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Removing body parts from the corpse was an echo of a practice common with saints, whose digits, tongues and organs were revered by Catholics as relics with sacred powers.

There is an irony in Galileo’s having been subjected to the same treatment, since he was persecuted by the Catholic Church for advocating the theory that the earth circles the sun, rather than the other way around. The Inquisition forced him to recant and jailed him in 1634.

The people who cut off his fingers essentially considered him a secular saint, [museum director Paolo] Galluzzi said, noting the fingers that were removed were the ones he would have used to hold a pen.