Relics - Whose foot is that, anyway?

The Cathedral in Pisa is a working church. It still holds services. What amazes me about the places we've seen in Europe is the respect shown to the artifacts. In the US, precious items are kept behind glass and ropes with motion sensor lasers detecting anyone stepping foot near the displays. This is not true for what we are seeing in Italy. People are very respectful of the antiquities. Here is where the Americans tend to stand out.

Case in point: The Cathedral had on display a glass casket containing a man's body. DH tried to double-dare me to go up close to see who it was, but I wasn't budging. I will try pretty much anything, but dead bodies freak me out. We tried the boys, but neither of them read, so that was a no-go. So, we will assume he was just an important dead guy. Anyhow, the Catholics would walk up, kiss their fingers, and gently touch the casket before crossing themselves. Not true of the Americans. We knew they were Americans because they spoke so loudly everyone in Pisa could hear them, and undoubtedly not Catholic, as the dead guy became the focal point of their flash cameras and home video. And, as I'm sure you can guess, the woman with her 3 sizes too small (thanks, Janet) tube top was NOT wearing the suggested paper robe.

After walking past the dead guy, we came to a little case containing a statue, an altar, and a small glass case containing what looked to be a small bone. I grew up in a Methodist family. I am not as knowledgable about other religions as some may be, so this whole bone-thing seemed rather odd to me. Was this some sort of archaeological display commemorating the evolution of man? Yeah...no. It turns out, and if you're Catholic feel free to comment on this post and set me straight, that Catholic Saints, after they died, had their bodies divided up into small pieces and placed in churches all over the world. Later on in a tour of Venice, we toured a church that held the foot of St. Catherine of Sienna. The idea being that people could go and say prayers to that Saint. Now, if you've ever had to consider being an organ donor and were concerned about it's effect on your after-life experience, go ahead and donate. If the Saints were willing to do it, shouldn't you?

Ciao' for now!