An unbelievable collection of religious relics

Father Jelenić was lecturing to 40 high school students, and with a nod, he allowed us to join them in a dark sanctum behind the altar. On one wall, dimly lit cabinets were crowded with dusty glass containers that held artifacts said to be, among other Catholic wonders, a piece of the True Cross, part of the Virgin Mary’s veil and the tongue of St. Mary of Egypt. Most impressive were three desiccated corpses laid out in glass coffins, all still wearing their colorful religious robes. “What you see in Vodnjan can be seen nowhere else on earth,” boasted the priest. “Even the Vatican doesn’t have what we have here.”

Despite his years, Father Jelenić was bursting with energy and spoke with the flair of a Shakespearean actor. “Look! Look!” he cried. “Here is the bedsheet of the baby Jesus. Here is soil from beneath the Crucifix. Here is a stone from the pillar where He was whipped by the Romans. Here is a part of the Crown of Thorns.” The list went on: “There are relics from the 12 Apostles. Relics from the prophets! Look! Look! The finger of St. Anthony. More fingers! So many fingers! The pelvic bones of St. Sebastian. The foot of St. Barbara!” The three bodies on display were particularly sacred, Jelenić explained, because of their mysterious state of preservation. “This is a miracle right here in Vodnjan. There is no scientific explanation as to why they are in such good condition. They were never embalmed!” In 2009, the corpses were given CT scans in a forensic laboratory. “The inner organs were all intact! A miracle!”

Father Jelenić led us into his office and opened a tome he had written about the trove, called Sanctuarium Adignani. It was as glossy as a high-end museum catalog, with beautifully lit photographs and a price tag of €2,000. (“Yes, the book costs €2,000, but it is worth 10 million,” he declared. “It’s priceless, really.”) He eagerly flipped through its pages, holding his right hand up in reverence at key images: “Relic! Relic! Relic!” Then he paused at a double spread of the mummy of St. Nikoloza Bursa: While alive, Nikoloza had levitated, and her body could still cure disease. Even her image had spiritual power, Jelenić said, as he dangled a key chain above the page. “Look at the energy. You see how the keys move? Just from a photograph!”

The story continues at Away To Istria in Smithsonian magazine.