Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumNat Geo EXPLORER: Mystery of the Murdered Saints
I watched this last night on the National Geographic Channel. It was fascinating! Also bizarre.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/national-geographic-documentary-examines-relics-of-third-century-saints/
All of the evidence we have gathered points toward the relics having belonged to Chrysanthus and Daria, said investigation leader Ezio Fulcheri of the University of Genoa. This has been a very rare opportunity to be able to study bones and other relics that relate directly back to a legend that has been passed on for almost 2,000 years. The completeness of the skeletons is also rare for martyrs of this era, implying that these relics were protected and venerated in their entirety at a very early point in history.
The remains of the saints, martyred around 283 A.D. for spreading Christianity, are said to have been interred in the crypt of the cathedral in the northern Italian city of Reggio Emilia since the 10th century.
A 2008 renovation at the cathedral caused the dismantling of the altar which had been undisturbed since 1651. The remains, nearly 150 bones, underwent tests dating them to between 80 and 340 A.D.
Fulcheri led a team of scientists who considered the authenticity of the relics. Their investigations are the subject of the National Geographic Channel documentary EXPLORER: Mystery of the Murdered Saints, which airs on April 19 at 10 p.m. Eastern time.
Hallylooyah, I just found it on You Tube!
Warpy
(111,305 posts)They would seem to have confirmed the bones as plausible but totally destroyed the myth in the process.
I love it when science works this way, especially with the destructive myths surrounding religious martyrdom.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)Read the article. The myth is that Chrysanthus converted his future-wife, the roman priestess Daria, to Christianity and that they both became missionaries and were later killed.
frogmarch
(12,158 posts)dated to anywhere from 80 AD to 340 AD, a timeframe that allows plenty of room to include the Chrysanthus and Daria story, but did the seemingly once easy-living young man and woman whose bones they were live at exactly the same time as each other during that 240-year window? Its possible. Its also possible that one or both were alive when Chrysanthus and Daria are supposed to have lived.
The supernatural elements of the story - the lion, the miraculously perfumed prison cell - along with the characterization of Daria as a vestal virgin, cannot be taken seriously.
It boils down to this. The bones could have belonged to two Christian martyrs, and these martyrs, whatever their names really were, or who they themselves really were, could have been the man and woman upon whom the Chrysanthus and Daria story was based. Thats it.
Warpy
(111,305 posts)The myth of their punishment, the miracles, and the method of death were all pretty much disproved.
progressoid
(49,992 posts)I just watched the first 10 minutes. Will definitely watch this.
Thanks.