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The relics were found when workers were clearing out an old building in France. In the attic were jars with the cloth and bones. The bones looked to be of a rib and there were other pieces that were hard to pin point where they belonged in the body. In the jars was an old parchment that read these were of Joan. Word got out pretty quickly and of course, the Catholic Church was interested to know the authenticity of the relics. There was a variety of methods they went through to prove their authenticity. A forensic examiner was brought in to start things up. He in fact was an expert with remains dating back centuries. His first attempt was to extract DNA from the bones and compare it to DNA from Joan's known ancestors. However, their was no DNA within the bones. The conclusion for that was, even though DNA could survive all these years, it can be lost through being exposed to extreme heat or tampering. For lack of better terms, this did add fire to the argument that this was Joan's.
Then the argument of how these relics survived the fire when Joan was burned. That was countered with the argument that bodies can explode with the gases inside the body being exposed to extreme heat. It was a possibility. They even brought in a perfumer with a trained nose to smell. In his analysis he detected hints of vanilla. This was extremely important information because ancient forms of embalming and body preservation used a material that left a scent of vanilla.What was really the kicker, was with closer examination of the specimen and with more experts, the relic that was thought to be one of Joan's ribs, turned out to be a thigh bone for a cat.
Finally, what really took away from the argument that these were authentic Joan relics was the examination of the cloth. Under close examination, the stitching pattern did not match the common method used in Medieval Europe. Though the cloth was centuries old, it did match the stitching patterns used in the Middle East. Through all the information gathered on the relics, the relics were in fact not Joan's, but from a mummified cat. Something that still is interesting, but not from a Saint of France.
If you want to watch the full episode, I said at the top, it is on Netflix. Just search Myth Hunters. From what I researched on the show, the third season is actually supposed to show actually this week on the History Channel.
Thank you for bringing this out--when the "relics" were tested it became quite a scandal, as if proving all those suspicious of relics anyone--not much more than an old Egyptian cat mummy. These had been in a Joan of Arc museum, but never endorsed by the Catholic church as official, so it reflects more on the French need to "find" Joan than it does on fraudulent Vatican behavior. In any case, there have been many attempts to recreate Joan, and this one would fit too. Someone remarked that we need to reinvent Joan because we don't want to lose her, the story is just that good.
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