[Image: Pope John XXIII, St. Peter's, Rome, jason-nicholas via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]

R. A. Scotti has told the compelling, dramatic story about the building of Saint Peter's in Rome,
in her book, Basilica: Scandal and Splendor; Building St. Peter's. I got so wrapped up in all the drama I had to do a Google search about the church building and troll around looking for more tidbits of information or pics. Much to my surprise and astonishment, I came across images of the very deceased Pope John XXIII, encased in a glass coffin built into an altar in a side aisle of the basilica interior. Upon further digging, I turned up stories about the
re-internment of said Pope from his former burial crypt under the Basilica.

If I try to look beyond the rather gruesome concept of digging up a body 38 years after it was
buried, I am intrigued by the amount of design work that went into the transparent coffin, the brass and marble carving and polishing, to say nothing of the original undertakers skill at embalming. We hear a lot about the death of great craftsmanship now that everything is factory manufactured on an assembly line. There are no longer the great traditions of passing down mechanical and artistic skills from one generation to another, that give people the skill set to produce the metal and stone work like the craftsmen used for the Pope's new resting place. How can we blame young people though, there isn't much demand for this kind of artistry.

[Image: Padre Pio, Santa Maria delle Grazie, guardian /Artwork: designslinger]

The oddest part of this journey was the discovery of another recent Catholic exhumation and a
glassy repository. Seems there was this monk, Padre Pio, who performed some kind of miracles or something. Anyway, he got dug out of his grave and placed into a very stylish glass, silver and granite sarcophagus in Santa Maria delle Grazie, in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. Now, pilgrims can come and look upon the body and face of the sainted man. His tomb is very restrained compared to John's Baroque inspired memorial, Pio's takes it's cues from the soaring pillars of Gothic cathedrals and the silver and grey stone are a sharp contrast to John's gold, brass and marble.

[Image: Etruscan couple, Louvre via puc-rio /Artwork: designslinger]

Of course these two gentleman aren't the first 20th century popular culture icons to be displayed
in this fashion, Lenin is still on view in Moscow after all these years, and good old Chairman Mao is out there for all to see. And, history has shown us that many cultures through the ages have attempted to show the human likeness of the deceased as a part of their final resting place. The Etruscans have some splendid examples of the attempt to keep the living with us a long time after their death.

[Image: Egyptian burial sarcophagus, seriykotik1970 via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]

The Egyptians were no slouches when it came to decorative death display either. The pyramid
doesn't present the deceased in human form, but what a statement anyway. They did do a great job at preserving the dead with the technology at hand, and their skill at painting made for a treasure trove of artwork on thousands of body lids.

I must admit, the next time we are in Rome, I want to see John in his coffin out of morbid curiosity.
And, I have to be honest, when I first saw that picture of the pope-in-a-box, I couldn't help but think of Disney's Snow White and her glass coffin.