Despite all the Catholic Church has revealed over the centuries, it still keeps some secrets. There may be a few stunning examples hidden in the church’s Vatican City-based archives. Religious relics are rumored to be among this incredible stockpile, along with centuries-old documents that highlight turning points in the history of mankind. And the following 20 artifacts are all among those alleged to have been stashed away – perhaps for good reason, too.

The letter that started the Protestant Reformation

Back in the 16th century, theologian Martin Luther didn’t agree with how the Catholic Church promised its followers that they could ascend to heaven. At the time, you see, Catholics were told to purchase plenary indulgences to reduce the punishments that they and their loved ones would receive for their misdeeds. And in 1517 Luther made his opinions on the matter known when he penned the 95 Theses – his disputation of everything that the church had, in his eyes, wrongly presented to its disciples.

By sharing the 95 Theses, Luther inadvertently kicked off the Protestant Reformation – even though he still considered himself a member of the Catholic Church. However, in a letter that is now encapsulated within the Vatican vaults, the then-Pope Leo X responded to the German’s complaints with ex-communication. And this move in turn left Luther able to start his religion.

A work-related complaint from Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni’s artistic influence was so monumental that he only needs to go by one name: Michelangelo. He painted and sculpted in ways that forever changed the creation of Western art. And as a consequence, many consider Michelangelo to be the greatest artist of all time as well as a shining example of a “Renaissance man” – or someone extremely talented in multiple areas.

Among some of Michelangelo’s most famous works, of course, are his paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which sits within the borders of Vatican City. And perhaps as a result of that commission, the artist seemed to have insider information about the conditions in the city-state. He, therefore, wrote a letter to the Pope to inform him that the Vatican’s on-site guards were about to quit, as they hadn’t received any money for three months. Even today, that message remains in the church’s vaults.

The papal bull that split North America between Portugal and Spain

When Christopher Columbus pitched his journey around the world, King John II of Portugal didn’t think that he had plotted his route properly. Nevertheless, the explorer – buoyed by support from Spain’s Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand – made it to the New World and back. Following that successful trip, though, John II sprung into action. In particular, the monarch not only claimed that Columbus had contravened a treaty, but that Portugal was also entitled to some of the lands that the adventurer had discovered.

Making matters even more difficult, Spain similarly laid claim to a portion of Columbus’ findings. To solve what could have become a major conflict, then, Pope Alexander VI stepped in by putting out a papal bulla decree issued by the Catholic Church’s highest-ranking member. And through the order, the pontiff neatly divvied up the discovered land between the European countries.

Evidence of a predicted apocalypse

In 1917 three young cousins who worked as shepherds in Portugal claimed to have met the Virgin Mary on their countryside jaunts. And while legend has it that Mary entrusted the trio with three secrets, one of the clans, Lúcia Santos, ultimately revealed only two of these apparent messages in 1941. The third, she said, wasn’t ready to be shared.

Then, in 1943, a bishop demanded that Santos write down the last tidbit. And while the woman complied with this order, she nevertheless implored the church not to open the envelope in which she had sealed her words until 1960. Naturally, rumors have swirled ever since as to what the third secret could be. Some say, for instance, that it may have something to do with a nuclear holocaust or other impending disasters. Others, meanwhile, believe that Santos’ scribbles – which are contained in the Vatican vaults – reveal details about the apocalypse.

King Henry VIII’s annulment request from his first marriage

While still married to Catherine of Aragon, King Henry VIII of England had a long-standing extramarital relationship with Mary Boleyn, who may even have birthed two of his children. In time, though, the ruler became enamored with Mary’s sister, Anne. And as Anne declined to engage in an illicit affair with Henry, he somehow had to come up with a way to end his marriage so that he could have the object of his affection.

So, Henry’s solution was to send a petition – signed by 85 religious men and aristocrats – to Pope Clement VII. This document implored the Catholic leader to annul the king’s marriage, although the religious leader ultimately wasn’t swayed. Still, while the Pope may have denied the request, he held onto the letter, as it still sits in the Vatican vaults today.

The Chronovisor

Before he died in 1992, Father Pellegrino Ernetti had seen a lot. Rather unusually, the monk claimed to have caught a glimpse of Roman senator Cicero delivering a speech in 63 B.C.; he also allegedly witnessed visions of Jesus’ Last Supper and had seen orations by Napoleon. And according to Ernetti, he had witnessed all of these pivotal points in history using a device called a Chronovisor, which reportedly allowed him to look back on the past as though he were watching TV.

Ernetti’s friend François Brune didn’t listen when people tried to discredit the Chronovisor, either. Instead, he claimed that both Pope Pius XII and Mussolini deemed the device to be a danger to mankind, with the result being that it was ultimately destroyed. Nevertheless, some wonder if the Chronovisor still lies within the secret Vatican collection.

One of the final messages penned by Mary Queen of Scots

Despite having once been Scotland’s sovereign, Mary Queen of Scots had fallen far by the time she sent a letter to the Vatican. In 1566 she had wed her half-cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; less than a year on from the union, however, he lay dead in the couple’s garden. Then, when the widowed queen wed Henry’s suspected killer, James Hepburn, the fourth Earl of Bothwell, the public rose against the pair – forcing Mary to flee to England.

Yet Mary’s cousin Queen Elizabeth I of England didn’t take too kindly to her visitor. That was especially true when she found out that Mary had been plotting to kill her in 1586. As she awaited execution, then, the Scottish queen reached out to Pope Sixtus V and pleaded to the religious leader to intervene. And as history proves, he didn’t step in, leaving Mary to die by beheading on February 8, 1587.

Notes on Galileo’s trial

During Galileo Galilei’s lifetime – which spanned both the 16th and 17th centuries – most people believed that the universe centered around Earth. The Bible seemed to confirm this theory, too, through passages claiming that our planet would never move. But, of course, the Italian-born astronomer thought differently. Instead, he suggested that Earth and the rest of the solar system orbit around the Sun.

Galileo’s findings ultimately landed him in the dock, where he had to defend his beliefs against those held by the Catholic Church. And while the scientist denied any wrongdoing, he nevertheless ended up under house arrest for the rest of his life, with the court also ruling that his teachings on heliocentrism could no longer be shared. Interestingly, though, the Vatican vaults do contain some notes taken at Galileo’s 1633 trial.

Alien skulls

Catholics don’t seem to have strong opinions about the idea that life exists on other planets. Many accept the notion, as they believe that God has already shown himself to be endlessly creative – and such ingenuity may not have been saved solely for Earth.

The Vatican may have further proof that the universe does indeed include aliens. Yes, some claim that the Catholic Church has hidden the skulls of otherworldly creatures. And, naturally, that type of evidence of extraterrestrial life would probably be more explosive than any UFO sighting.

A letter informing the Pope of a Swedish queen’s conversion

Queen Christina reigned over Sweden from 1632 until she decided to step down in 1654. And there were several reasons why the monarch may have decided to leave her prestigious position. For one thing, her over-the-top spending nearly brought the country to financial ruin. It’s recorded, too, that Christina also decided to abdicate after choosing to drop her Lutheran faith and become a Catholic.

Then, after accepting that she would leave her royal duties behind, Christina revealed this outcome in a letter to the Pope himself. Subsequently, the former monarch relocated to Rome, and she remains one of the very few women to be buried at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. The message she sent to the Pope, meanwhile, is still in the Vatican collection nearly 400 years later.

A letter requesting protection for missionaries in Tibet

The seventh Dalai Lama of Tibet acted as the country’s spiritual leader from 1720 to 1757. During part of that period, Pope Clement XII held the highest rank in the Catholic Church. And throughout his time in office, Clement XII earned himself a reputation for growing the papal purse. He ultimately gathered enough funds to spruce up the Basilica di San Giovanni and build Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain.

So, although the two men lived worlds away from each other, the Dalai Lama reached out to Clement XII when Catholics in Tibet needed safeguarding. Namely, the spiritual leader requested security measures for a group of Franciscan missionaries who had traveled to his country. And the letter that he sent is still secreted within the Vatican’s vaults to this day.

Records of what the Illuminati will do next

In 1776 the Bavarian Illuminati formed partly in an attempt to help relinquish the hold that religious institutions had over the lives of everyday people. Notably, the group’s members also hoped to fight any corruption by state officials. And as a consequence, when Bavarian leader Charles Theodore caught wind of the Illuminati’s aims, he chose to make the organization illegal. Yet some say that the group continues to operate today – and that it still masterminds the events that make headlines worldwide.

For many years, conspiracy theories have also linked the Illuminati to the Catholic Church. It’s been claimed, for instance, that the secret organization recruits every single one of the church’s top personnel. And rumors persist that the Vatican has records of what the Illuminati believe will happen in the future.

The Chinon Parchment

From 1119 until 1312, the Knights Templar served as the Catholic Church’s military wing. But although the Templars spent much of their existence in public favor, they finally lost this backing following their participation in the Crusades. It hadn’t helped, you see, that the church had failed to hold onto some of the Holy Land.

And things only went from bad to worse for the Templars when France’s King Philip IV began arresting members and burning them at the stake. So, Pope Clement V responded to the king’s pressure by disbanding the order. This period of history is documented, too, by the Chinon Parchment, which chronicles the trials against the Templars on charges such as heresy and blasphemous behavior during the Crusades. Interestingly, though, the paper was only rediscovered in 2001, as it had been hidden in a box along with more nondescript documents in the Vatican Apostolic Archive.

The doctrine confirming that Mary immaculately conceived Jesus

In the Christian faith, original sin is said to stem from Adam and Eve and their decision to eat the Garden of Eden’s forbidden fruit. And according to the Catholic Church, that choice has had a ripple effect; now, humankind has a propensity for sin. If you believe in the Immaculate Conception, only one woman throughout history is blameless: the Virgin Mary.

And while Catholics have long accepted that Mary is without sin, it wasn’t until 1854 that Pope Pius IX penned the papal bull – which remains within the Vatican archive – confirming the teaching. Owing to this decree, then, Catholics commemorate what’s known as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception each year on December 8.

Religious documents dear to the Essenes

Ancient philosophers have made records of the Essenes – a faction of Jews who separated themselves from society at large. The Bible’s New Testament makes no mention of the group, however, and this has led some to believe that Essenes wrote the religious text. Indeed, many of their beliefs seem to align with the reported actions of Jesus himself. The Essenes emphasized charity and goodwill as well as the significance of baptism.

Then, while sifting through the Vatican archive in 1923, bishop Edmond Bordeaux Szekely discovered an old document written in Aramaic – one that he claimed displayed the tenets of the Essenes. That said, no one else has reported such evidence. There’s not even any proof of Szekely’s visit to the vaults, and the manuscript’s existence is far from confirmed to this day.

A potential link between Pope Pius XII and the Nazis

After Brown University historian David Kertzer had the chance to explore the Vatican archive, he was able to confirm some of the information contained within. Based on what Kertzer read, he could corroborate the claim that Pius XI had asked Italian dictator Benito Mussolini to protect Catholic interests in the country. In exchange, the Pope had promised to turn a blind eye to Mussolini’s anti-Semitic campaigns.

Pope Pius XII then took over from his predecessor in 1939, and he may have had links to the Nazis. It’s rumored that the head of the Catholic Church had supported Hitler, much like Pius XI had vouched for Mussolini. Kertzer wondered, too, if the Vatican had hidden away the evidence to preserve the religious institution’s image. Even so, he noted that the staff there, as professionals in their field, seemingly treated history without bias.

Potential details about Jesus’ bloodline

It may seem as though the Catholic Church knows every detail of Jesus’ life, but that’s not entirely the case. For instance, there’s little record of what Christ did from his childhood up until his early 30s when he became a more prominent religious figure. As such, then, some people believe that Jesus had a family of his own before his eventual crucifixion.

If Jesus had children, then his bloodline still may be traceable today. Some folks even believe that the Vatican has more specific details of Christ’s family life hidden away. And as any information of this sort would be explosive for the church, it makes sense that it would be securely locked up – if indeed it exists, of course.

Letters from Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis

As history shows, the American Civil War was principally the result of a geographical disagreement about slavery. While the country’s northern contingent was against the practice, the south wanted to continue it. And at the time the war began in April 1861, Abraham Lincoln led the Union with its abolitionist aims, while Jefferson Davis served as the Confederacy’s commander-in-chief.

As it turns out, though, both Lincoln and Davis wanted outside reassurance that they were doing the right thing. Consequently, both Civil War leaders wrote to Pope Pius IX requesting that he announce which side was in the right – the north or the south. And a response of sorts came as a result of the fact that the Pope never ultimately provided support to the Confederacy; instead, he pushed for emancipation alongside the Union.

Proof that Jesus wasn’t crucified

The crucifixion of Jesus stands as one of the most essential parts of the Bible and, therefore, the Catholic faith. Christ’s death on the cross is seen to exemplify some of the religion’s most central tenets, such as atonement and salvation. Astonishingly, though, some believe that Jesus didn’t die in this manner – and that the Vatican has hidden the proof.

Archaeologist Michael Baigent, for one, suggested that Jesus and Pontius Pilate both faked the crucifixion. Killing the prophet wasn’t advisable for Pilate, you see, as Jesus encouraged his followers to pay their taxes. Instead, Baigent claimed that the governor helped simulate Christ’s death using a mixture of drugs before his body was removed from the tomb. The archaeologist felt that documentation of this plot existed, too, meaning it could be concealed within the Vatican collection.

The Pope’s letter that gave the green light for the Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade kicked off in 1202 when Christians from the West decided to move to Jerusalem. They couldn’t tackle the Muslim-ruled holy city right away, though; first, it was necessary to dismantle the Egyptian Ayyubid Sultanate, as it was the most powerful Islamic empire at the time. Yet the effort didn’t go as originally anticipated, and the Crusaders ended up taking down the Greek-held Constantinople instead.

Back in 1198, however, Pope Innocent III had issued the papal bull for a Fourth Crusade, demanding an offensive that would recapture the Holy Land from its Muslim leaders. Then, when the plan had ultimately gone off the rails, the Pope condemned the operation as a “work of Hell,” as the siege of Constantinople had been so violent. His original letter allowing for the Crusade remains in the vault, though.

The Basilica San Domenico in Siena has the severed head of the city’s most famous saint, Catherine

Catherine of Siena (c.1347-80) was a truly astonishing woman. After forsaking her family’s riches and the promise of a comfortable marriage to a nobleman, she joined the Dominican Order and experienced mystical visions. She later became famous for her charitable work with the despised poor of Tuscany and was such an intellectual heavyweight that she successfully bullied and intimidated the corrupt male clergy and undertook political duties unheard of for a 14th-century woman. When she died of a stroke in 1380, mourning was understandably widespread, but her devotees weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to her forever…

You could make a fortune in the Middle Ages from the countless pilgrims wanting to visit tombs and relics, and so it is no surprise to learn that when she died in Rome, the city wanted to keep her there. Not to be defied, her followers from Siena managed to decapitate her displayed corpse and hid Catherine’s head in a bag. When searched by guards, they prayed to the late holy woman for protection, and her head miraculously disappeared, only to re-materialize upon arriving in Siena, where it’s been making tourists feel sick ever since.

The right hand of King Stephen, on display in Budapest, is nearly 1,000 years old

Stephen I of Hungary (c.975-1038) was not only the first Steve to be King of Hungary, but Hungary’s first king, period. Stephen endeared himself to Rome by devoting much of his reign to establishing an orthodox form of Catholicism amongst his subjects and was named King by Pope Sylvester II in 1001. He also found the time to defeat surrounding nations in battle and quell discord amongst his people. He was originally buried in Székesfehérvár, where his original coffin still survives, and soon tales of miracles taking place at his sarcophagus spread far and wide.

The tomb’s popularity was such that Stephen’s body had to be removed to an underground catacomb to protect it. Sometime during this relocation, his right hand was stolen by the man who was supposed to be guarding the body. The missing hand was eventually recovered in 1084 and was put on display in Szentjobb (which means ‘right hand’ in Hungarian) for everyone to enjoy. After various peregrinations around Europe due to war and political instability, the shriveled hand arrived in Budapest in 1771, where it now lives in St Stephen’s Cathedral and enjoys an annual procession around the city.

The dried blood of St Januarius still liquefies three times a year

We know very little about St. Januarius (d. c.305), Bishop of Benevento, except that he was one of many early Christians executed by the bloodthirsty Emperor Diocletian. Diocletian originally planned to feed him to bears, so he was lucky only to be imprisoned and beheaded. According to legend, a woman named Eusebia had the foresight to collect the blood gushing from his neck in a couple of vials, which are now cherished relics in Naples, which purchased them in the 5th century. You’d think the blood would be dry after over 1700 years, right? Wrong (sort of).

The blood of Januarius is usually dry, but it miraculously liquefies every year on his three feast days. On these days (above), the vials in their ornate reliquary are held aloft while prayers are recited in the Cathedral of Naples. Eventually, the crusty contents liquefy and bubble with great enthusiasm, to the amazement of the congregation. The thrice-annual miracle remains one of the most controversial events in the Catholic calendar. Despite many ingenious attempts to expose the miracle as a hoax, nothing has been determined, since the Cathedral has understandably no interest in giving the vials up for scientific analysis.

The Camillian Order still has the heart of its founder, St. Camillus

Camillus of Lellis (1550-1614) started life as a very naughty boy. Standing at a whopping 6’6″ (very rare in the 16th century, when people were generally much shorter), the short-tempered Camillus fought in the Venetian Army and had a serious gambling problem. After betting, and subsequently losing, everything he owned, he experienced a religious conversion, and in 1585 founded the Camillian Order of male nurses, which became the first military ambulance unit in history. Camillus was in near-constant ill health himself, with a particularly nasty leg wound deemed incurable by contemporary doctors, which gave him acute sympathy for the sick.

Appropriately enough for a medical man, Camillus was subject to an autopsy after he died in 1614. But when his heart was removed, according to his biographer, ‘it seemed a ruby and it was so large that those who saw it admired it’, and so it was decided to preserve the giant’s ticker for everyone’s enjoyment. After all, Camillus had always been praised for his big heart, so why not make the praise disgusting and literal? The heart was sent to Naples, where it was encased in a glorious reliquary. The heart now lives in Rome, but frequently goes on tour.

So many medieval churches claimed to own the foreskin of Jesus (yes, really) that specimens were subjected to a taste test

Medieval theologians raged and spat at one another until they were red in the face about the question of whether Jesus was circumcised. On the one hand, he was Jewish, and so presumably underwent the mutilation, but then he was the Image of God (Imago Dei), and so many countered that his body would have to be whole. Moreover, medieval Catholicism detested the Jewish people and wanted as few reminders of the Saviour’s Semitic origins as possible, and many thought it best to ignore the explicit testimony of the Gospel of Luke 2:22 about the whole event.

But despite, or perhaps because of, the controversy, no fewer than 12 churches across Europe had foreskins on display that they said came from the Son of God’s phallus. These Holy Prepuces – or foreskins – fetched big money on the relics market, and the various churches claiming to have the real one invented fantastic legends about how they came to own this particular piece of history. Incredibly, competition amongst foreskin-owners was so hot that some Holy Prepuces were verified as real by ‘qualified persons’, who would chew them to determine their authenticity… let’s leave it there.

St Anthony of Padua’s tongue is still on display in the Italian city, nearly 800 years after he died

Although a native of Lisbon, St. Anthony (1195-1231) is most closely associated with the city of Padua in northern Italy, where he spent the final years of his short life. He came to Italy by accident, after his ship was blown off course on its way back to Portugal from Morocco, where he had gone to preach to locals as a Franciscan friar. But once in Italy, he never looked back. After becoming an accomplished theologian, Anthony made his name unleashing inspirational sermons that won the Catholic Church many new members and set lapsed Christians back on track.

Hailed as a ‘jewel case of the Bible’ by none other than the Pope himself for his exquisite sermons, the relics of St. Anthony are not coincidental. He was canonized with astonishing rapidity within a year of dying from ergot poisoning, and when his body was exhumed in 1263 to be reburied his famous tongue was found to be wet and the only part of his body yet to decompose. It was hailed as a miracle, removed to a reliquary, and, whilst it is anything but moist these days, can still be seen at the Basilica of St. Anthony.

St. Clare of Assisi had beautiful hair when alive, and clippings of it are on display in Assisi… along with her fingernails

Although often overshadowed by her more famous mentor, Francis, Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) still founded her order of nuns, the Poor Clares. Inspired by Francis’s preaching when she was still a teenager, Clare renounced the world and founded the order based on the ideals of extreme poverty and contemplation. The order spread like wildfire even during her lifetime, and soon houses of Poor Clares were established as far away as Britain. It’s a measure of her inspirational life and example that she inspired such devotion, given that she never left her convent at Assisi.

What made Clare’s decision to give up the worldly life especially inspiring to others was that she was not only born into great wealth but was extremely beautiful. She was blessed with especially lovely hair. Francis trimmed her flowing locks as a physical manifestation of her rejecting her former, vain existence. Someone collected these tresses, and they were later encased in a reliquary at the Basilica named in her honor. The Basilica also contains a beautiful rock crystal flask containing… Clare’s clipped fingernails. How these disgusting body parts came to be preserved is, sadly, not recorded.

The Finger of Doubting Thomas once shoved in the resurrected Christ’s wounded side, is in Rome

Thomas the Apostle is the spiritual brother of all cynics, skeptics, and rational thinkers. He was the one who refused to believe the gossip from his fellow Apostles that Jesus had come back to life. Christ eventually physically appeared before his skeptical friend and allowed him to shove a finger into the wound in his holy side to make certain. This was sufficiently convincing for Tom, who hailed the man who stood before him as Lord and God. Jesus forgave him, albeit with the admonishment: ‘blessed are they that have not seen and have believed (John 20:29).

As well as giving us the idiom, ‘Doubting Thomas’, for anyone incredulous, Thomas also brought into legend the most famous finger of all time. And you can see the offending digit for yourself at the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome. It’s unclear when they came by the bone, but it’s certainly holy: the finger of a saint, which touched both Jesus and his holy blood. It has unsurprisingly proved a big draw for centuries of pilgrims, who can also see fragments of the cross on which Christ was crucified when they tire of being pointed at.

The Toe of St Francis Xavier was bitten off by a mourner and smuggled from Goa to Portugal

‘Behold I send you as lambs among wolves (Luke 10:3), thundered Christ to his disciples when sending them out to convert the masses. Well, he may have been speaking to his disciples, but in the 16th century, he was heard by Frances Xavier (1506-52). A Jesuit, in 1541 Xavier spent 13 months fighting off seasickness on a boat bound for Goa, India. He converted the Goans, then made his way across Asia, converting communities and leaving churches in his wake. In Japan, he made an abandoned Buddhist monastery his headquarters, and converted 2, 000 people to Christianity.

Xavier died of exhaustion on an island off China in 1552. His body was put on display in Goa, where thousands traveled to pay their respects and mourn this energetic evangelist. One devoted woman took things a little too far, however. Bending as if to kiss his foot, she promptly bit off one of his toes and took it back to Portugal with her. She displayed it in her chapel, where it drew in the big tourist bucks, and still attracts crowds of devotees to this day. Slightly less impressively, a village in Goa has one of Xavier’s fingernails.

A piece of St. Blaise’s foot lives in a foot-shaped reliquary in France, and another in Dubrovnik

Like Januarius, no one knows anything about St. Blaise, and even the dates of his birth and death are a mystery. He is said to have been knocking about in the 4th century, and to have been a bishop in Armenia who was executed by the nasty Romans. The story goes that he hid in a cave during the persecution of Christians, and healed sick people and animals who visited him. He was eventually discovered by hunters, presented to the local prefect, Agricola, and had his flesh torn off with hot iron combs, which unsurprisingly proved fatal.

All saints have a particular strength in miracles, and St Blaise is often prayed to for help with throat ailments, sick animals, or skin conditions, due to the miracles he performed whilst alive and his grisly death. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about his feet, but strangely there are two pieces of them in Europe that are particularly venerated. The one in France (above) lives in an ornate foot-shaped reliquary, and the one in Dubrovnik, where he is especially popular, lives in a similar container. Appropriately enough, the latter is carried through the streets every year… on foot.

Either St John Chrysostom had four heads, or at least three people are lying

John Chrysostom (347-407) was originally a hermit, but his self-inflicted living conditions and diet were so appalling that he nearly died. Forced to change career, John made the most of his new, healthier lifestyle to throw himself into preaching, writing theological tracts, and helping the sick and needy. He was so popular in Antioch that when he was elected Archbishop of Constantinople he had to be snuck out of the city under the cover of night, in fear of rioting. Political machinations saw him exiled, however, and he died whilst on a forced march to Pontus in bad weather.

In the West, John is revered as one of the Four Great Doctors, along with Athanasius, Basil, and Gregory Nazianzus, for his great learning. What, therefore, could be a better relic of the great scholar than his very head? Crusaders pinched his skull and other relics from Constantinople in 1204 and brought them to Rome, but where things get murky. One skull, after all, looks a lot like another, and so there are no fewer than four skulls on display as the genuine head of John Chrysostom: two in Tuscany, one in Russia, and the other in Greece.

The tissue surrounding the gigantic heart of St Philip Neri was removed and is still on display today

While some saints have a definitive plan for life and moment of conversion, the Florentine Saint Philip Neri (1515-95) flip-flopped for some time before deciding to become a priest. After brief flirtations with tutoring and business, he decided that preaching to the wicked was the right thing for him after all, and he began harassing bankers and the like in his hometown about their behavior. He seems to have made the right call, for in 1544 he had an ecstatic vision in which a globe of fire entered his mouth and swelled his heart to an enormous size.

Don’t believe him? Well, an autopsy after his death in 1595 proved that he had a whopping great heart in his chest. Vision aside, he had a reputation as a lovely man, who stayed in good humor despite the depressing nature of his work shouting at feckless bankers and helping the miserably destitute, so it was no surprise to anyone that his heart was as massive as it was metaphorically. Two of his ribs were found to be broken, and a protective layer of tissue had developed, to accommodate it. This containing tissue was removed and carefully preserved. Yuck.

The Turin Shroud is thought to be the imprint of the dead and mutilated Christ

By far, the most famous relic in the world, the Turin Shroud is a linen cloth bearing the faint trace of a man with what appear to be crucifixion wounds. You may be wondering why it’s made an appearance on this list, but think about it for a second. If the rumors are true, the Turin Shroud is the imprint of a man who was flogged, nailed to a cross, and left to sweat and bleed under a searing desert sun, before being dumped in a cave. In other words, it’s the imprint of a dead guy’s bodily juices.

Noting this is in no way sacrilegious (apart from calling it gross): Christ, after all, was both fully man and fully God according to the Nicene Creed. Moreover, the Turin Shroud was exposed as a shabby fake over 30 years ago. Radiocarbon tests on the shroud in 1988 dated it to between 1260 and 1390 AD and, far from being evidence of a later miracle, it’s not even anatomically correct. Maybe God’s just playing a trick on us all, but try telling that to the 2.5 million people who went to see it in 2010.

The whole of Hyacinth of Caesarea is on display in Germany, covered in jewels

A fingernail or a piece of a saint’s bone is all well and good, but surely you can’t beat the entire thing. Hyacinth of Caesarea was another obscure martyr from an unknown date of early Christianity, killed by the Romans for his (yes, Hyacinth was a boy’s name back then) faith. Though we know precious little about him today, Hyacinth’s name appears in a list of martyrs from the 4th century, which suggests that he was once both important and popular. He was most revered as a saint in Italy, where the later, unsubstantiated legends about him developed.

Hyacinth’s skeleton arrived at the Church of the Assumption in Fürstenfeldbruck, near Munich on an unknown date. The church was originally part of a Cistercian Abbey, but this was sacked by the Swedish army in the mid-17th century. The abbey church was rebuilt in its present, over-the-top Baroque style in the late 18th century, and this backdrop provides an appropriate setting for Hyacinth’s remains. For rather than leaving the skeleton as a simple but effective memento mori, it was covered with thousands of jewels and posed in a glass coffin, rather like a cursed king from Indiana Jones.

Don Bosco’s brain is a relic and is so popular that it was stolen in 2017

After rising from his humble, impoverished upbringing to become a priest, Don Bosco (1815-88) devoted his life to the pastoral care of young men who, like him, came from deprived households. As well as preaching to them, Bosco founded the Salesian Order, setting up training schemes so his young charges could go on to have remunerative careers as craftsmen. Running a home for 500 boys, and taking them on fun excursions to the countryside, a lot of people had a lot to thank Don Bosco for. Indeed, 40, 000 people visited his body when it lay in state.

An estimated 600, 000 people visit his relics every year near Turin. These relics, unbelievably, include part of his brain, but sadly there is little information on how, or why, it was removed and preserved. Either way, it’s been on display for decades, apart from when it was stolen in 2017. As millions prayed for its safe return, Italian police resorted to CSI to find the holy cerebellum, and between them, they succeeded in recovering it. Carabinieri found the reliquary containing the brain piece in a copper kettle in the thief’s kitchen. It hadn’t been opened, you’ll be relieved to hear.

The nipples of Elizabeth of Thuringia were hacked off as relics in the 13th century

Elizabeth of Thuringia (1207-31) was a radiant Hungarian princess. Happily married with three lovely children, if she had a fault it was her unceasing generosity to the poor. But when her equally pious husband, Louis IV of Thuringia, died on Crusade, her life was turned upside down: refusing to marry again, she fell under the spell of her brutal and zealous confessor, Conrad of Marburg. Conrad reorganized Elizabeth’s life to make it so miserable and austere that her servants would beat her for indiscretions. Sadly, she died aged just 24, as daily beatings and near-starvation took their toll.

But Elizabeth’s generosity, personal ministration to the poor, and pathetic death all made her a popular figure in her native Hungary and beyond. Within hours of her death, mobs of Catholics were banging at the mausoleum’s doors, wanting to touch her body for cures and blessings. Soon pilgrims flocked from far and wide and began to mutilate her barely-dead body for relics. Locks of hair and fingernails were torn off, but the devastation did not stop there: someone even cut off her nipples, and took them away as relics. Seeing Elizabeth’s nipples, thus, became an incongruous goal for many pilgrims.

Jesus’s diapers can be seen in Dubrovnik and Aachen

He may only have lived for 33 years, and very humbly, but that was plenty of time for Jesus to have touched a lot of things and owned a few bits and pieces. We’ve already seen his foreskin and death-shroud on this list, but what of the Son of God’s possessions? Well, no toys are recorded, but at some stage in history, someone had the ingenious idea for another relic: his diapers. Depictions of the baby Jesus often show him naked but, logically, there must have been some sanitary measures in ancient Nazareth…

Christ’s diapers are now on display in reliquaries at Dubrovnik and Aachen. Although they are termed ‘swaddling clothes’ at the latter, information boards at Dubrovnik Cathedral describe its version as a ‘diaper’. Although ‘swaddling clothes’ sounds more hygienic, these were still wrapped around naked infants, and you don’t have to be a parent to work out what that means. But since these diapers/ swaddling clothes touched Jesus and were worn by him, they are First-Class Relics (the holiest kind) in Catholic belief. Still, it’s funny to think that these beautiful cases contain a dirty old nappy…

Oliver Plunkett was hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1681, and someone made off with his head

Although we’ve already had two heads (five if you count all of John Chrysostom’s), the head of Oliver Plunkett (1629-81) could not be left off this list for the simple reason that it’s hideous. Plunkett was Archbishop of Armagh in Ireland, a country recently ravaged by the wicked Puritan Oliver Cromwell. There were also serious divisions within both the Irish church and Catholicism generally about devotional practices. Extremely popular in Ireland nonetheless, Plunkett was falsely accused by Titus ‘Titus the Liar’ Oates of plotting to kill the king of England as part of the fictional Popish Plot.

Plunkett was taken to London to stand trial, as the authorities feared a strong backlash from his Irish supporters at home. He was found guilty, and hanged, drawn, and quartered for high treason. His body parts were buried at London’s Saint-Giles-in-the-Fields Church, but devoted Catholics dug them up as ready-made relics, and packed them off around Europe. Plunkett’s theatrically-despondent head was first sent to Rome and returned to Ireland after a brief stint in the Holy City. It’s been at a church in Drogheda, Ireland, since 1929, where it attracts pilgrims and intrigued tourists alike to this day.

The Veil of Veronica is a hanky with the imprint of Jesus’s face on it

The crowds jeered at the fallen messiah. The thin, beaten, and bloodied frame of Jesus strained and fell under the weight of the great beams of wood upon his aching back, as he carried his cross to Golgotha. Only one person among the throng was brave enough to help the poor man (according to Apocrypha and legend). Her name was Veronica, and she wiped Christ’s exhausted face with a cloth when he fell. His face miraculously appeared on the handkerchief, which has been a coveted and semi-legendary relic ever since. So coveted that there are several.

Despite the lack of canonical authority for the tale, the myth of Veronica’s hanky thrived as theologians puzzled over her identity. The earliest record of a Veil is at St Peter’s in Rome, which has had one since the 8th century. It is not on display. But why is this miraculous item on this list? Well, think of the Latin name for the veil, Sudarium. The noun means simply ‘sweat-cloth’, and the relic (if it is real) is, indeed, a piece of cloth with 2000-year-old sweat on it. That’s gross, no matter how much it looks like Jesus.

When St Agatha’s breasts were ripped off with pincers, her devotees kept them as relics

So, here we come to the final item on our list, and one of the most bizarre. Another very early Christian martyr, Agatha was a virgin who died in Catania, Sicily. Like many Christians of the first few centuries AD, she was executed for her faith. But her mode of death, according to later legend, was especially macabre. When the Roman consul Quintinian failed to seduce her, he roasted Agatha over a fire and then ripped her breasts off with red-hot pincers for good measure. They miraculously grew back, but she died of her injuries nonetheless.

Like Oliver Plunkett’s head, Agatha’s dismembered breasts were a ready-made relic. They were swiped away when the torturers weren’t watching and instantly venerated. The saint’s mammaries are now lost, but it’s easy to understand how so many pairs were knocking about in the Middle Ages. All you had to do was hack a pair off a dead body and sell them to foolish (or enterprising) churchmen as Agatha’s. Though her alleged breasts are long-gone, Sicilians commemorate Agatha by baking mine di Sant’ Agata [literally, ‘St Agatha’s breasts’], sweet cakes in the shape of breasts with a glacé cherry as a nipple.