Holy relics - the bodily remains of saints & other sacred figures - were for centuries the most revered objects in the Western world, at center-stage in Europe's great churches & cathedrals. Relics were once so highly prized that bishops raided martyrs' graves by moonlight & princes hoarded them by the trunk-full. Charlemagne decreed that no church altar could be consecrated without relics. Today some holy relics have shunted to side chapels & dark crypts, yet many continue to draw prayerful pilgrims, as they have for centuries, seeking solace, inspiration, & signs of miracles. In Magnificent Corpses, Anneli Rufus, who has been absorbed by relics since her first childhood encounter of them in Spain in 1970, visits 18 of Europe's most significant relics, & covers each in its own chapter. Each chapter works as its own set piece, an opportunity to both tell the stories of the saints whose physical bodies the relics literally represent - & to address the larger themes - of personal suffering & sacrifice, & faith & redemption - that are essential elements of the stories of the saints' lives. Some of the saints whose relics will be covered are: St. Anthony, St.

Thomas, St. John, St. Elizabeth, St. Stephen, St. Claire, St. Francis, St. Dorothy, St. Peter, St.

Paul, St. Dominic, St. Claude, & St. Adalbert.