For the first time in 110 years, the tomb of St. Teresa of Avila, who died in 1582, was opened to allow medical experts and scientists to examine her remains. Even though she has been encased inside...
From time immemorial, people had the need to venerate objects of great significance: religious relics, mythical symbols or depictions of holy figures. As if in answer to this need, the religious...
The Lead Books of Sacromonte, also known as the Libros Plúmbeos or the Sacromonte manuscripts, are a collection of purportedly ancient religious texts that were supposedly discovered in the 16th...
In a realm where history intertwines with faith, there exists a set of ancient relics that have captivated the imaginations of scholars and believers alike. Known as the "miracle" rings of Ourense,...
The Virgin Mary’s breast milk has been the subject of veneration for centuries and even today couples battling infertility often imbue it with miraculous powers. This is especially true at the Chapel...
In 326 AD the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine set out on a legendary pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Dubbed the world’s “first archaeologist,” Saint Helena was posthumously credited with...
Scanning with a neutron beam has helped researchers crack the mystery of a gold-plated medieval pendant found in the German town of Mainz in 2008. The non-invasive and non-destructive technique has...
In Western Christianity, the feast of Epiphany, also known as Three Kings’ Day, is celebrated annually on the 6th January to commemorate the visit of the Magi , wise men, or kings from the East to...
St. Francis, born Giovanni di Pietro Bernadore, was a mystic Italian Catholic friar. To this day, he is one of the most revered of all the saints and is remembered as the founder of the Franciscan...
When Eton says their school has history, they’re really not kidding. The famed £46k per year boys boarding school is a British brand synonymous with elitism, even though the school was originally...
The history of medicine is an amazing tale. Not only that, but a peek beneath the covers can hopefully help us understand some of the bizarre worldviews confronting us today in the realm of...
Nagarjunakonda is a historical town located in what is now Guntur district of the south-eastern state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It was a very important Buddhist site and center of learning from the...
Was there a Papal conspiracy around Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America? Is it possible that the history of the ‘discovery of America’ has been told omitting details that only now re-emerge...
It is hard to imagine that the gruesome topic of bodysnatching and the ghastly, gory and gorgeous world of relics would be a main focus of religious veneration throughout the Middle Ages. Through...
A first-time study of a privately owned 16th-century prayer roll from England is a valuable addition to knowledge on medieval England’s Christian ‘cult of the Cross’ in which the Holy Cross was...
The practice of preserving and enshrining the remains of saints and heroes, or other items associated with their life or death, has been ongoing for thousands of years dating back well into the pre-...
A team of archaeologists from the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology have been busy for the past few years working on an assignment worth envying, reports China Daily. Deep in the Chinese central...
An amateur archaeologist in England claims the Holy Grail is buried in a secret “Grail crypt” under a river in Hounslow, London. And an environment agency plans to drain the river to find out if the...
Traditional religious literature affirms that the Heilige Lanze (Sacred Lance), also called Spear of Destiny, Longinus Spear, Maurice’s Spear and a myriad of other names, was the weapon with which...
The ‘Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon,’ more commonly known as the Knights Templar, or the Templars, was one of the most renowned military orders during the Middle Ages. The...
A medieval document has revealed connections between how we celebrate Christmas today and an English monastery. The document is a list of relics given to Battle Abbey, which was bestowed on by two...
Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) exploded in 1956. To understand why this occurred, it is necessary to explore the (Catholic and Orthodox) Christian practice of mummification, which is rarely...
Death was always a source of mystery for people around the world. But what happens when we erase that invisible border and make the dead a thing to worship? Never too far from every major turn of...
As the flames of every disaster fade, stories emerge about heroes and this is again the case in Paris where a brave French priest not only attended to the wounded after the Notre-Dame cathedral fire...
