How did St Clare cheat decomposition?

St Clare of Montefalco was one of a cluster of Italian saints who lived in Tuscany and Umbria between the late-13th and mid-15th centuries, and whose bodies were 'incorruptible' – they did not decompose after death.

Born in 1268, Clare joined a religious order as a young woman and led an extremely austere life. When she died in 1308, a cross was found imprinted above her heart and her body did not decompose. Incorruptibility was believed to be a sign of sainthood and, nearly 600 years later, in 1881, Clare was canonised by the Pope.

Pathologist Ezio Fulcheri has discovered that many of these saints were actually mummified by their followers using substances and techniques that might have been brought by early Christians to Rome. Some of these substances, such as frankincense, were used for mummification by the ancient Egyptians and so, Fulcheri believes, the tradition passed from Egypt to Palestine and from Palestine to Europe.

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Engraving of St Clare's heart after the autopsy
(Fortean Picture Library)

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