Tests have shown that remains found in a Parisian Pharmacy attic in the early 1900s, purported to hold the remains of Joan of Arc, are faked. The remains actually came from mummified remains far older than the 15th-Century (when Joan of Arc lived and was burned at the stake for heresy and witchcraft).
The mummified remains were of Egyptian mummies from the 3rd to 6th -Centuries, including a mummified cat bone. It was common practice for people to throw black cats into the pyres of supposed witches. The remains were recognized as sacred by the Church, but new tests have shown they could not have belonged to France's heroine, canonized in 1920.
Mummies were often used in medicines in Europe from Medieval times onward, generally to combat long periods, blood-related problems, and stomach pains. No one knows why the remains were considered to be from Joan of Arc - whether it was an honest mistake or (most likely) a hoax - but money is not thought to be the issue; actually, the most popular theory is that it was faked for religious purposes, possibly to increase the importance of beatification.
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