Friedrich Herlin (ca. 1430-1500): The Circumcision of baby Jesus
I suppose it takes a Catholic to be concerned with Jesu foreskin and what happened to it after the circumcision a few days after his birth. Others - both atheists and e.g. Protestants - most like have never been giving this piece of skin a single thought. They may even see the concern with this special part of the body of Jesu as somewhat ridiculous. However, many Catholics seem more or less beset with worries about the destiny of this intimate body detail of Christ and during The Middle Ages several churches all over Europe did what they could to boast that it was in their possession. As Jesus presumably didn't have several penisses that's quite odd, but as we know, in religion anything may happen, absolutely anything ....
The circumcision of Abraham
Well, it started with Abraham being told that he had to cut off his foreskin as part of his pact with the Biblical god, Yahweh. He was the first, but after him there were endless foreskin massacres wherever there were new born Jewish boys. I always felt that this murder rampage of foreskins were a health precaution to protect women by avoiding the damages of the smegma beneath it, but the subject is still being discussed. However, the very first mention of the circumcision of baby Jesus is found in Luke 2:21 which didn't go unnoticed by relic hunters and first and foremost relic traders who made fortunes selling parts of holy men and women.
As might be expected there are several paintings of the "holy moment" of baby Jesus losing his foreskin, and this one may be found at Louvre. The rabbi cutting the foreskin looks more devious and also a bit cruel to me, but then I'm not a Catholic so I don't appreciate this kind of surgeries. However, one who really, really was into it was another woman, i.e. the super holy Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) who thought she had a mystical marriage to Jesus, using the foreskin as a wedding ring.
Whoever thought of anything like that? Nobody as far as I know, but in a world and time where relics were venerated by Christians on all social levels of society that must have been some sort of a coup that gave her added status.
Here it is - or is it? I would say that this may be a foreskin of somebody, but I doubt it belonged to Jesus, also because the foreskin that was given to the pope Leo III ca. 799 AD was stolen in 1527 in an invasion. It was considered extremely powerful because it was said to be a part of the body of Jesus, but if that really is the case then it should have made the thieves and their families happy and prosperous. Like all relics - and this is seen as a high class relic - it was believed to be indestructible so wherever it is it may still work miracles - or not ....
Wikipedia
https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-happened-to-jesus-foreskin
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