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Happening ... in the Local Church
  At
left is a reliquary containing a piece of a white habit of Blessed
Mother Teresa of Calcutta. At right is the 1982 letter from Blessed
Mother Teresa to the parish. (Photos by Kevin Cullen) |
 Parishioner
Dave DeMars crafted the new displays for relics at St. Alphonsus Parish,
Zionsville. |
By Kevin Cullen
The
Catholic Moment
ZIONSVILLE — Katrina Kappel was dumbstruck when she saw the piece of Blessed Mother Teresa’s white habit, and read the handwritten note that the nun sent to the people of St. Alphonsus Parish.
“It’s so beautiful. I just stood there in awe to think that she took the time to write … and that we could get to see that,” Kappel says. “… It’s a miracle.”
The note, sent in 1982 to former St. Alphonsus pastor Father David Douglas and the parish family, was filed away and forgotten for many years. Now it is part of a permanent church display that also includes a painting of Mother Teresa in prayer, done by the late Marge Mulligan, a parishioner.
The reliquary, and the associated objects, are housed in a custom-made case inside the church. They will make Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta “more real” to children, Kappel said.
The oak reliquary case, crafted by parishioner Dave DeMars, was installed Feb. 22-23. A matching case, on the other side of the church, contains relics relating to two of the children who saw the apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917.
The tiny wooden sliver is from the casket that once held the remains of Blessed Francesco; the thread is from linen that once covered the body of Blessed Jacinta after her death.
According to Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia, relics come in three classes.
A “first-class” relic is typically part of a saint’s body, a “second-class” relic is clothing or anything used by the saint during his lifetime and a “third-class” relic is any other object, such as a piece of cloth, that has been touched to a first-class relic.
“They add a tremendous amount to the church,” said Dotti Baxter, a parishioner for 19 years. She praised DeMars’ ability to blend the display cases with the colors, materials and design of the building itself.
“They don’t look like they’ve just been added,” she said.
Relics cannot be bought or sold. Msgr. Robert Sell obtained the Mother Teresa relic for the parish; the Fatima relics were obtained by Father Joshua Janko, associate pastor at St. Alphonsus.
The pastor, Father Dennis O’Keeffe, said that relics, in general, are “part of our human experience.”
Families cherish great-great-grandmother’s crystal bowl or grandfather’s tools, he said. Just so, the Church treasures objects associated with saints and blessed for the “very human connection” they provide.
Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionaries of Charity, was awarded the 1979 Nobel Prize for Peace, primarily for her years of service to the poor, sick and dying of India. St. Alphonsus parishioners contributed to her efforts, and she thanked them with a note written in blue ink on plain white paper, dated June 18, 1982. It reads:
“Dear Rev. Fr. D. Douglas, and children and families of St. Alphonsus Church,
“God love you for the love you gave and the joy you shared through your gift with God’s Poor. My gratitude is my prayer for you. God bless you, (signed) M. Teresa, MC.”
Father Janko had been on a pilgrimage to Fatima, and was able to obtain the Fatima relics. They are displayed with a copy of a photograph of the Fatima children, all holding rosaries, with their hands together in prayer.
The narrative provided by Father O’Keeffe reads:
“Catholics have recognized the men and women of history who have lived the faith of Jesus Christ in a particularly heroic fashion. Theirs are lives to be venerated as examples of Our Savior’s life. To imitate them is, in a way, to imitate Jesus Christ.
“Small children at the time of the apparition at Fatima in 1917, Francisco and Jacinta Marto were little shepherds. Raised poor and without a great deal of instruction in the Catholic religion, their faith was simple and innocent. Life in rural Portugal for the lower class was difficult. There was not enough good food and no health care. Sickness and disease were common. Life expectancy was short.
“Francisco, after confession and receiving Holy Communion, died on 4 April 1919, not quite 11 years old. Jacinta suffered at the end of her life; she required great care and many operations. At only nine years old, she died far from her home on 20 January 1920.
“The relic presented here is a tiny sliver of the coffin of Francisco and a string from the linen that covered the body of Jacinta. They were declared blessed by Pope John Paul II on 13 May 2000 at Fatima for having responded heroically to the appeals of Our Lady in 1917.”
DeMars, who studied product design and technical illustration at Purdue University, does fine woodworking in a shop at his home. He also does painting, and light remodeling. He previously did some office remodeling for the parish, and installed fencing.
He estimated the price of the materials at $1,000. That included red oak boards, low-glare museum glass and glass tiles that he used to create crosses at the top of each case. He spent more than 100 hours on the project, including meetings, design work and actual construction.
“Cathy (his wife) and I feel that you don’t just come to church and give monetarily; we give our time, too,” he said.
The reliquary cases were an unusual project, he said. They had to blend seamlessly with the church, and provide proper security.
“I was glad to get the challenge, and honored that Father O’Keeffe thought enough of me,” he said. “Father wanted it to fit in like it was made for the church, and hopefully, that mission has been accomplished.
“At first, I wasn’t sure, but the more I thought about it, I prayed a bit and asked St. Joseph to help me with cabinet construction,” he said.
Handling the tiny glass-covered reliquaries was humbling. He said it made him think about the lives of the saints, and their incredible faith.
DeMars said he’s happy to have had a part in the project. The cases are now permanent parts of the church, because each had to be set into a wall.
“The scariest thing ever was cutting the holes in the walls,” DeMars said. “You’re cutting a hole in your own church. It was terrifying.”