What happens to bodies after death?

[L. Allen]

I would like to know what opinions are held concerning the mortal body after physical death. I am not thinking particularly of the saints, but more of ordinary people and even those who lived before Christ. I was reading up on the bodies of people who were buried in peat bogs, and whose fingerprints were clearer than those of the people who found them, and I thought of Heaney's poem about the preservation of these bodies. At the same time, I've read Augustine's view that the funeral rites for bodies are more for the comfort of the living than the good of the dead. What I would like to know is how preservation of the body relates to sainthood? And, also, if a preserved body is recovered from pre-Christian times, what should be done with it? In the past bodies have been quietly re-buried, have been buried in consecrated ground, and have been preserved and exhibited in museums. What is the correct approach to physical remains, Christian and non-Christian?

[Cyprian (Humphrey)]

I would like to know what opinions are held concerning the mortal body after physical death.
The body should be respected as a potential relic. It is the judgement of God alone who is a saint and who isn't, and it is often said that there are more saints that God has not revealed to the world, than those He has.

I am not thinking particularly of the saints, but more of ordinary people and even those who lived before Christ. I was reading up on the bodies of people who were buried in peat bogs, and whose fingerprints were clearer than those of the people who found them, and I thought of Heaney's poem about the preservation of these bodies. At the same time, I've read Augustine's view that the funeral rites for bodies are more for the comfort of the living than the good of the dead. What I would like to know is how preservation of the body relates to sainthood?
It doesn't. Many saints have had their bodies lost at sea or entirely consumed by fire. Others have bones preserved. Others are relatively incorrupt. Sainthood is about sanctity of life, rather than forensic continuity.

And, also, if a preserved body is recovered from pre-Christian times, what should be done with it? In the past bodies have been quietly re-buried, have been buried in consecrated ground, and have been preserved and exhibited in museums. What is the correct approach to physical remains, Christian and non-Christian?
I suspect that respect is going to be a recurring theme. But, as to what exactly should be done in every case, I'll leave that up to Bishops and Priests - it's a pastoral decision and not likely to be a uniform answer.

[L. Allen]

Thanks for replying. I know some of what I asked seems very simplistic, but there is some motive to the madness: I'm trying to think about how pre-Christian people might have seen Christian doctrines, and how these would have interacted with their prior customs.