Remains of St. Queen Ketevan may have been found

(Deccan Chronicle) - The long-awaited DNA report of the supposed remains of the Georgian Queen Ketevan of Kakheti has arrived. The report says the remains do belong to the 17th century but a DNA test of the queen’s descendants is required to confirm without doubt that the remains are hers.

Queen Ketevan of Kakheti was imprisoned by Shah Abbas I of Persia for 10 years after he conquered Georgia. She was tortured to death for refusing to convert to Islam and later canonized by the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia (head of the Georgian Orthodox Church).

A team of Georgian and Archaeological Survey of India experts, in a joint effort, found the relics from under the window of an Augustine complex in Old Goa in November 2006.