic-making fourth century.
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