Looking for the intercession of a particular saint?

By NADIA POZO &
LOU BALDWIN
CS&T Staff Writers

You don’t have to go to Rome to find relics of saints because the truth is there are plenty of relics — even going back all the way to the first century —right here in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Did you know that before Vatican II all churches actually had at least one relic encased in the altar stone? In fact, many churches still have them, but given their location, they aren’t publicly venerated.
Not to worry.
Southeast Pennsylvania is home to a number of significant 1st and 2nd class relics. Most local Catholics know they can venerate the relics of St. John Neumann at his shrine at St. Peter the Apostle Church, 5th Street and Girard Avenue, where his remains are entombed in the altar.
For those of you not acquainted with this beloved Philadelphia Bishop, St. John Nuemann left a lasting legacy that includes the forty hours devotion, the Catholic schools system and the founding of Beneficial Bank to help the poor save money.
St. John Neumann, a native of what is now the Czech Republic, came to the United States to be ordained a priest. Whether you believe it or not, Europe actually had an overabundance of priests at that time and his Bishop refused to ordain any more priests. On the other hand, the young nation of the United States was in desperate need of priests, particularly the East Coast, which had 200,000 Catholics and only 36 priests.
St. John Neumann came despite great hardships, learned six languages and traveled great distances as a bishop within his diocese — it ranged throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the western and southern part of New Jersey — to spread and live the Gospel among the multi-lingual immigrants.
Some may recall the miracle of the six-year-old boy from West Philadelphia that paved the way toward sainthood for Bishop Neumann.
Michael Flanigan had Ewing's Sarcoma, a usually lethal form of bone cancer. When his parents found out the doctors gave Michael six months to live, they took him to the Bishop Neumann Shrine at St. Peter’s Church. After several visits to the shrine, Michael began to make a dramatic recovery. Six months later, when the little boy was supposed to be dead, all signs of Ewing's Sarcoma had vanished.
In December, 1975, after a final examination of Michael’s medical records, the Medical Board of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared that Michael Flanigan’s cure was “scientifically and medically unexplainable,” and attributed it to the intercession of Bishop Neumann.
Another beloved Philadelphia saint whose relics may be venerated locally is St. Katharine Drexel, whose remains are kept at her shrine at the mother house of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in Bensalem.
In fact, the only place to have a first-class relic (which is usually a tiny bone) of St. Katharine Drexel is her Bensalem shrine, because her body was not exhumed during the canonization process.
Mother Drexel, as she was known, became the second native-born American saint to be canonized when Pope John Paul II declared her a saint in the Oct. 1, 2000 Jubilee Mass. He praised Mother Drexel for recognizing the dangers of racism in the United States, then giving her all to fight it.
Katharine — one of the wealthiest women in America —gave all her fortune to counter the deprivations and injustices suffered by many African and Native Americans. She eventually founded more than 60 schools in several states, including Xavier University in New Orleans — the first African-American university in the United States.
She was also the founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People, whose 225 nuns continue to serve in the spirit of St. Katharine, running more than 40 schools and ministry sites in 13 states.
The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament have another relic of interest: a sliver of the cross of Christ. This relic is venerated in the chapel above St. Katharine’s shrine every Friday, according to Sister Beatrice Jeffries, the congregation’s vice president.
They have more than one splinter of the cross with documentation. One of them is connected to another saint. It was given to St. John Neumann by Pope Pius IX, and years later was gifted to St. Katharine on her patron saint’s feast by Archbishop of Philadelphia Patrick J. Ryan.
But there are a number of other local shrines that are perhaps not so well known.
The National Shrine of St. Rita of Cascia on South Broad Street, as might be expected, has relics of St. Rita, and they are venerated every Wednesday during her novena.
The beloved saint of American-Italians, St. Rita, born in Umbria, Italy, is well-known as a patron of desperate, seemingly impossible causes and situations.
Why? Because hers is an unlikely but true story, in which she was a wife, mother, widow and yet died a nun.
Although she wanted to be an Augustinian nun from an early age, her parents bethrothed her to an abusive, ill-tempered town watchman who was involved in the town’s political disputes between two powerful families.
Dreams shattered, she married Paolo Mancini, had twin boys and suffered at his hands for eighteen years until he was murdered. Later her twin sons died when Rita was only 36.
Burying her family, Rita felt the call to religious life again and despite some difficulties, she entered the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalen in Cascia. There she devoted herself to the Passion. She received a chronic head wound that appeared to have been caused by a crown of thorns — which bled for 15 years — in response to a prayer to suffer as Christ.
Through it all, she never lost her faith in God or her desire to be with Him.
St. Rita has been closely linked to Italian immigration. As a way to assist the care of tens of thousands of Italian immigrants coming to Philadelphia, the diocese asked the Augustinian Friars from Villanova in 1907 to found an Italian parish. When they did, they chose Saint Rita as the patron of the new foundation because she was from Italy and had just been canonized a few years earlier. Her canonization brought her to the attention of people far and wide as a sympathetic and attractive model of holiness and a powerful intercessor in the most needy of cases.
An extra special bonus is that relics of mother and son, SS. Monica and Augustine of Hippo, can be found at St. Rita’s Shrine as well.
“They are venerated every August during our triduum to them,” said Olindo Mennilli, the shrine’s assistant director. “We also have a relic of (Augustinian) Blessed Therese Fasce. It’s displayed for veneration at the shrine, but we don’t have a special day.”
Similar to St. Rita, St. Monica — a fourth century Christian - suffered through a violent marriage with joy and kindness. Her devotion and persistence gained the conversion of her pagan husband and later of her son Augustine — non other than one of our very own Early Church Fathers. He reveals the great pain he caused his mother and his conversion story in his famous Confessions.
Blessed Maria Therese Fasce was inspired by Augustinian spirituality and the life of St. Rita of Cascia, which eventually led her to become an Augustinian religious herself. Born in Genoa, Italy, she desired to bring people to God through Saint Rita, and that’s exactly what she did as abbess of St. Rita’s Shrine in Cascia, where, through her love and dedication, a girl’s orphanage, an Augustinian seminary, a hospital, a retreat house and other services now exist around the chapel. Mother Maria Therese died in 1947 and was beatified in 1997 by Pope John Paul II.
St. John the Evangelist Church also has relics of some well-known saints according to its pastor, Capuchin Father Francis X. Russo.
There you’ll find relics of St. Padre Pio, the beloved Italian Cappuchin with the mystical spirituality and stigmata; St. Bernadette of Lourdes, the French shepherd girl known as a visionary and messenger of the Immaculate Conception, and, not on display, a relic of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscans. Padre Pio’s relic is venerated on Fridays at the 7:45 a.m. Mass, and at the 12:05 p.m, 1:05 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. Masses. “People may come up and kiss the relic,” Father Russo explained. St. Bernadette’s relic is venerated every Wednesday at the 12:05 p.m., 1:05 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. Masses, he said.
Why venerate relics? Cappuchin Brother James Gavin of St. John the Evangelist explains: “We honor the saints as friends and faithful servants of God. We don’t worship them but we do honor them and ask for their intercession and spiritual help to help us in our journey through life.”
For those seeking intercession from St. Jude, Chalfont’s St. Jude Parish has a first class relic of its first century patron saint that is venerated in September and August during the novena leading to St. Jude’s feast, said Msgr. James P. McCoy, who noted the novena is especially well attended.
St. Jude of Thaddeus — also known as the Forgotten Saint — was one of the original twelve Apostles according to tradition, but he was often confused with Judas of Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. Although there isn’t much information available about St. Jude, according to tradition he was a cousin of Jesus and the author of the Epistle of Jude.
Devotion to this saint grew as more and more people turned to him for intercession in desperate situations and were heard. For this, St. Jude is known as the patron of “hopeless or desperate cases,” and hundreds visit the shrine in Chalfont every year.
St. Jude, known for his preaching throughout what is modern day Iraq and Iran, was martyred in Iran, supposedly with a club, which is why he is often depicted holding a club. At times he is also depicted with a tongue of fire above his head, the symbol of his presence with the Apostles and Mary in the Upper Room on the first Pentecost.
St. Philomena parish, Lansdowne, displays a relic of St. Philomena, who was believed to be a young girl martyred during the Roman persecutions. Her remains were discovered in 1802, but nothing is really known about her life, other than the symbols of virginity and martyrdom on the tomb. She was canonized purely on the basis of the many miracles attributed to her intercession after the discovery of the tomb.
One of the side altars at St. Philomena is dedicated to her. It depicts the young saint and St. John Vianney, patron saint of priests, on either side of the crucified Christ.
St. John Vianney was a priest in the French hamlet of Ars in the early 19th century. His austerity and reputation as a confessor gained him wide renown, and he heard the confessions of faithful from all over the world for 16 hours a day. The altar shows St. Vianney because he attributed any good he did to her intercession, explained St. Philomena’s pastor, Father David Benz.
“We have a novena to her every Saturday,” said Father Benz, who has placed a reliquary with her relic on her altar. He hopes at some point to begin a formal guild devoted to her.
The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown has relics of St. Faustina — the Polish nun internationally known as the messenger of Divine Mercy, thanks in large part to the effort of Pope John Paul II — which are venerated on Divine Mercy Sunday and other times, according to the Shrine’s receptionist, Cathie Litwinowicz. They also have a relic of St. John Berchmans — the Belgium Jesuit priest who from an early age showed signs of profound holiness. As a young altar boy he would serve two or three Masses with the greatest fervour and listened to Sunday sermons with deep attention. He also loved to make pilgrimages reciting the rosary as he went. He is the patron saint of altar servers.

For a list of shrines in Pennsylvania and other states, visit the Web site: http://www.catholicshrines.net/
This is only a partial list. If your parish has relics that the faithful may venerate, please e-mail us at standard@adphila.org or call Christian TeBordo at 215-587-3698.