Here is another book worth reading: Dissertation sur le culte des saints
inconnus (Dissertation on the cult of unknown saints)
(
http://books.google.fr/books/about/Dissertation_sur_le_culte_des_saints_inc.htm\
l?id=mIxbAAAAQAAJ&redir_esc=y) by monk and scholar Jean Mabillon
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Mabillon). It is an answer to a series of
questions asked by Jean Hardouin (under the nickname of Théophile François), a
character already mentioned in this thread.
In this book, Mabillon questions the historical veracity of the unknown saints,
i.e. those remains which have been found in the catacombs of Rome. He argues
that it is impossible to know whether these remains are those of christians and,
basing himself on the inscriptions on the tombs and other elements, he thinks
most of these remains are of pagans. The Church of Rome "manufactured" dozens of
saints and martyrs with these remains. Mabillon mentions the astounding process
the Church of Rome would use: it would extract a corpse and simply, arbitrarily,
give a name to it, although absolutely no information was available on the
chosen corpses. Each corpse would then be branded as a saint or a martyr, or
both. Needless to say that, with this book, Mabillon brought on himself the
wrath of the monastic orders.
This book gives us materials to further question the official history of the
Church of Rome and, more largely, the official chronology.
In "Lucifer's Court"
(
http://www.scribd.com/doc/68217996/OTTO-RAHN-Lucifer-s-Court-a-Heretic-s-Journe\
y-in-Search-of-the-Light-Bringers), Otto Rahn gives the incredible story of the
remains of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Hungary). This is the kind of story
that will convince you that christian relics should be regarded as potentially
spurious.