A Mid-Western Saint from Rome: Guest Article by Mr Sean Pilcher

Thanks once again to our friend Mr Sean Pilcher, this time for sharing with us this account of the relics of a Saint from the Roman catacombs, which were brought to the cathedral of Dubuque, Iowa, in the 19th century. Mr Pilcher is the director of Sacra: Relics of the Saints (sacrarelics.org), an apostolate that promotes education about relics, and works to repair, research, and document relics for religious houses and dioceses. Sacra recently did an inventory and cleaning of the relics as part of the cathedral’s recently completed renovation.

In 1837 Pope Gregory XVI named Msgr Pierre-Jean-Mathias Loras (1792 – 1858), originally born in France, first bishop of the diocese of Dubuque. This territory was of considerable size, ranging over present-day Iowa, Minnesota, part of Wisconsin, and the Dakotas. Bishop Loras’ father, Jean-Mathias Loras, had been guillotined during the French Revolution for harboring priests. Two of his aunts and one uncle were also be put to death for sheltering priests in their home. Loras had a strong sense of his identity as a Catholic, and a knowledge that he would have to sacrifice much to spread the Faith. Once he was consecrated bishop, he set about learning all he could of his new diocese. There were three Catholic parishes, an Indian mission, and one priest.

Roman Boy Martyr, Oxford Oratory. Photo courtesy of the Rev’d James Bradley, J.C.D.

In an audience with the Holy Father, Bishop Loras received relics for his new mission. These relics, usually remains of martyrs from Rome’s catacombs, were meant to bridge the gap between the Old World and the New World, as well as establish spiritual ties between mission territory and already-Christianised Europe. As holy relics of a saint, they would also form a spiritual bond between Catholics striving for holiness on earth, and those who had already won the crown in heaven.

Msgr Mathias Loras

Relics would be used in consecrating new altars as churches were established, and could serve as a focal point for local liturgical life and popular devotion to the saints. The New World could not yet boast many saints—it was Bishop Loras’s job to change that—but in the meantime, Rome could spare a few.

The reliquary box brought by Bishop Loras from Rome. All photos of relics and reliquary courtesy of Katzie & Ben. Photography.

At his audience with the Pope, Bishop Loras received a marbled wooden box containing relics of a Roman boy martyr called Cessianus from the catacombs. The Saint, whose name is a nomen proprium, and not a generic name affixed to remains, was removed from the catacombs of St Callistus and granted as a sign of unity, encouragement, and commission to Bishop Loras. He brought the marbled wooden box with the bones, a glass ‘vessel of dried blood’ (which we shall return to later), and possibly a marble gravestone, on a boat with him to America, and it was on this dangerous journey that Loras’ particular devotion to the Saint began.

Eugène Louis Boudin, Le Havre, Brooklyn Museum

It was time to make the long journey across the sea. As Bishop Loras and his companions left Le Havre, France, on 27 August, 1838, they brought the box of the relics of the Saint, whom he endearingly called Saint Cessien–early English-language sources call him St Cessian. The journey was of course taken by boat, and subject to considerable danger. Bishop Loras credited his safe arrival in New York on 10 October to the intercession of his boy saint; he was even able to offer Mass with the relics several times while at sea, a great source of consolation to all present. He did not arrive until April of 1839; from New York he first went to St Louis, and then traveled with the relics up the Mississippi to his new diocese, arriving two full years after his appointment by the Pope. When he made his solemn entrance into his cathedral in the American wilderness, St Cessian was there. Here was a true meeting of Romanità and the pioneering spirit of the New World.

After settling into his new diocese, Bishop Loras wrote to the Sacred Congregation of Rites in Rome asking for St Cessian to have a special feast in his diocese, with its own Mass and Office, on 25 October:

‘Je vous prierai si ce n’est pas trop tard, de faire insérer dans l’ordo pour le diocèse de Dubuque au 25 octobre, festum Sancti Cessiani, Martyris, Duplex cum suo officio de praecepto.’ (I should ask you, if it is not too late, to kindly add into the ordo for the Diocess of Dubuque, a feast of St Cessian, martyr, on 25 October, a duplex feast with an obligatory office.)

Catacomb martyrs are saints, but it was not always a given that they would be liturgically commemorated. This letter shows the importance St Cessian’s feast had for Bishop Loras, and the initiative he personally took to establish devotion for him in his diocese.

His Excellency Mathias Loras, First Bishop of Dubuque

The feast of St Cessian (25 October) comes the day after the titular feast of the cathedral and diocese’s principle patron, St Raphael the Archangel, whose traditional feast is 24 October. The date has a connection to the Saint’s grave marker from the catacombs. Although the marker has not yet been rediscovered, the inscription on it was carefully recorded on the relic’s documentation. It may have been irrevocably lost, or may still lie in an archive somewhere.

The inscription from the grave marker, as recorded on the document given to Bishop Loras. 

The inscription reads ⳨ ΘΚΑΛΑ—ΝΟΒ—ΚΑΤ. ΚΕϹϹΙΑΝΟϹ. The first character is a staurogram or chi-rho symbol, a mark of the Christian Faith. Then follows ‘nine days (the Greek letter nine is written as the letter theta) before the kalends of November, Cessianus was buried.’ The date is October 24, the same day as St Raphael, so Bishop Loras chose the following day for his feast. Since St Cessian would be the patron of the whole territory, celebrations of the two saints could be easily linked. If and when the original marker is found, its inscription can be compared to this record to ensure a match.

Another, unrelated Christian gravemarker, for reference.

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Another Look Inside the Restored Notre-Dame de Paris

Following up on a post which I made last Friday about the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris, the American news program 60 Minutes posted an interesting video on the same subject two days ago. I thought it would be worth sharing because it is longer than the French one in my other post, and shows not just the final results, but also tells us a good amount about the restoration process, including some views of murals in the side chapels (predominantly the work of the last great restoration, in the 19th century.) A good portion of it involves an interview with the French president Emmanuel Macron, who, from what I have seen, really deserves credit for pushing to make sure that the restoration would be faithful to the traditional architectural form and decorative style of building, within certain inevitable limits. (I have just read an article this morning that the French government is currently spiraling through a major political crisis; some of what Mr Macron says towards the end of this may seem rather self-serving, and should perhaps be considered in light of that fact. Politicus politicat...)

What ever else might be said about the role which the French government has had in this project, one can only thank God that most of it was not in the hands of the people who thought that these vessels

and this display for the relic of the Crown of Thorns

were good ideas. It really is time for the Sacred Congregation for Rites to issue a sternly worded decree that objects purchased in the kitchenware section of IKEA 30 years ago are not to be used in the rites of our holy mother the Church.

Speaking of relics, by the way, today, December 4th, is the day when the church of Paris originally celebrated a feast called “Susceptio Reliquiarum – the Receiving of the Relics”, instituted in 1194 to commemorate some of Notre-Dame’s most significant relics. As I have described in a previous article, this feast was later transformed into a general commemoration of all relics, and moved to the octave day of All Saints. The Crown of Thorns, however, was not among those that were originally celebrated by this feast, since it was acquired later, in the 13th century, by St Louis IX, and belonged not to Notre-Dame, but to the famously magnificent chapel which he built to house it, the Sainte-Chapelle.

St Louis IX receiving the relics of the Crown of Thorns, the Holy Lance, a part of the True Cross, and others from Constantinople, as depicted in a manuscript of the 14th century (1332-50), now in the British Library. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

More on the Restored Façade of Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome

We recently noted that the façade of the FSSP church in Rome, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, has been beautifully restored to its original appearance, after a cleaning project of several month’ duration. Our friend Jacob Stein, author of the blog Crux Stationalis, was on hand yesterday for the official unveiling, and has graciously shared with us some photos, as well of a video of the moment when the nighttime lighting was turned on for the first time. The Italian really excel at the design and set-up of this kind of outdoor illumination, and it has been used to magnificent on important buildings up and down the peninsula.

A beautiful shot which also captures the church’s artistic masterpiece, Guido Reni’s Trinity over the high altar.

For comparison, this is what the façade looked like before restoration. The reddish-brown ochre was added in the late 19th century, very much in the taste of the era, which dislike the clean white so typical of early Roman Baroque buildings.

Image from Wikimedia Commons by Dedi62, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Newly Restored Façade of Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome

Thanks to our dear friend Agnese Bazzucchi, the Roman Pilgrim, for sharing with us these pictures of the newly restored façade of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, the Fraternity of St Peter’s church in Rome. It was fully uncovered earlier today after a restoration project of several months’ duration. Felicissime!

In addition to basic repairs, the restoration also cleared off a layer of brown-ochre plaster which was added to the building in the 19th or early 20th century. (There was a major vogue for this at the time, and a lot of buildings in Rome especially, but also in many other parts of Italy, have been returned to their original appearance by removing these layers of colored plaster.) In the first photo above, you can see what the former color was like on the building next door; likewise, in these photo from a 2015 post about the splendid Corpus Christi procession which the church has every year.

Rolling Back the Tide of Post-Conciliar Iconoclasm: Newly Revealed Wall Painting at the Oxford Oratory

A friend and parishioner at the Oxford Oratory, has drawn my attention to a spectacular development in its ongoing restoration project: the white paint has been removed from large sections of the church walls to reveal the original decoration and wall paintings. The murals of scenes from the life of St Aloysius were painted by Gabriel Pippet between 1902 and 1905.

Whitewashing over wall paintings has often been a measure taken by those who wish to remove images from churches. Applying a coat of paint is cheaper and quicker than replastering the surface! Islamic iconoclasts at Hagia Sophia, Protestant Reformers in 16th-century England, and, it seems, Catholic iconoclasts of the 1970s all resorted to this method of obliterating sacred art to hide the beauty of the Church.  

The good news is that very often, this actually preserves the images underneath, and the white surface can be removed to reveal what was beneath. This has just been done with great results at St. Aloysius to reveal scenes from the life of the patron saint. 

Here are some before-and-after photographs: I encourage you to go to oxfordoratory.org, to read the account written by the Fathers of the Oratory themselves about what has happened.  

Due to dampness and the ravages of time, it was not possible to save all the original paintings. Still, the goal is to restore the remainder of the church using the revealed imagery and decoration as a model for a full restoration. I have no doubt that they will do a good job. Do consider donating to this excellent cause!

Continue Reading this Article. . .

If You Gild It, They Will Come — A Restoration Project of the Canons Regular of St John Cantius

Fr Joshua Caswell is the superior general of the Chicago-based Canons Regular of St John Cantius, who are, I am sure, well known to our readers for their work in the promotion of beauty in the liturgy. We are very grateful to him for his kind permission to reprint this article about this outstanding restoration project at the church of St Peter in Volo, Illinois, about 50 miles northwest of their home church, which is also under their pastoral care. It was previously published on the website of the CRSJC.

The Canons Regular of St. John Cantius are typically only associated with St. John Cantius Parish in Chicago. After all, it is where the community, now numbering almost 30 members, was founded and calls home. Both the canons and the parish have gained international notoriety for a number of reasons. Fr. C. Frank Philips, CR, beloved pastor emeritus, not only founded the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, he also facilitated a great revival in the the parish. Under his leadership the parish grew from 50 parishioners on a Sunday to 3,000 registered families. Fr. Phillips restored the church spiritually and physically to the gem that many today are fortunate to call their spiritual home.

Only a portion of the community serves at St. John Cantius at any given time. The other canons staff two additional parishes, St. Katharine Drexel in Springfield, Illinois, and St. Peter’s in Volo, Illinois.

The Canons Regular at St Peter’s in Volo, Illinois

In 2007 the canons were asked to assume the pastoral care of St. Peter’s in Volo, Illinois, a parish situated in Lake County, on the very edge of the Archdiocese of Chicago. The assignment came from Francis Cardinal George, OMI, who was instrumental in the founding of the Canons Regular. When the request came, the community had just hit its first milestone of 10 members. Interestingly, their arrival at St. Peter’s relieved the retiring Fr. Don Dietz, OMI who was Cardinal George’s novice master when he joined the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Divine Providence had its hand in the timing. Following their community’s charism of Restoring the Sacred, the canons have labored to renew St. Peter’s parish both spiritually and physically.

Restoration of the Sacred 

The restoration of the sacred begins first with one’s own personal call to holiness. That personal restoration of the sacred in each canon affects the parishes they serve. The spirituality of the canons is evident in their pastoral zeal and careful execution of the Church’s liturgy and sacraments in all their fullness.

Since their arrival, the canons have increased the number of registered parishioners at St. Peter’s from 300 to 1100 families. The spiritual renewal of the parish brings together a growing community of souls that fill six parish Masses each weekend in a church designed to seat only 190.

It is important that the Restoration of the Sacred also be expressed physically in the art that adorns church buildings. As humans, we require tangible signs and symbols to understand the infinite majesty of the God whom we worship.

Structurally, this is what St. Peter’s has done for 100 years. Now it is important to continue and strengthen that same tradition so that it can be passed on to future generations. This renewal of the parish can be particularly noticed in the recent and ongoing physical restoration of the church. St. Peter’s is in its final stages of completing renovations, well ahead of the church’s 100th anniversary celebration in 2025. Fr. Nathan Caswell, SJC, parish pastor since 2020, enthusiastically notes, “We’re ready and excited for the next 100 years!”

His Excellency Joseph Perry, auxiliary bishop emeritus of Chicago, blessing a bell for the church. 

Renovation of the Bell Tower

The initial phase of the church renovation began with the restoration of the bell tower in 2018 by then-pastor, Fr. Anthony Rice, SJC. Damaged by lightning in the 1950s the tower became too unstable to hold the heavy brass bell, so it was removed and placed on display at the entrance to the church. After the structural reinforcement of the tower was completed, the bell was returned to its rightful place where it now calls new generations of worshipers to St. Peter’s.

Repairs to the Church Exterior

As with any century-old building, leaks began to develop in the roof and exterior walls of the church. The accumulation of moisture led to extensive water damage of the plaster walls in the interior of the church. Not only was the plaster discolored, and developing cracks, chunks of plaster actually began to fall from the ceiling, requiring urgent attention. Water leakage had also compromised the stability of the stained glass windows when the wooden bases and frames began to rot.

The first step to repair the aging building was to fix the roof so that it no longer leaked. This involved replacing all the flashing and damaged roof tiles. Then the entire church exterior was tuck-pointed to ensure that condensation could no longer seep through the brick facade. After that skilled craftsmen were enlisted to repair, and replace the plaster in the affected areas.

Once the building was sealed up properly, and the plaster was repaired, the parish needed to make decisions about what to do with the interior walls and ceiling. While many churches had made considerable changes in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, the integrity of the original layout and ornamentation remained intact at St. Peter’s. The sanctuary, transepts, and nave contained orphrey and scroll work stenciling that dated back to its beginnings. With new plaster replacing the damaged areas, the parish had to decide whether to replicate the original ornamentation, or take the opportunity to transform the interior with new artwork.

The families of many of the current St. Peter’s parishioners go back generations, even to those who first built the church in 1926. Their sacrifices and hard work needed to be honored and respected as part of the rich patrimony of the parish. At the same time, the current generation of parishioners wanted to make their contribution and become a part of its living history.

After much discussion It was agreed that this was an opportunity to enhance what was already a beautiful church. As Father Nathan put it, “We saw this opportunity not so much as a renovation, but a renewal.” The plan for the repainting of the church was not to restore the church interior exactly as it once was, but to bring its existing beauty to greater prominence. After all, tradition isn’t stale antiquarianism. Nor is it living in the past, or longing for a bygone era. Traditio means bringing the past forward; or handing on the past to future generations. Tradition invites the past to be a dynamic participant in the present. It’s what theologians call a hermeneutic of continuity.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

A New Documentary about the Restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris

Yesterday evening, the PBS program Nova aired this new documentary about the ongoing restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris, after the terrible fire which damaged the church so badly in April of 2019. It looks at many different aspects of the project, from the harvesting of trees to replace the roof, to some new discoveries about how the roof was originally built, and the replacement of parts of the famous stained-glass windows. Similar to the restoration of Chartres cathedral (which of course took place under much happier circumstances), we also see a bit of what the interior walls will look like when they are fully cleaned.

And for those who speak French, a friend informs about a program recently aired on Radio France which talks about the rediscovery of some parts of the church’s ancient rood screen, which was removed at the beginning of the 18th century.

https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/le-journal-des-sciences/notre-dame-les-fouilles-archeologiques-revelent-la-presence-d-un-jube-du-xiiieme-siecle-6259128

A Chapel Restored in London

Our long-time contributor, and photographer extraordinaire, Fr Lawrence Lew OP, has kindly shared with us pictures of some new statues added to one of the chapels of the Church of St Dominic and Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in London. (https://rosaryshrine.co.uk/) The shrine has 14 side-chapels, each one dedicated to a mystery of the Rosary. The Joyful Mysteries and the first two Sorrowful ones run down the church’s left side-aisle, from near the main sanctuary toward the back; the latter three Sorrowful and first four Glorious go from the back up the right side-aisle. The fifth Glorious Mystery, the Coronation of the Virgin, is commemorated in the main apse around the high altar, which has recently been restored and re-gilded. The church also has a separate Lady Chapel with a Rosary Altar in the right transept, at which the Virgin Mary is also honored with the title “Seat of Wisdom”, in reference to the Dominican vocation to scholarship and teaching.

Historical photo show that this chapel originally had two angels attached to the columns at its entrance, holding votive lamps, and four others on top of the reredos with musical instruments in their hands. All six of them disappeared at some point, and no one seems to know why or when exactly. They have now been replaced, and the votive lamps will now be kept perpetually lit for the friends and benefactors of the shrine.

The angels prepared for mounting on the columns.

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Updates on the Restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris

Good Friday of this year also marked the third anniversary of the terrible fire that inflicted so much damage on the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. The English-language YouTube channel of the news service France24 has done annual updates on the progress of the restorations, which are quite interesting: in this year’s, we get to see among other things the internal workings of the church’s famous organ, being fixed by restorers located quite far from Paris, and the recent discovery of both a tomb in the floor and some parts of the original roodscreen, which was demolished in the 16th century. 

Here is last year’s update, which focused on the broader structural problems caused to the building as a whole, and the efforts to preserve it. It also shows work being done on some of the side-chapels, which have uncovered some of the restorations by Eugène Viollet le Duc, who dedicated much of his life to bring the church back to life after the devastation visited on it during the Revolution.   

A Brief Update from Shrewsbury Cathedral

Earlier this year, we reported a few times on the current project to restore the cathedral of Our Lady and St Peter of Alcantara in Shrewsbury, England, a building originally designed by AW Pugin, but completed by his son Edward, and consecrated by Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman in 1856. (Here, here and here.) As you can see in those linked articles, a good deal has already been achieved in terms of undoing a very unfortunate wreckovation from the 1980s. The cathedral administrator, Fr Edmund Montgomery, has written let us know that although the coronavirus lockdown meant little could be done in terms of building work, the planning committee is moving forward, and God designs for the sanctuary will be submitted to the bishop for comment and refinement by early September. Also, a parishioner skilled in graphics and technology, Matthew Spriggs, brought a 3D camera to capture the cathedral; the full scan produced a virtual walk-through which might be of interest. A more developed version showing the stained glass and with labels, commentary etc is in the works.

https://viewings.spriggsova.co.uk/

Screenshots from Mr Spriggs’ website: the restored interior of the cathedral.

A shot of the floorplan, which shows where the beautiful original floors have been rediscovered.

A screenshot of the “dollhouse view” as if one were floating up near the roof.

Another Update from Shrewsbury Cathedral

The de-wreckovation of the cathedral of Our Lady, Help of Christians and St Peter Alcantara in Shrewsbury, England, procedes apace. Here is the main sanctuary as it looks as of today; note the statue of the Virgin and St Joseph, which have been restored to their original places just outside it, where they were until the reordering of the church in 1984/5.

Fr Edmund Montgomery, the cathedral administrator, writes in to say, “The Historic Churches Committee granted permission for us to temporarily restore the statues of our Lady and St Joseph, together with their canopies, to where they once stood before the reordering of 1984/5. The translation of Our Lady’s canopy revealed the original Baptistery floor and the aumbry for the holy oils.”

The former baptistery before the recent renovations, with the canopy for the statue of the Virgin against the wall, covering the aumbry.

Part of the original floor uncovered.

The newly revealed aumbry.

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An Update on the Restoration of Shrewsbury Cathedral

At the beginning of this month, we published some pictures of the newly begun restoration project of the cathedral of Our Lady, Help of Christians and St Peter Alcantara in Shrewsbury, England. We are happy to share this update from Fr Edmund Montgomery, the cathedral administrator; as you can see, a lot of progress has been made in less than a month. “Despite the difficulties presented by the pandemic, we used the sanctuary for the first time ad experimentum. The statues do have ornate canopies, but we have not gained the permissions to move these as yet. The platform is temporary but will allow a period of consideration as to position of the altar, the cathedra, etc.”

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