{"id":14960,"date":"2015-01-14T19:07:27","date_gmt":"2015-01-15T00:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/?p=14960"},"modified":"2015-01-14T19:07:27","modified_gmt":"2015-01-15T00:07:27","slug":"1966-time-capsule-discovered-in-cathedral-altar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/2015\/01\/1966-time-capsule-discovered-in-cathedral-altar\/","title":{"rendered":"1966 Time Capsule Discovered in Cathedral Altar"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story involves the renovation of the Cathedral in my diocese<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Where were you on Feb. 22, 1966? A few people can say that they were in the Cathedral of St. Augustine placing a time capsule inside the main altar.<\/p>\n

Brian Baker, whose company, Baker Liturgical Art is overseeing the renovation of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Augustine said, \u201cIt was not a surprise to find a time capsule in the altar of sacrifice. It is a tradition to leave a time capsule in the main altar during a restoration.\u201d<\/p>\n

That time capsule \u2013 a cardboard box \u2013 was found yesterday (Wednesday, Jan. 7) as workers disassembled the marble altar in the main sanctuary of the church. Among the items found inside include newspapers from the day, a few pictures, a note from one of the painters and a two medallions of Pope Paul VI.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome money was also discovered,\u201d said Father Thomas Willis, rector of the Cathedral. the \u201cThe small change amounted to about a dollar! But there were also eight Morgan silver dollars with dates ranging from 1882 to 1900,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on a quick search of the internet those dollar coins could be worth a few thousand dollars \u2013 if they\u2019re considered in mint condition,\u201d Father Willis added<\/p>\n

The two pictures included in the box were a general picture of St. Peter\u2019s Square in Rome and the second, a similar picture of Msgr. John Burns,\u201d Father Willis remarked. \u201cHe was the rector of the Cathedral during the 1960\u2019s renovation. The writing on the back of each paper was his, too. I could tell by the looping style of his cursive handwriting. You can tell he was definitely taught by nuns!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t think I was aware of this practice of placing a time capsule in an altar. I was aware of using relics from a saint being being placed under an altar. So is this really a wide spread practice regarding restoration of altars. I couldn\u2019t find any information in that direction as all links pointed to this one.<\/p>\n

The current interior of the Cathedral<\/a> is interesting and beautiful in parts and a nod to the Spanish discovery of St. Augustine in 1565. Which was of course named because that was the feast day they sighted the land. The murals on the wall created by German mural artist Hugo Ohlms that show a history of the diocese are also interesting, although I am not a fan of the interconnecting vines. I wonder if any other Cathedral in the United States has Conquistadors painted in them? One mural shows \u201cPedro Menendez de Aviles First Mass.\u201d This one is cool since it shows the first Mass in the United States along with showing the Timucuan Indians. In recent years the story of a Thanksgiving episode before the Puritans arrived has become better known. So overall I like the interior even though the style is not my favorite. The pipes from the pipe organ prominently displayed in the sanctuary is a bit odd to me, but I have learned to just be thankful they still have a pipe organ at all. They have a side chapel where the Tabernacle resides and in this case it is quite proper to do this. There is a lot of foot traffic in the Cathedral from tourists exploring \u201cAmerica\u2019s oldest city.\u201d I\u2019ve found it a good place to pray without the distraction of tourists and photo taking.<\/p>\n

I admit to having negative reactions when I hear the word renovation<\/em> regarding Catholic churches. So I of course looked up Baker Liturgical Art<\/a>. It looks like they are actually doing a restoration and even adding a choir loft. This is quite promising. As I have quipped before \u201cUnlike children, choirs should be heard and not seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now as to the time capsule they also found two papers which were editions of \u201cThe St. Augustine Record\u201d and \u201cThe Wanderer.\u201d I found it rather funny that there was a copy of the The Wanderer<\/em> in the altar of the Cathedral. Although I have to admit that the cover of the issue found was filled with the usual joy and optimism of the few volumes I have seen. Still I liked that the banner had \u201cNo one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true Socialist\u201d from Pius XI\u2019s encyclical Quadragesimo Anno<\/em> (which is still part of their banner). The front page also included an article by Msgr. R. G. Bandas titled \u201cEcumenism – The Problem.\u201d The Monsignor had apparently attended every session of the Second Vatican Council and was a Peritus<\/em>. He was also apparently not a happy camper about the Council. After his death three years after this article a friend of his said \u201cthat in a very real sense Vatican II brought on the early death of Msgr. Bandas\u2014a brilliant, holy priest who died of a broken heart over the Council.\u201d You won\u2019t be surprised that I found that tidbit in The Remnant<\/em>. So no doubt there is an interesting story behind how this paper became part of the altar\u2019s time capsule.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if the copy of the The Wanderer<\/em> made its way to the trash bin. Father Thomas Willis, rector of the Cathedral is rather known to me from his resistance to Summorum Pontificum as Director of Liturgy for the Diocese. When he was pastor of Most Holy Redeemer he oversaw rebuilding of the parish. I visited the parish afterwards and never returned. The altar was placed in the middle of a circle of pews so of course the priest would spin around to talk to everybody kind of like a lawn sprinkler trying to cover the whole lawn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story involves the renovation of the Cathedral in my diocese. Where were you on Feb. 22, 1966? A few people can say that they were in the Cathedral of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liturgy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14961,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14960\/revisions\/14961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}