They were called Catacoḥas Saiḥts, corpses of ancient Romans unearthed from the catacombs of Rome, dummy bodies handed over and found outside as relics of the Saiḥts of the 16th to 8th centuries. 19. They are lavishly decorated, as you can see below.

When Catholic churches were systematically stripped of their effigies, the Vatican came up with a rather strange solution. They ordered thousands of skeletons to be exhumed from the catacombs of Rome and installed in towers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Few, if any, of the corpses belonged to people of any religious significance, but they were decorated as if they were satyrs.

In 1803, the secular magistrate of Rottepäch in Baʋaria awarded the two saints to the town. 174 years later, in 1977, the town’s residents raised their voices for their return, but for the most part, the catacomb saints were almost forgotten and abandoned.

‘They have to be controlled by people who have sworn a sacred oath to the church; these people are supposed to be martyrs and cannot let anyone else control them. They are symbols of the faith of victory and are classified as saints in cities. One of the reasons why they are so important is not because of their spiritual value, which is quite valuable, but because of their social importance.

‘They have to be controlled by people who have sworn a sacred oath to the church; these people are supposed to be martyrs and cannot let anyone else control them. They are symbols of the faith of victory and are classified as saints in cities. One of the reasons why they are so important is not because of their spiritual value, which is quite valuable, but because of their social importance.

“They are supposed to be miracles and they really strengthen people’s relationship with a partner.” He added: “No modern capacity for value is placed on skeletons.”