A rare religious tapestry, recently discovered tucked in a corner in a local convent, purports to contain relics from 365 saints and some from Jesus Christ himself
By Charity Vogel
News Staff Reporter
Updated: January 3, 2012, 12:01 PM
It traveled here from Rome, and then disappeared from view for nearly 100 years.
Now, a rare tapestry that has been found in Buffalo has become both a mystery and a symbol of enduring faith.
The artifact, which today hangs in the sacristy of St. Joseph's Cathedral, contains the relics of saints of the old Roman Catholic calendar: 365 of them.
But the reliquary's wonders do not stop there.
A translation of the Latin inscriptions around the reliquary's central image of a cross — bearing the motto "In Hoc Vinces," or "In this [sign] you conquer" — reveals that relics at the center of the tapestry purport to be relics of the life and Passion of Jesus Christ himself.
The fragments, which bear inscriptions that were also translated for The Buffalo News by two Latin experts, are labeled as being from sources including:
Jesus Christ's seamless garment worn at the Passion, for which the soldiers cast lots; the sponge used to moisten the lips of Christ as he was dying on the cross; the Crown of Thorns placed on Christ's head; the purple robe placed on Jesus during his Passion; and the Holy Shroud, in which Christ's body was laid in the tomb, among other artifacts.
Surrounding the Christ-centered relics is a "calendar" showing months of the year, with saints' relics next to each date — each one labeled in cramped, antiquated script.
Among them are major Christian figures, including: St. Ann; St. Veronica; St. Francis Xavier; St. Patrick; St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary; St. Mary Magdalene; St. Bonaventure; and many more.
Relic experts and religious figures in Western New York and elsewhere caution that a 19th century reliquary — such as this one, discovered by a local nun, appears to be — might likely contain some relics whose authenticity is doubtful.
But it also might well contain real relics, experts said.
"Rome goes back a long way," said Monsignor James F. Campbell, rector at St. Joseph's Cathedral, where the reliquary was recently installed. "And they have relics of all of those saints."
One New York City-based expert on reliquaries who has helped stage major exhibits of the items from around the world called Buffalo's new find "fascinating."
"I've never seen something like this in connection with America," Dr. Holger A. Klein, at Columbia University, said of the embroidered tapestry. In showing a calendar of a complete year, it echoes other rare reliquary pieces dating to the 16th century.
"This is actually a very valuable piece — and it's more valuable to Buffalo, because it has this history," said Klein, who has published a book on the relics of the True Cross.
In New York, an official at the New York Province of the Society of Jesus called the process of figuring out authenticity in such matters "not so simple."
"There are many interesting but probably inauthentic relics of saints — of Mary, of John the Baptist, of the apostles," said the Rev. J. Peter Schineller, archivist for the Jesuit province, who helped The News translate some parts of the reliquary.
But, said another religious official, what matters about the reliquary is not necessarily the truth of the relics themselves — but the faith they nurture.
"Whether or not the tiny speck is historically from the Crown of Thorns is not so important as that the tapestry which bears the speck reminds people of the historicity of the crucifixion," the Rev. Thomas R. Slon, executive assistant to the Provincial in the New York Province of the Society of Jesus, said in an email to The News.
"And [that it] renews fervor in the work that God has done for us in Jesus' Passion."
Standing behind the reliquary's authenticity is its provenance.
The story as told by diocesan sources is this: The intricately embroidered artwork came to Buffalo's brand-new Catholic diocese in the 1850s or early 1860s, as a gift from the Vatican and Pope Pius IX to Bishop John Timon. Timon was the first bishop in the Diocese of Buffalo, charged with overseeing the faithful of 20 counties in upstate New York.
At the time, Campbell said, there were just three bishops in New York State. So Timon — an Irishman originally from Pennsylvania — was considered an important man.
"It was given as a gift to Bishop Timon," Campbell said. "That's all we know. We don't have much paperwork on it at all."
The reliquary's arrival in Western New York can thus be tied to the period between 1847 and 1867, which was Timon's tenure as bishop, Campbell said. He died in April 1867.
The item may have been sent by the Vatican as a gift to mark the opening of the cathedral in Buffalo in the early 1860s, Campbell said.
"That's how we know the age of it," he said.
A gift of a relic or reliquary to a new diocese was not uncommon in the 19th century Catholic Church, according to Klein, the expert on reliquaries at Columbia University. Many are not as elaborate or as multifaceted as the Buffalo reliquary, he said.
"That's entirely believable," said Klein, a professor of art history and archaeology at the university, who has spent his career studying reliquaries from around the world. "That was a common practice, that the pope, or the Papal See, would give a relic or reliquary, to a new bishop. It happened in Cleveland, it happened in New York."
But what happened in the decades since then is less clear.
At some point after Timon's death — likely after the turn of the century — the reliquary was placed in the keeping of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, a teaching order that had a large convent on Main Street in the city.
The purpose of that act may have been to keep the sacred object safe while construction of a new cathedral was being planned, and diocesan items moved between churches, Campbell said.
At the Sisters of Saint Joseph, nuns couldn't remember whether the reliquary had ever been displayed and venerated inside the convent.
"It may have been venerated back when we first got it," said Sister Eva Amadori. "But since then, we've moved from Main Street. It was just tucked away in a corner."
That sort of storyline is not unusual, said Klein, who formerly curated medieval artwork for the Cleveland Museum of Art.
"Relics disappear and are rediscovered," the professor said. "That happened during the French Revolution, that happened during wars and crises. That's a very common thread that goes back to the second and third centuries. In some cases, relics that are buried under the altar of a church are forgotten — and then discovered years later by archaeologists."
In Buffalo's case, it wasn't until Sister Amadori, an archivist for the order, was poking around recently in the archives of the sisters' main convent — now located in Clarence — that the reliquary resurfaced.
"It caught my eye," said the nun, who said it was the first time she recalled ever seeing the piece, which is about 2 feet by 3 feet and preserved inside an ornate antique frame.
"I thought, 'What is this?'" Sister Amadori said. "I looked at the front side — and then I looked at the note on the back side, and I thought, this isn't even ours."
A crumbling, handwritten note attached to the back of the heavy frame stated that the reliquary had been placed in the care of the nuns by the Catholic diocese.
Siste Amadori called the diocese and spoke to Campbell at St. Joseph's. She then loaded the reliquary in her car and drove it downtown.
"I had never seen anything like this," said Campbell, who began to realize some of what the artifact contained when he examined it later in his office. "I had never even heard about it."
Not a Latin expert, Campbell said he was hoping for outside experts to tell him more about the piece, which contains embroidery so fine it looks like oil painting — or fine metalwork.
One priest in Western New York, the Rev. Michael Burzynski of St. John Gualbert in Cheektowaga, has a collection of more than 1,100 relics.
Burzynski, an expert on the subject, said the newly unearthed reliquary is special because it combines the relics of individual saints with purported relics of Christ.
On the piece of ivory silk or satin which makes up the background to the piece, the months and days of the year — which radiate outward, almost as if rays of light, from the cross motif — are straightforward in laying out relics of saints both well-known and less familiar, the priest said.
"It's pretty much the saints of the old Roman calendar," said Burzynski, who examined the reliquary. "But not every day is a saints' day, so some of them are 'fillers' — rather obscure Roman martyrs, things like that."
The legend underneath the whole of the saints' calendar reads "RR: Sanctorum."
In New York City, Schineller, the Jesuit archivist, translated that as meaning, simply, "Relics of the Saints." (The "RR" means that more than one relic is exhibited, he said.)
In the center, the relics of Christ's Passion and Death are less easy to comprehend, said Burzynski, who agreed with The News' translation of the Latin phrases.
" 'Ex Spongia,' that would mean coming from the sponge held to Christ's lips," Burzynski said. "That could be — I don't want to say false, but certainly suspect. There are certain relics, such as some coming from the Crown of Thorns, which suddenly appeared in about the year 1,000 A.D. You can't have it not there and then it's suddenly there."
Nonetheless, Burzynski said, the reliquary's beauty and provenance tell him that parts of the artifact are no doubt real.
"I am sure that most of the relics in there are genuine," he said.
For now, the reliquary will be kept right where it's been hung since arriving from Sister Amadori's car — on the wall in the sacristy at the cathedral, where priests prepare for celebrating the Holy Mass each day.
Campbell, for one, finds the piece beautiful — and moving.
"It's something that speaks to someone's faith," said Campbell, who is an ardent history buff and loves the lore surrounding Bishop Timon and the early years of Buffalo. "This reliquary speaks to the prestige of Bishop Timon at the time. And Pope Pius giving him this gift, that's the real story."
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NOTE: Be prepared to hear about numerous archaelogical 'finds' in the future which will 'disprove' everything about Jesus Christ. This is Lucifer's plan for these times in order to destroy the Christian faith. BE PREPARED. EXPECT IT. Remember that Jesus pondered whether he would find faith at all in the end times. Lucifer's entire 'future' depends on this next step. He will be relentless in attempting to destroy the truth about the King of King and Lord of Lords.
ROYAL HEIR
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