14/11/25 16:31:57.95 YZL8b3MC0
In 1578 news came of the discovery in Rome of a labyrinth of underground tombs, which were thought
to hold the remains of thousands of early Christian martyrs. Skeletons of these supposed saints were
subsequently sent to Catholic churches and religious houses in German-speaking Europe to replace holy
relics that had been destroyed in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. The skeletons, known as “the
catacomb saints,” were carefully reassembled, richly dressed in fantastic costumes, wigs, crowns, jewels,
and armor, and posed in elaborate displays inside churches and shrines as reminders to the faithful of
the heavenly treasures that awaited them after death.