Author: Christina Ayele Djossa / Source: Atlas Obscura
When people toss away trinkets like doll heads or little skeletons, it makes for some interesting conversations among garbage collectors, but about a year ago a rubbish service company in London found trash of holier proportions.
And they’re still not quite sure what to do with it.Enviro Waste found a red-wax-sealed box bound with equally red cords while picking out recycled materials from waste collections, The Guardian reported. Within this box was an oval with a mysterious sponge-like bone in it, and a weathered beige slip of paper with the Latin words “Ex Oss. S. Clementis PM.” Roughly translated into English, the label reads, “From the bone of the Saint Clement.”
Before Saint Clement was canonized, he succeeded St. Peter as Pope Clement I from 88 to 97 or from 92 to 101. It’s unclear because there are scant details of his life, but the few tales people shared over the years certainly seem to have elevated him beyond pontiff status. Allegedly, and for reasons unknown, the Roman emperor Trajan exiled him to Greece for a life sentence of hard labor.
Despite the hard…
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