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Incorruptibility is the inability of some human bodies to decompose after death, often associated with Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox Christianity. It was considered a sign of holiness in the Middle Ages, but is no longer used as a criterion for canonization. The phenomenon is distinct from natural mummification and embalming. The scientific phenomenon behind incorruptibility is sometimes referred to as saponification, but it does not fully explain the phenomenon. Some incorruptible saints exuded a sweet smelling oil known as the “Oil of Saints” which is believed to have miraculous healing powers.
Incorruptibility is the inability of some human bodies to decompose after death. The term derives from the Catholic Church, which in the Middle Ages considered the phenomenon a sign of holiness. The Catholic Church no longer uses this criterion for canonization, although the bodies of some incorruptible saints are still displayed and visited by the faithful. In other cultures, incorruptibility may be a sign of evil rather than holiness, suggesting that the deceased is a vampire. While incorruptibility has never been sufficiently explained, some people believe it is an imperfectly understood scientific phenomenon.
The vast majority of incorruptibility cases are associated with Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox Christianity, but this is likely due to the fact that people of these faiths have regularly exhumed the bodies of supposed saints to verify incorruptibility, while people of other cultures they rarely unearthed their dead. Incorruptible bodies were considered very powerful relics in medieval times and often displayed in large glass reliquaries in churches, where many remain to this day. An incorruptible body does not exactly resemble a living body, as the skin is usually discolored and dried to some extent, so some incorruptible saints are adorned with wax masks.
It is important to note that incorruptibility is distinct from natural mummification, which can happen, for example, to a corpse in a swamp. Also, a corpse that has undergone any type of embalming cannot be designated as incorruptible. The incorruptibility does not appear to be caused by unusual soil types, temperatures, or other conditions of the burial. Some incorruptible bodies were buried alongside normally decomposing corpses, and others had clothing that decomposed while the body remained intact.
In religious tradition, incorruptibility is often said to be accompanied by other supernatural phenomena, including a sweet odor known as the odor of sanctity, a lack of rigor mortis, stigmata or martyrdom wounds that continue to bleed, physical heat long after death and movement. However, such cases are far less documented than incorruptibility itself. Some incorruptible saints exuded a sweet smelling oil known as the “Oil of Saints” which is believed to have miraculous healing powers.
The scientific phenomenon behind incorruptibility is sometimes referred to as saponification, where the body’s fats are converted into adipocere, a soap-like substance. Saponification is more likely to occur in corpses with large amounts of fat and in alkaline soils, and many bodies experience it to some extent, but not to the extent of the retention seen in incorruptibles. Incorruptibles known to the Catholic Church, however, are not particularly fat and, as noted above, soil does not appear to be a significant factor.
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