Patrick McPartland/Staff Photographer - Relics of saints are sewn into the fabric of the reliquary now on display at at St. Joseph Cathedral.An impressive and priceless reliquary, which contains 365 relics of saints, has recently been found in the Diocese of Buffalo, returning to its original home at St. Joseph Cathedral.

The reliquary is about four square feet of cloth with a circular calendar embroidered into it, including leaves made from real gold. As the Catholic Church honors each day with its own saint, the calendar represents each relic according to the day that saint is honored. The relics are all “First Class” relics, which means each tiny piece, about an eighth of an inch long, is from the body of the saint. The name of each saint is handwritten next to the relic.

“It’s beyond my comprehension,” said Msgr. James Campbell, rector of the cathedral. “Just the embroidery on that thing, without the relics … it’s all needlework.”

The reliquary was originally a gift from Pope Pius IX to the Diocese of Buffalo and Bishop John Timon upon the dedication of the cathedral in 1855. When St. Joseph’s New Cathedral was being built on Delaware Avenue in 1913, Bishop Charles Henry Colton removed the reliquary and placed it into the care of the Sisters of St. Joseph until it was ready to be placed at the new cathedral.

Unfortunately, Bishop Colton died on May 9th of that year, and the reliquary was apparently forgotten until this year. Sister Eva Amadori, SSJ, the archivist for the Sister of St. Joseph, spotted the reliquary by noticing its frame, and upon closer inspection, the needlework. She looked at a note on the back of the frame and discovered it belonged to the cathedral.

“It caught my eye because of its beauty,” she said. “It’s just too unique.”

Given how highly prized the relics of saints are, it’s hard to imagine anyone would combine 365 different ones into one piece and send it off to Buffalo, but that’s exactly what happened before Italy became a unified state in 1861. Prior to that year, the pope himself ruled much of the Italian peninsula, and thus the Church acquired power and wealth.

“In those days, what existed was the Papal State,” Msgr. Campbell said. “Italy had not been unified, and the Holy Father commanded great power economically and politically, so he could create such a thing. If you look at all the works there, even according to the standards of the day – it’s a costly gift. It’s tarnished a bit after all these years, but the embroidery is absolutely gorgeous.”

Currently the reliquary will remain in a private area of the cathedral until officials can determine a way to make it available for public viewing but still keep the artifact secure.

“We want people to see it, but we also want to protect it,” Msgr. Campbell said. “It’s almost like the Constitution of the United States.”

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