Posted on 01/12/2009 12:00:00 PM PST by Coleus
PATERSON — The city's only Roman Catholic high school has gained a religious relic from the body of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint, born in 1774.
The gift has special significance in its new home in the school chapel: Seton was also the woman who founded the first Catholic school in America. During an assembly Monday morning in the Paterson Catholic gymnasium, a private benefactor donated the relic — a tiny bone fragment — as well as a Roman and Byzantine coin collection. The school's 400 students gathered to meet the donors, Angel and Bozena Diaz of Sparta. Angel Diaz, a lawyer and longtime coin collector who attended Catholic schools, encouraged the children to pray to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and learn history by looking at real artifacts.
James O'Brien, chairman of Paterson Catholic's history department, beamed as he watched students line up to view the historic objects. "I'm speechless," O'Brien said. "You don't find relics in a high school." Students were giddy on their first day back from winter break. But the spiritual and historical gifts impressed several of the teenagers. "I've never prayed to a saint before. But after hearing [about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton], I think I will," said Jacqueline Tyler, 17, a senior. The gifts were personal to Diaz. The 45-year-old graduated in 2004 from Seton Hall University (named for the saint) School of Law in Newark. Diaz's fascination with Roman coins started at age 12 when he bought one advertised in the newspaper, he said. The former U.S. Marine wears a silver ring bearing a Roman coin with the face of Marcus Aurelius on his right ring finger.
The couple has made donations of Seton's bone fragments and coins to four other New Jersey Catholic schools over the past several years, and coins to area churches, Diaz said. Diaz said he wanted to donate the items to a lower-income school for greater educational impact, he said. More than two-thirds of Paterson Catholic High School students receive financial aid to pay the $5,980 annual tuition, said Principal Richard Garibell. All students are Christian and roughly half are Catholic, the principal said.Diaz, the son of poor Cuban immigrants, grew up in Union City.
In addition to giving the historic objects he wanted to show teenagers that someone of their background can become successful, he said. "I'd rather the students have [these gifts] than my daughter." His 7-month-old daughter Elizabeth is named after the saint. The bone fragment will be mounted on a wall in the school's chapel. The coin collection will be incorporated into history classes at the school, the principal said. The 22 coins range from 27 B.C. to A.D. 1034. The most recent coin bears the face of Christ. Elizabeth Ann Seton was born in New York City. Her red-brick home is preserved in lower Manhattan, at 7 State St. The mother of five opened the nation's first free school in 1810, a Catholic orphanage and girls school, in Emmitsburg, Md. She died of tuberculosis at age 46. More than a century and a half later, in 1975, she was canonized by Pope Paul VI.
Seton is considered "the foundress of Catholic education in the United States," according to the Rev. Nicholas Gengaro, Seton Hall chaplain. Catholics receive inspiration from relics — a personal possession or part of a saint or religious martyr's body, Gengaro said. Relics do not hold divine powers, but rather serve as a tangible reminder to believers of a saint or martyr's virtuous qualities, Gengaro said. Seton Hall gained a tiny bone fragment of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton several years ago, Gengaro said. He believes the relic was authenticated by Rome. The donated coins were discovered buried in Bulgaria, said Diaz, who bought them separately over the years from private collectors worldwide. The bone fragment was a family heirloom purchased in the late 1970s by Diaz's grandmother, just after Seton was canonized, he said. Diaz declined to tag a price to the gifts, saying that they were "priceless." Sunday was the 188th anniversary of Seton's death.
"For Him [Christ] being the Son of God, we adore, but the martyrs as disciples and imitators of the Lord we cherish as they deserve for their matchless affection towards their own King and Teacher. May it be our lot also to be found partakers and fellow-disciples with them......And so we afterwards took up his [Polycarp's] bones which are more valuable than precious stones and finer than refined gold, and laid them in a suitable place; where the Lord will permit us to gather ourselves together, as we are able, in gladness and joy, and to celebrate the birth-day of his martyrdom for the commemoration of those that have already fought in the contest, and for the training and preparation of those that shall do so hereafter."
--Epistle of Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, on the martyrdom of Polycarp
Score one for pre-emptive apologetics! Thank you, Claud!
I an really not trying to be offensive, but who went around cutting up Elizabeth Seton’s body and then passed it around?
Can. 1190 §1. It is absolutely forbidden to sell sacred relics.
Here’s another one from the site I sent you.
Emmitsburg, Maryland
Relic: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Where: Seton Shrine Chapel, Emmitsburg, Frederick County, Maryland
She's a senior? How long has she been in Catholic school?
I bet half the school population is baptist or AME.
It just struck me as funny, especially in a news article.
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