Sunday, December 24, 2006

Holy Foreskin


I read this article (thanks to Jesus' General for pointing it out to me) and I have to say, this is the kind of thing that endears me to Religious people. Particularly the Catholics, as I was raised Catholic. I spent many hours studying bizarre church history from the story of Saint George and the Dragon to people like Saint Augustine of Hippo (who is, according to my Confirmation, my patron Saint) and it was all very entertaining to me.

Catholic Mythology has always, always fascinated the hell out of me. (Just ask Elias, according to him I unconsciously insert Catholic imagery, symbolism or undertones to anything we write. Which is okay since Elias unconsciously inserts bodily functions into anything we write.)

Anyhow, when I read the article about the travails of Jesus' foreskin from the above linked article(and this Wikipedia article), I couldn't help but want to share it with everyone who reads this. Relics from the church always fascinate the hell out of me.

Just writing this took me like an hour and a half because Wikipedia has an exhaustive volume of articles on Saints and their reliquaries. Even stories about the foreskin we amazing, take this one for instance:
Apart from its physical importance as a relic, the Holy Foreskin is sometimes claimed to have appeared in a famous vision of Saint Catherine of Siena. In the vision, Jesus mystically marries her, and his amputated foreskin is given to her as a wedding ring.
And this one is just as good.
Saint Bridget was said to have received the Holy Prepuce from an angel, and would experience "orgasm-like sensations" when she would place bits of it on her tongue.
But some might argue that it's no longer on earth, like this Catholic scholar who beleived that the Holy Foreskin is now a ring of Saturn:
During the late 17th century, Catholic scholar and theologian Leo Allatius in De Praeputio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Diatriba ("Discussion concerning the Prepuce of our Lord Jesus Christ") speculated that the Holy Foreskin may have ascended into Heaven at the same time as Jesus himself and might have become the rings of Saturn, then only recently observed by telescope.
God, I love learning about religion. I really do.

2 comments:

Stenar said...

No wonder the Catholic priesthood has always had such a strong appeal to gay men. Just look at the current pope. As gay as they come.

Yes, I said come. ;)

JulieB said...

Holy Cow!!
OK, I'm Jewish, so, ya know, we know about foreskins. I have never heard a story of one, um, traveling like this. I admit, its interesting reading. Oye.

re: Pope.... I have many comments on the current Pope but none of them particularly good puns. Enjoyed the above. ;)