MSFS Day 3: Show Me the Mummy!

Notes from the Field School: July 25th, 2016

Students attending a lecture on sacred relics.

The class gathered early this morning to listen to Dario speak about the importance of saints in Italian culture and about his experiences with the restorations of prominent religious figures. The students learned about the history of relic worship that began in the early days of Christianity and became a common practice during the Middle Ages. As the protestant movement gained a foothold in Europe, the Catholic church began to invest heavily in relics. The Catholic church began to produce reliquaries of increasing extravagance in attempts to recruit people back into the church. Later in the day, we went to a museum and were able to see some of these beautiful religious objects.

Dario went on in his lecture to introduce the students to the mummies of religious significance located in Sicily. He described the process of canonical recognition to help students understand the difference between the designations of "venerable" (meaning that an individual can be venerated on the altar), "blessed" (meaning that the church recognized the individual as having performed a miracle), and "saint" (meaning that the individual had performed multiple miracles recognized by the church).

Because we are staying in a convent just up the street from a blessed individual, today focused mostly on the Beato (Blessed) Antonio Franco. This individual was restored by Dario, himself, along with a colleague, Jens Klocke, from Germany in 2013. They spent two weeks working non-stop to restore the mummy at the request of the church. The students listened intently as Dario described the various methods used in the restoration of the Beato Antonio Franco. After the lecture, we walked over to the cathedral to take a closer look at the individual we had been discussing all morning.

The Blessed Antonio Franco in the cathedral of Santa Lucia del Mela
accompanied by a floral arrangement celebrating the first Sicily MSFS.

Ornate reliquaries containing sacred human bones
on display at the Museo Diocesano in Santa Lucia del Mela.

Afterward, we walked to the Museo Diocesano ("Museum of the Diocese") to look at a variety of objects associated with the Beato Antonio Franco, such as the ornate glass coffin in which he was interred in the early 1900s. We were also able to see the rooms of the palace in which the Beato Antonio Franco lived and died during the 17th century. Other important religious figures also lived in this palace over time in the days before it became a museum. A wealth of other artifacts were stored in the rooms on the first floor of the building. These included tools used by farmers and shepherds, clothing worn by the clergy, books, jewelry, and of course reliquaries. These objects represented the lives of peasants, nobelmen, and religious leaders of the past.

The 1900s era glass coffin that held the remains of
the Blessed Antonio Franco prior to his 2013 restoration.

Upon reentry into the convent, we made our way to the dining room for a lunch of pesto pasta (with a lentil soup being served to our student with a tree nut allergy), tomatoes covered in olive oil and spices, and bread. After lunch, we had a break for a few hours before reconvening to introduce the students to their mummies. Deb and Dario explained to the students how to use a form that we provided to them for documenting their observations of the mummies later in the day. The analysis form that we used for the MSFS was modified from the form used by prominent mummy researcher, the late Art Aufderheide. This form allows students to record their data in the same way that professionals in the field of mummy studies do. These forms, along with their individual notes on the mummies, will be used to enter observational data into an online form for creating a database of observations regarding Sicilian mummies.

Everyone walked to the crypt beneath the convent to perform visual examinations of a few individuals set aside specifically for the MSFS.  In groups of 2-3, the students noted the conditions of their mummies, their approximate age and sex, the presence of features, objects, and decomposer species, and any signs of pathology. After a period of guided examinations, each group presented their observations to the class and we discussed our findings for the day.

Erik, Jordan, and Ruth tell the class about their observations from the visual inspection of two child mummies.

The students then returned to the classroom for a presentation about the taphonomy of human remains from the perspective of the corpocenosis (the community of organisms associated with the decomposition of human bodies). The presentation was given by myself (Johnica) and spurred a series of interesting questions from students as they combined the new information with their experiences from earlier in the day. We concluded the day's coursework a bit later today, but the students did an excellent job of being engaged in what we were doing and discussing through the duration of the day.

Students enjoying a well-earned
dinner after a day in the crypt.

Dinner consisted of delicious soft bread served with two kinds of sausages and a side of "chips" (french fries). After dinner, many of us enjoyed espressos together while we waited for Katia, our Italian language instructor, to arrive. Tonight, she gave us our first lesson in Italian. We learned how to greet people, engage in small talk, and order a granita properly. She also talked to us about some of the upcoming events in Santa Lucia that we could attend, such as a local eggplant festival, the folklore night, and a musical puppet show.

Afterward, we said Buonanotte and turned in for a well-earned evening of rest. Tomorrow, the students will examine their mummies more closely looking for skeletal pathologies and then they will examine a second mummy using their newly developed skills in the visual inspection of mummies.

Written by  Dr. Johnica J. Morrow (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)