PAST CRIMESForensic investigations were undertaken on a piece of bone and a fragment
of cloth reputedly relics of Joan of Arc, which, it was claimed, were rescued
from the river Seine after she was burned at the stake in 1431. It turns out the
cloth had been dyed to appear burned, and the bone was from a domestic cat.
The Vatican holds numerous relics in its collections–many of which on
investigation have turned out to be from farm animals, but had been certified
as genuine parts of various saints. There are two separate skulls of Saint Peter
- one in the Vatican, the other at the Cathedral of St John Lateran. Further
bones of Peter were said to have been discovered and kept by Pope Pius XII in
his chambers. In 1956 an anthropologist found that they included five tibias!
The Virgin also had many legs, if the claims of various churches in Spain are
to be believed. At one time, Canterbury Cathedral had some of the clay left
over from when God made Adam.
The monks of Glastonbury Abbey probably committed a famous fraud with
a secular relic. In 1191, after a disastrous fire, and suffering from competition
in the pilgrim trade, the monks miraculously discovered the remains of King
Arthur and Queen Guinevere in the grounds of the abbey (among a number of
other fortuitous relics that turned up around the same time). The lead cross that
was said to have been found with the bones bore an inscription:HIC IACET
SEPULTUS INCLITUS REX ARTHURIUS IN INSULA AVALONIA; a slightly different
Figure 17. The wooden sign claimed to be the Titulus Crucis