The UnXplained Special Presentation

A sacred artifact,

imbued with divine power.

Holy relics that can heal the sick.

And ten deadly plagues sent by the hand of God.

To billions of people around the world,

the Bible is a sacred text,

believed to be directly inspired by God.

But some events recorded in holy scripture defy explanation,

and raise profound mysteries of faith.

For instance,

does the evil entity referred to as Satan

actually exist?

And can humans really channel

divine forces to perform miracles?

Well, that is what we'll try and find out.

High atop a plateau overlooking the Allegheny River

sits Saint Anthony's Chapel.

Every day, Christians from all over the world pass

beneath its tall spires and rounded arches

to participate in devotion and prayer.

However, it's not the outside of Saint Anthony's Chapel

that makes it such an inspiring destination...

...but rather the inside.

Because within this church lies something that is quite unusual.

A collection of thousands of bones

that once belonged to Catholic saints.

When you come here

and you walk in and you see

these beautiful gold or brass reliquaries

and just how vast the collection is,

which include anything from part of an arm bone

or a leg bone,

to the skulls and the full skeletons,

it really is just overwhelming.

At Saint Anthony Chapel there are over 5,000 relics

and this collection is second only to the Vatican.

So here at Saint Anthony's, it really is a unique experience

to come and see the relics of saints.

The relics of Saint Anthony,

Saint Demetrious,

Saint Stephana

and Saint Theodore among many others

are kept in Saint Anthony's Chapel.

Saint Anthony's is quite a place.

They have items that come

from the four corners of the world,

mostly the Holy Land,

and they're all protected there,

and we can see these relics.

You can see a little of the holy there

in a tooth or a piece of skull,

which is a relic, a piece of a saint.

A relic that you can actually look at and be close to,

that's like a little bit of God right there in the chapel.

Millions of Christians consider

holy relics to be sacred

and it's well-known that the bones of many saints are

preserved in cathedrals throughout the world.

But how did such a vast collection of relics

end up in a chapel in Pittsburgh?

What makes the collection of relics here

particularly unique

is the way in which they were obtained by Father Mollinger,

who built the chapel.

He obtained them in the late 1880s

because there were people who just thought

that the relics had no value and things were being discarded.

Father Mollinger had a network of people in Europe

who were preserving the relics

and he would go and retrieve them himself.

We have pilgrimages come in

at least once a week if not more.

And what a gift it is to be able to welcome them

and share this treasure that we have here.

Each and every relic is enclosed with a wax seal,

both to ensure its authenticity

and to protect it from those

who might wish to tamper with the holy remains.

But why are holy relics

so coveted and revered in the first place?

Why go to such extraordinary lengths

to preserve these ancient bones?

All throughout Europe, in churches,

you'll see these bejeweled skeletons

adorned with gold, silver, and expensive jewels,

that really look like they're works of art

but strange works of art.

And the whole purpose of this is because

there is this idea, especially in Christianity,

that there is this inherent spiritual power

that infuses the remains,

and that spirit has to be honored.

KATHLEEN McGOWAN: The bones of saints and martyrs in Christianity are

of exceptional value,

and extraordinary power

according to Christian tradition.

It was believed that when a saint was

murdered for their beliefs

that their bones became infused with their sanctity,

the essence of their grace.

Holy relics, specifically skeletal relics,

stem from this tradition

that the bones themselves possess power.

And this comes from the Bible.

You have a story in Second Kings,

in the Hebrew Bible, in the Old Testament

of a burial procession.

And they were doing a burial,

and they saw some invaders coming.

And they just threw the body

on top of the bones of the prophet Elisha

which were already lying on the ground

and as soon as the dead body touched the bones of Elisha,

they came back to life.

So, obviously, the bones of Elisha have

some life-giving property.

McGOWAN: We also have stories from the very beginning

of Christianity about miracles related

to the bones of different saints.

The bones of Saint Lazarus, for example--

who was raised from the dead by Jesus--

were highly coveted.

And there are legends in Provence

that the bones of Lazarus were brought in to people

who were sick and dying

and that utilizing the bones in the presence of these people

with the right kind of prayers would then

heal them of this near-fatal illness.

There was a huge, lucrative market

in medieval Europe for saints' bones,

and different cathedrals would be vying with each other

about who could have the most important relics.

So even today, if you go to the cathedrals of Europe,

any good cathedral will have

a few body parts in there of saints.

Ancient relics that can channel the power of God?

For some, that idea is a little hard to believe.

In fact, there are many skeptics who claim

that supposed holy relics are not even the actual bones

of Christian saints.

And yet, some of these relics have been proven

to be quite authentic.

Of all the holy relics that exist from the saints...

...perhaps the most fascinating is

the skull of Mary Magdalene.

The relics and the skull of Mary Magdalene have been

kept on display

in the Basilica of Saint-Maximin in the southwest of France

since about the fourth century

and have been dated and carbon-dated

and examined in a number of different ways.

So we're pretty clear that these are actually

truly the relics of Mary Magdalene.

Now because Mary Magdalene was present

for the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

her relics were considered to have

even more power and importance than perhaps any other saint.

There was an understanding that you could even potentially

bring somebody back from the dead

with the relics of Mary Magdalene.

There have been miracles recorded for centuries

from people who were

in the presence of Magdalene's relics,

and many people believe that you could benefit

from the extraordinary sanctity

that was said to rest in her bones.

And people who go to revere her skull have

incredibly powerful emotional experiences with it.

It really radiates a type of grace and a spirituality.

And people walk away from it sobbing.

People fall to their knees.

I've heard many stories of people

who trust with all their heart

that the encounter they had with the relics of saints

brought about healing in their life.

In fact, over in the Chapel Museum,

there are crutches and canes

and things that-that people were able to cast aside

because they were healed.

If someone would doubt whether this is real,

whether this is authentic,

I would just invite them

to talk to someone whose life, even in the slightest way,

was made better

or made different because of their encounter

with the saints

through holy relics.

To this day, holy relics continue

to fascinate people all over the world

and are held sacred by billions of faithful.

But not all mysteries of faith concern

objects that can be seen in person.

Some have been lost to history,

like an ancient Jewish artifact

that was said to have the power...

to destroy nations.

Every December, millions of Jewish people

all over the world come together

to celebrate an eight-day festival known as Hanukkah.

According to tradition,