Lost Catholic artifact found in Buffalo convent
A Catholic artifact missing for more than a century has found its way home. As YNN's Doug Sampson tells us, the tapestry dates back to the founding of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.
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BUFFALO, N.Y. — It's more than 150 years old, and has been missing for nearly a century.
"It's a wonderful piece of work, art work,” said Monsignor James Campbell, the Rector of St. Joseph's Cathedral. “It's what we can delve into with the history, so we'll know a little more about the history of Buffalo."
The writing is woven with gold and silver thread, and it contains dozens of real pearls, but, it's the hundreds of relics it contains honoring Catholic saints that makes the piece truly priceless.
"It's what they call an calendar relic,” said Reverend Michael Byrzinski, who collects relics and has hundreds of them. “It is a tapestry which has almost 400 relics mounted in it. It's rather interesting because you can tell several people worked on it."
The tapestry was a gift from Pope Pius the 9th to Bishop John Timon for founding the Diocese in the Queen City in 1847.
"It's a fantastic gift that a Pope would give the bishop of a pioneer diocese and that's what it was in those days," said Campbell.
In 1915, the tapestry was in the possession of Bishop Charles Colton, who commissioned a new cathedral at St. Joseph's.
"When he built that, when that was going up, he died just when it was completed,” said Byrzinski. “So, there were a number of things that I think may have gotten lost at that period in time."
Bishop Colton put the tapestry in storage in a local convent until the new cathedral was completed, but after his death, it was forgotten.
"The archivist found it in a closet and wondered if we wouldn't want it back," said Campbell. "I was awestruck, I immediately called the sister who brought it over, and asked, ‘Sister do you know what you brought over to me?’"
Numerous people have already requested to see the piece, but Monsignor Campbell said he will not display it publically until its security can be assured.