The Opening of the Shrine

ON December 19, 1959 dozens of clergy, multitudes of Missionary Sisters, a judge, the captain of the 34th Precinct, and various others including “an author of Marian plays and filmstrips” gathered at 701 Fort Washington Avenue for the consecration of the main altar of the brand-new St. Frances Cabrini Shrine. The ceremony in its entirety took about three hours. Afterwards, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered on the new altar for the first time.

At about 2:30pm came the next big event: moving the remains of Mother Cabrini from the high school chapel to their new resting place. Before this happened, His Excellency the Most Reverend Joseph Pernicone broke the wax seals on the case containing Mother Cabrini’s body, so the facial mask made in 1938 could be replaced with one that looked more like the saint in her mature years.

If you’ve seen the Shrine’s What is a Relic? exhibit (or read the material online) you’ll know a reliquary’s wax seals are one way in which the relic’s authenticity is validated. To break the seal and open the casket in 1959 required permission from Vatican authorities.

Re-securing the lid to the 1800-pound glass casket involved replacing 100 three-inch screws and applying eight new wax seals.

Then the heavy crystal casket was rolled from the high school’s chapel to the new Shrine in a solemn procession. Mother Cabrini has been resting serenely under the main altar at the Shrine ever since, welcoming pilgrims and visitors.  We hope someday soon you’ll be able to stop by to spend some time with her.