The Catholic Church is no stranger to the macabre, and holy relics are no exception. One of the most captivating displays of saintly relics within the Church is the severed head of Saint Catherine of Siena.

“We do not worship, we do not adore, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the Creator, but we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore Him whose martyrs they are.” – Saint Jerome

Saint Catherine of Siena was a legendary mystic who is attributed with many miraculous occurrences throughout her short life. She was well known for receiving the stigmata, having divine visions, and even on occasion having the ability to levitate while praying. 

Saint Catherine died at the age of 33, and was laid to rest in the cemetery near Santa Maria sopra Minerva church in Rome. However, her devotees couldn’t bear to see her final resting place so far from her hometown. Blessed Raymond of Capua arranged to send her body back to Siena, but had to do so in secret as he didn’t have permission to disperse her remains.

Her head was placed in an ornate gilded reliquary within the nave of the Basilica of San Domenico in Siena, where it remains today. When the remains were x-rayed in 1947, they found no vertebrae attached to the base of skull, lending credence to the theory of how it was removed from her body.

Saint Catherine of Siena was canonized by Pope Pius II in 1461. In 1970, she was given the title of she was give title of Doctor of the Church because of her considerable contributions to the church in the 14th century. Today thousands visit Siena ever year to view one of the most macabre relics within the Church.

Photo credit: Giovanni Cerretani via Wikimedia Commons
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6 COMMENTS

  1. A belief is only true to the believer.how do you know that’s her head? Or even a real head? ( looks paper mache’) .religion is just a glorified cult hiding behind the bible, if anyone else were to have a severed head on a shelf they would be considered sick,mentally ill,disturbed,a satanist. But then again we all judge people right?

    • If your mother prays for you to God, should she be condemned? Seriously? If you’ve ever asked someone to pray for you, or prayed for another as we are directed to do in 1 Timothy 2:1-4, you’ve done what Catholics do. The prayer of the just is heard by God (James 5:16-18), those in Heaven are perfected even above the just man (Hebrews 12:23-25), believers in Christ do not die but have eternal life (John 3:16, 11:25, Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12), those in Heaven watch us (Heb. 12:1) and are aware (Revelation 6:9-10), so why would the fact that they aren’t in a human body be a hinderance? Really, stop ignoring Scripture while judging others for things you choose to not understand. Someone praying for you or asking someone to pray for you in no way interferes with Jesus’ salvific mediation of the human race to the Father, and it’s really dishonest to pretend that it does.

  2. I don’t understand why Prots and thumpers have such a hard time reading. Your questions have already been answered for hundreds of years, and you’re too comfortable in your error to read the answers.

    Curtis, if you hate religion so much, why are you here? To shoot your mouth off and be an edgy atheist boi on the internet? Your general hostility for no good reason is why the stereotype of the oh so aloof internet guy in the basement exists.

    Relics are Biblical. See 2 Kings 13:20–21 and Acts 19:12.

    No, idolatry is not a thing. Images are not idolatry. Images are actually commanded by God for His service and the use of His people (Exodus 25:10-31, Numbers 21:8, 1 Kings 6:23-28, Ezekiel 41:17-25).

    Tina, if your mother prays for you to God, should she be condemned? Seriously? If you’ve ever asked someone to pray for you, or prayed for another as we are directed to do in 1 Timothy 2:1-4, you’ve done what Catholics do. The prayer of the just is heard by God (James 5:16-18), those in Heaven are perfected even above the just man (Hebrews 12:23-25), believers in Christ do not die but have eternal life (John 3:16, 11:25, Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12), those in Heaven watch us (Heb. 12:1) and are aware (Revelation 6:9-10), so why would the fact that they aren’t in a human body be a hinderance? Really, stop ignoring Scripture while judging others for things you choose to not understand. Someone praying for you or asking someone to pray for you in no way interferes with Jesus’ salvific mediation of the human race to the Father, and it’s really dishonest to pretend that it does.

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