Ending the Year of Faith

Today's Feast of Christ the King ends the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI. The closing Mass in St Peter’s Square included exposition, for public veneration, of the bones of St. Peter. Eight bone fragments were in an open bronze reliquary displayed to the side of the altar.

In 1971, Paul VI was given an urn containing the relics, which were kept inside the private papal chapel inside the Apostolic Palace and exhibited for the pope's private veneration each June 29, for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. Sunday marked the first time they were shown in public.

During the ceremony, the Pope – the 265th successor of Peter – held the closed reliquary for several minutes in silent prayer while choirs sang the Nicene Creed in Latin. The bones, which were discovered during excavations of the necropolis under St Peter’s Basilica had never been displayed in public.

“When Jesus is at the centre, light shines even the darkest moments of our lives; he gives us hope,” Pope Francis said in his homily.

At St. Columbkille, to mark the end of the Year of Faith we are renewing our Baptismal Promises.

Renewal of Baptismal Promises: (replaces Creed)

Priest:

Brothers and sisters,
through the Paschal Mystery
we have been buried with Christ in Baptism,
so that we may walk with him in newness of life.
And so, as the Year of Faith comes to an end,
let us renew the promises of Holy Baptism,
by which we once renounced Satan and his works
and promised to serve God in the holy Catholic Church.

(Congregation should be standing.)

And so I ask you:

Priest:  Do you renounce sin,
          so as to live in the freedom of the children of God?
ALL:  I do.

Priest: Do you renounce the lure of evil,
          so that sin may have no mastery over you?
ALL:  I do.

Priest:  Do you renounce Satan,
          the author and prince of sin?
ALL:  I do.

Priest: Do you believe in God,
          the Father almighty,
          Creator of heaven and earth?
ALL:  I do.

Priest: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
          who was born of the Virgin Mary,
          suffered death and was buried,
          rose again from the dead
          and is seated at the right hand of the Father?
ALL:  I do.

Priest: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit,
          the holy Catholic Church,
          the forgiveness of sins,
          the resurrection of the body
          and life everlasting?
ALL:  I do.

Priest: And may almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
          who has given us new birth by water and the Holy Spirit
          and bestowed on us forgiveness of our sins,
          keep us by his grace,
          in Christ Jesus our Lord,
          for eternal life.

ALL:  AMEN.

Our Relics

In the Middle Ages, so many churches claimed to have a piece of the True Cross that John Calvin is famously said to have remarked:

"There is no abbey so poor as not to have a specimen. In brief, if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load. Yet the Gospel testifies that a single man was able to carry it."

In Mémoire sur les instruments de la Passion, Charles Rohault de Fleury responded with this 1870 study of these relics. He drew up a catalog of all known relics of the True Cross and measured them. He also calculated the volume of the True Cross as 0.178 cubic meters. So when he put it together, he had only 0.004 cubic meters, leaving a volume of .0174 cubic meters unaccounted for.

Still, when Fr Damian found a relic said to be of the True Cross locked in our library, he was skeptical. Deacon David Krueger offered to check it out. The rest of this blog is in Dcn Krueger's words:

I took the piece to Tom Koley to examine it.

Tom is the owner of Koley's, a family business that has made church metalware and altarware since 1919. I explained that St. Columbkille has this, piece and I'd like to open it up and get a better sense of it.

Tom said, "So you want me to open this?"

"Yes," I replied.

Tom turned it over in his hands as he examined it. Looking up he asked, "So you want me to open it?"

"Yes," I answered.

Tom continued to examine it. Then he looked at me tensely and asked, "So you would like me to open this up?"

"Yes," I replied a third time and wondered if he would continue to ask.

As he popped the back open, Tom sighed and visibly relaxed as he said, "There was no red string." Without explaining that statement, he removed the cotton backing and took out a much smalled container.

He said, this looks much more like it should. While the large container looks very new, the container inside looks much older. He explained that the loop on the top shows that this was originally made to be on a chain and worn around the neck.

As Tom looked at the back he saw "820" stamped on the back. First of all, that means that the holder was made of 820 parts per thousand of sterling silver. Secondly, that tells us that it was made in Europe where that is the standard. (900 parts per thousand is the standard in the United States.)

Tom removed the back of that to show the wax seal and the "red strings."

The wax is sealed by the Cardinal who acknowledged the authenticity of this relic. It also covers some delicate red strings. Because they are delicate, if any of them are broken, the Church would no longer attest that it really is authentic.

I brought the relic to the next Pastoral Council meeting and told them what I had discovered. The Pastoral Council has recommended that this relic of the True Cross, as well as a relic of St. Columbkille, be placed in a display box and installed in the Adoration Chapel. We'll be looking to do that sometime after the parish completes our Source and Summit Campaign.

Learning About Relics

Yesterday St. Columbkille Catholic School began Catholic Schools Week with a guest speaker on mismatch day. Mr. Zavaletta from Skutt High School came to tell us about relics.

A relic is something connected with a saint. In the Bible, sometimes people were healed when touched by relics of Jesus (Matt 9:20-22), St. Paul (Acts 19:11-12) and even Elisha (2 Kings 13:20-21). The relics are special for us because they remind us of a saint.

Relics are not magic and, as St. Jerome said, "We do not worship, we do not adore, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the creator, but we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore Him whose martyrs they are."

Mr. Zav brought along some relics he has as well as some Fr. Dan Lenz, OSB was kind enough to lend.

Students each had a chance to venerate a first class relic of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare, St. Francis Xavier or St. Teresa of Avila.

Thank you to Mr. Zav for visiting us!