Evening star., 1934-02-07

An inventory Of religious relics in /
the college archives at Georgetown
University has resulted in the find |
ing of the bones of three early saints
of the Catholic Church who suffered
martyrdom 16 centuries or more ago. |
Records revealed they had been given |
to the keeping of Georgetown College |
nearly 100 years ago, with the official
permission of Pope Gregory XVI.
The bones of the martyrs. identi-
fed as those of st. VincentiuS, ST. |
Aelius and st. Theophilus. were found |
in one of the sacred vaults where they /
had been stored in the original !
wooden cases in which they had been
sent from Rome. At the direction OF
DR.. Coleman Nevils, 81. president of
the university, who was responsible |
for the inventory, the bones have been |
placed in beautiful and newly COM
pleted relic room under the Chapel of
ST. William, in the seniors dormitory
AS soon as arrangements can be made,
they will be buried under the chan
Gerry of the repository. which is built |
next to the crypt of the chapel.
Transferred 800 Relics.
Some time ago, Dr. Nevils trans
ferred to this little chamber about 300
religious relics taken from the ar
chiveS. Portions of the bones of four |
other saints, the great early doctors |
OF the church, are treasured in this /
relic room. They are ST. Gregory the |
Great. St Ambrose. ST. jerome and |
st. Augustine. Their bones are pre-
served in four silver reliquaries
During the past year. Dr. Nevils has
been assembling data for history of |
Georgetown University which he is |
writing in connection with his per-
Sonal recollections. This work necessi-
tates frequent reference to the early |
records of the 145-year-old college. |
During these researches. he made 4 |
number of discoveries, not only |
among religious relics, but also OF his
toric documents of which no record |
had been made in early years In
this way he found recently a record |
Of the receipt from Rome identifying
the bones of the three saints sent by
Pope Gregory. 1t bears the date of
October 26, 1843.
Seeks Complete Catalogue.
One of the results of Dr. Nevis
activities has been an attempt to COM
plete the catalogue of the archives
which had been neglected, more or less,
during the early years of the college.
This explains in a way some Of the
interesting relics that have come to
light.
From his researches grew the idea
that DR.. Nevils had of equipping a
special room under the seniors chapel
in Copley Hall, as a repository for
the many rare relics long stored out
of sight in the vaults of the archives.
DR.. Nevils was tremendously inter-
ested in the document he found from
Rome. the existence of which appar-
entity was known only to the archivist.
He traced the relics to vault that
had not been opened for many years.
Due to the custom of changing eXecu-
tives at the university every few years
and the incomplete state Of the ar
chives catalogue. it was not surpris-
ing that the existence of these and
many other relics was not generally
known.
History of Bones Traced.
The bones of St Vncentius of
whom there are several by that name,
are believed to be those of the St.
who was born in 304 AID.
and was regarded as the most illus
trious martyr of early Spain. His
relics were taken from the Cemetery
of st. Cyriacus. in Italy, according to
the receipt where some of the bones
Of the martyr had been buried, prob
ably centuries ago.
The other two saints. Aelius and
were Roman soldiers Of
the second or third century. who died
for their Christian faith. The relics
of ST. Aelius were sent from the Gene
terry of Priscilla, with the special per-
mission of Pope Gregory. ST Aelius
was one Of the obscure Roman mar
tyrs beyond which little is known ex-
cept their names. The feast day OF
airy 25
Through a grilled iron door one is
permitted to look into the artistically
designed relic room, done in the ORR
entail style. with succeed walls and
arched ceilings. 1t is lighted by six
Oriental lanterns hanging from the
ceiling. They were the gift of DR..
John Oliver La Gorce associate
editor of the National Geographic
Society Magazine, in memory of his
mother These lanterns were copied
from types he had seen on recent
visit to the Holy Land.
Includes Authentics.
At the north end of the little room
IS the altar. Within the chancery is
4 volume containing the authentics
Of the 312 religious relics placed in
small round metal cases along the
walls.
The sanctuary rail was taken from
the chapel erected in 1880 in the
Building at Georgetown COL
ege. A large number of the relics