Revived for Paradise: A History of Respite Sanctuaries

Infant baptism originated when St. Augustine proclaimed the doctrine of original sin in 412 CE. Neonates stillborn or deceased before baptism were declared to go down to Hell and were buried outside of sacred ground. From the 15th century, parents carried these infants to "respite sanctuaries" in remote mountain chapels, where miraculous images were believed to revive the infant in order to allow baptism and a Christian burial. Monasteries made fortunes out of the parents' anguish. In 1528, the abuse of the Oberbüren image ignited iconoclasm and heralded the beginning of the Reformation. From 1740, Pope Benedict XIV opposed the sanctuaries, especially Ursberg in Swabia, declaring as invalid any apparent signs of life, e.g., changes in skin color, a change from rigidity to flexibility, blood flowing from the nose, sweat on the skin, cessation of a cadaveric smell, and the movement of a feather held at the infant's mouth. Only crying and sounds of respiration remained valid signs of revivification. The debate ran for centuries, highlighting the difficulty of distinguishing a stillborn from a liveborn baby before the stethoscope became available. The existence of respite sanctuaries is an illustration of the failure of the doctrine of original sin, which was never accepted by the pious.