Unexpected Holy Relic

 “Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine”

Barna da Siena - c. 1340

     An unexpected holy relic: "This painting shows Jesus slipping the Holy Prepuce onto St. Catherine’s finger.  St. Catherine of Siena is one of the Jesus’s 76 virgin brides.  During the mystical marriage Christ appears to his bride in a vision and presents her with a ring.  This is followed by a ceremony where his mother, saints, and angels are present." reposted from:

 Marriage of St. Catherine of Siena 

     In the painting of the Mystic Marriage, "Jesus gave her His Holy Foreskin to wear on her finger instead of the usual gold ring."

     A medieval Book of Hours includes an illustration of Jesus with the Rings of Saturn as the Holy Foreskin, which the 17th century Catholic scholar and theologian Allacci Leone (Leo Allatius) "published the treatise De Praeputio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Diatriba (“Discussion concerning the Prepuce of our Lord Jesus Christ”) in which he proposed that the Holy Foreskin had ascended into heaven at the same time as Jesus, and had become the recently observed rings of Saturn."  reposted from:  Rings of Saturn

     Since holy relics were abundant and not always authentic, there were several holy prepuce in circulation during the middle ages with stories surrounding their existence.  The most recent was stolen from it's location in Calcata, a small town 30 miles north of Rome, in 1983. 

     This was one holy relic I didn't expect to hear about but which has a familiar ring to it, considering the story told about the circumcision of Jesus in the gospels (Luke 2:21).