Missing Relics
Newman's grave was opened on 2 October 2008, with the intention of moving any remains to a tomb inside Birmingham Oratory for their more convenient veneration as relics during Newman's consideration for sainthood; however, his wooden coffin was found to have disintegrated and no bones were found. Peter Jennings from the Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory claimed this was because the coffin was wooden and the burial took place at a damp site. Contemporary sources show that the coffin was covered with a softer type of soil than the clay marl of the grave site. Forensic expert Professor John Hunter, from the University of Birmingham, tested soil samples from near the grave and said that total disappearance of a body was most unlikely over that timescale. He said that extreme conditions which could remove bone would also have removed the coffin handles which were found.
Read more about this topic: John Henry Newman
Famous quotes containing the words missing and/or relics:
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—Mother Teresa (b. 1910)
“Oh! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade,
Where cold and unhonour’d his relics are laid.”
—Thomas Moore (1779–1852)