Religious relics are part of all faiths, for the most part, and can often make up a very creepy and weird part of a faith. In Christian traditions these can be anything from the life of a saint or even Jesus himself. Relics range from clothing worn by a saint to parts of the saint or even the entire saint themselves. Listed below are five of the weirdest religious relics. There is a black market for religious relics despite the sale having been forbidden by the church.
1. The Shakyamuni Buddha’s Finger Bone
The finger bone looks more like a piece of femur or maybe an animal horn, but its meaning to Buddhists all over the world cannot be doubted. Said to be the true remains of the Shakyamuni Buddha, the finger has been greeted by Chinese emperors and throngs of people throughout its strange existence. In 2002 the finger made an appearance in Taiwan, apparently only its second in more than a thousand years.
2. The Right Hand of St. Stephen
Kept in a glass reliquary in Budapest, the Right Hand of St. Stephen sits like a leathery… old dead hand, worshipped by millions. St. Stephen was Grand Prince of the Hungarians around 1000 BCE and established Christianity in the area during his expansion of the empire. That’ll get you sainted, but how does your hand end up in a church? Well, after some folks were healed near his grave he was cut into a bunch of pieces and shipped all over Hungary in some sort of macabre holy body part free-for-all . He is considered the patron saint of Hungary, kings, dead children and masons.
3. The Head of St Catherine of Siena
Seems undignified what happened to the good woman St. Catherine. After her death in 1380 her head was put in a bag and smuggled out of Rome. According to the stories Roman guards checked the bag only to see rose petals. Now her rather frightening head sits in the Basilica of San Domenico in Siena Italy. She suffered in life and has escaped several fires in her afterlife. St. Catherine is said to look over artists.
4. The many heads of John the Baptist
In religion, the bigger you were, the more claims there are on your body parts. St. John the Baptist was big, so big in fact his head is claimed to rest in more than five places, some just settle for arms and fingers and stuff, while others say they have his tomb but no parts at all. It’s a strange bunch of claimants including a church in Rome, the Knights Templar, Amiens Cathedral in France, the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, the Residenz Museum in Munich and some dudes in Egypt. Oddly enough, many of them downplay their head games, perhaps in light of the numerous heads of John the Baptist.
Islam has many relics as well, although they don’t seem as creepy as the body parts favored by Christians. Most of the important Islamic relics are kept in Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. Among the 600 rumored relics are a single hair from the beard of Muhammad as well as his sword, robe and standard. The staff of Moses is also rumored to be kept in the Privy Room of the palace. The relics in Topkapi have had the Quran recited to them continuously since their internment there.
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