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Analysis of the Putative Remains of a European Patron Saint–St. Birgitta

Saint Birgitta (Saint Bridget of Sweden) lived between 1303 and 1373 and was designated one of Europe's six patron saints by the Pope in 1999. According to legend, the skulls of St. Birgitta and her daughter Katarina are maintained in a relic shrine in Vadstena abbey, mid Sweden. The origin of...

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Autores principales: Nilsson, Martina, Possnert, Göran, Edlund, Hanna, Budowle, Bruce, Kjellström, Anna, Allen, Marie
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2821883/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20169108
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0008986
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author Nilsson, Martina
Possnert, Göran
Edlund, Hanna
Budowle, Bruce
Kjellström, Anna
Allen, Marie
author_facet Nilsson, Martina
Possnert, Göran
Edlund, Hanna
Budowle, Bruce
Kjellström, Anna
Allen, Marie
author_sort Nilsson, Martina
collection PubMed
description Saint Birgitta (Saint Bridget of Sweden) lived between 1303 and 1373 and was designated one of Europe's six patron saints by the Pope in 1999. According to legend, the skulls of St. Birgitta and her daughter Katarina are maintained in a relic shrine in Vadstena abbey, mid Sweden. The origin of the two skulls was assessed first by analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to confirm a maternal relationship. The results of this analysis displayed several differences between the two individuals, thus supporting an interpretation of the two skulls not being individuals that are maternally related. Because the efficiency of PCR amplification and quantity of DNA suggested a different amount of degradation and possibly a very different age for each of the skulls, an orthogonal procedure, radiocarbon dating, was performed. The radiocarbon dating results suggest an age difference of at least 200 years and neither of the dating results coincides with the period St. Birgitta or her daughter Katarina lived. The relic, thought to originate from St. Birgitta, has an age corresponding to the 13(th) century (1215–1270 cal AD, 2σ confidence), which is older than expected. Thus, the two different analyses are consistent in questioning the authenticity of either of the human skulls maintained in the Vadstena relic shrine being that of St. Birgitta. Of course there are limitations when interpreting the data of any ancient biological materials and these must be considered for a final decision on the authenticity of the remains.
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spelling pubmed-28218832010-02-19 Analysis of the Putative Remains of a European Patron Saint–St. Birgitta Nilsson, Martina Possnert, Göran Edlund, Hanna Budowle, Bruce Kjellström, Anna Allen, Marie PLoS One Research Article Saint Birgitta (Saint Bridget of Sweden) lived between 1303 and 1373 and was designated one of Europe's six patron saints by the Pope in 1999. According to legend, the skulls of St. Birgitta and her daughter Katarina are maintained in a relic shrine in Vadstena abbey, mid Sweden. The origin of the two skulls was assessed first by analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to confirm a maternal relationship. The results of this analysis displayed several differences between the two individuals, thus supporting an interpretation of the two skulls not being individuals that are maternally related. Because the efficiency of PCR amplification and quantity of DNA suggested a different amount of degradation and possibly a very different age for each of the skulls, an orthogonal procedure, radiocarbon dating, was performed. The radiocarbon dating results suggest an age difference of at least 200 years and neither of the dating results coincides with the period St. Birgitta or her daughter Katarina lived. The relic, thought to originate from St. Birgitta, has an age corresponding to the 13(th) century (1215–1270 cal AD, 2σ confidence), which is older than expected. Thus, the two different analyses are consistent in questioning the authenticity of either of the human skulls maintained in the Vadstena relic shrine being that of St. Birgitta. Of course there are limitations when interpreting the data of any ancient biological materials and these must be considered for a final decision on the authenticity of the remains. Public Library of Science 2010-02-16 /pmc/articles/PMC2821883/ /pubmed/20169108 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0008986 Text en Nilsson et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Nilsson, Martina
Possnert, Göran
Edlund, Hanna
Budowle, Bruce
Kjellström, Anna
Allen, Marie
Analysis of the Putative Remains of a European Patron Saint–St. Birgitta
title Analysis of the Putative Remains of a European Patron Saint–St. Birgitta
title_full Analysis of the Putative Remains of a European Patron Saint–St. Birgitta
title_fullStr Analysis of the Putative Remains of a European Patron Saint–St. Birgitta
title_full_unstemmed Analysis of the Putative Remains of a European Patron Saint–St. Birgitta
title_short Analysis of the Putative Remains of a European Patron Saint–St. Birgitta
title_sort analysis of the putative remains of a european patron saint–st. birgitta
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2821883/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20169108
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0008986
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