Jesus is in all of us, right? But what is inside Him?

In this case, a church took its statue in for restoration and noticed a hidden compartment in its… posterior. It turns out an 18th century priest used the Holy Buttocks of the sculpture to store a letter about his time.

It makes sense. What more appropriate place than the butt of a crucified Jesus statue to store your personal effects? That’s one way to guarantee it won’t be disturbed.

And it seems to be an actual “time capsule” — intended to remain hidden for hundreds of years, and a very peculiar and interesting find. “Although it is usual for many sculptures to be hollow,” explained historian Efrén Arroyo, and member of the Holy Week Brotherhood of Sotillo de la Ribera, “it is not so much to find handwritten documents inside.”

The statue, Cristo del Miserere, was removed from the church of Santa Águeda in Spain. The conservators discovered a secret document in the statue’s butt cavity:

So, who was this priest who decided to hide a note in the derrière of his deity? It turns out it was Joaquín Mínguez, a chaplain of the Cathedral of the Burgo de Osma. Part of the note focused on the sculptor of the statue, Manuel Bal, and described his other work at the church.

Butt wait, there’s more:

He also wrote about life at the time — including the name of the king, Carlos III, various aldermen and events of the time. He detailed the crops cultivated in the region (wheat, rye, barley and oats, and wine grapes); the most common diseases (such as malaria and typhoid fever); and the most popular entertainments of the population (such as cards, ball games, and bar games).

It turns out that, despite the unique hiding place, the letter actually had some interesting information about the era in which the statue was made. In a way, that’s downright scientific, offering us detailed first-hand information about the priest’s time in history as well as his geography. He deserves a lot of credit for that foresight.

For once, a religious leader wasn’t pulling things out of his butt. He put useful insights into one. And for that, we should all be grateful.

(Thanks to Jaynee for the link)