The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1877-05-26
SAINT BENEDICTs BONES.
The Martyrs Ancient Remains Exposed
to Public View.

From the n. Y. Times, May IA.
st. MichaePs Church, in West Hobo
ken, was crowded yesterday, both morn
ing and evening, with throngs of devout
worshipers anxious to behold the mortal
remains of ST. Benedict, the martyr,
whose bones are in the possession of the
Passionist Fathers of St. Michaels Mon
astery, adjoining the church. Yesterday
was the anniversary of the translation
OF the saints remains to this county, and
was observed with due solemnity. At
1890 A. NJ. high mass was celebrated,
and the remains of the saint were ex-
hibited to the congregation. The special
service of the day took place at $3.50 P.
! NJ, i'll the presence of an audience that
crowded the spacious edifce, in every
part. Twenty-one clergymen from the
monastery-including Fathers Victor,
Nilus, Timothy, Paul, Adolphonsus and
others took part in the services. The
music, chiefly Gregorian, was furnished
by boys choir of twenty voices. The
main altar was richly decorated with
| lights and flowers, and the service of
solemn high vespers was intoned with
unusual elaborateness and precision At
! the front of the chancel, and directly
| facing the congregation, was a silver
mounted glass repository, about 80 feet
long by wide, containing the mortuary
relics of the saint. These consisted of
the upper portion of a skull, with
the backbone and several of the
bones of the arms and legs.
| The color of these was musty yell
low, and i'll every respect they appeared
to be extremely ancient. The skull was
deposited at the left OF the casket, and
the other bones arranged longitudinally
below it, the whole resting on cloth of
scarlet velvet. Around the brow of the
skull was a delicate floral wreath of red
and green. A small brass cross, which
is said to have heen found in the mar
tyr's tomb, and which is supposed to
have been worn by him during his life,
was displayed among the other relics.
upon which reposed wax effigy of the
saint, modelled in Rome. The figure was
| that of man of 35 or 40 years of age
with dark hair and beard, wrapped in
rich garments of red and blue, with his
head reposing on pillow, and the life
blood ebbing from a mortal wound in
the throat, the last-named feature being
intended to represent the nature of the
of the vespers, in which Father Victor
acted as celebrant, Father Timothy
preached a sermon upon the life and vir-
tues of ST. Benedict, taking for his text
the First Epistle of st. John, H., Is to II,
inclusive:
Love not the world nor the things that be of the
world" &c.
The preacher gave brief history of
the saint and the manner in which the
bones had been preserved and brought
to America. ST. Benedict was martyr
who died in the third century His re-
mains were inferred in the Catacomb of
st. Priscille, in Rome, where they re-
manned for 400 years. In 1871 they
were translated to Spoleta, Italy, and
placed in the Church of St. Benedict the
Abbott-the founder of the Benedictine
Order. About two year sage, a wealthy
Catholic lady of Cincinnati, who jour
neyed to Italy for the purpose, obtained
permission of the ecclesiastical authori-
ties to remove the relics of the saint to
America, and they were by her presented
to the Passionist Monastery. The
preacher dwelt at length upon the vir-
tues of the saint and martyr, and enforc-
ed upon his hearers the duty of emulat-
ing him in good works. At the conclu-
sion of the service the remains borne on
the shoulders of Fathers Ward, Felix.
Francis and George, were carried about