Simulacra of Eternal Life: Ostensions, Exhibitions and the Concealment of Human Remains

This contribution reflects on certain practical examples of the social treatment of human remains in the contemporary era. In occasion of the ostension of the body of Saint Pio of Petrelcina, his decomposed face was reconstructed with a silicon mask that perfectly simulated the physiognomy of the living saint. Saint Leopoldo Mandić of Padua underwent similar treatment for his jubilee translation to the Vatican alongside Saint Pio. The spectacular display of these simulacra of eternal life can be analysed in relation to the concurrent tendency to reject the public exhibition of human remains in museums.