{"id":1335,"date":"2007-06-24T01:12:45","date_gmt":"2007-06-24T01:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2007\/06\/hometown-history.html"},"modified":"2007-06-24T01:12:45","modified_gmt":"2007-06-24T01:12:45","slug":"hometown-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/06\/hometown-history.html","title":{"rendered":"Hometown history"},"content":{"rendered":"

An article in one of the local papers (and yes we still have two dailies – Lord knows how) – about the local priest who,<\/a> in addition to pastoring two parishes, directs the diocesan historical museum. He’s also the master of the 6-minute homily of whom I often speak here. He also, in a Q & A in the diocesan paper – a short feature they run on local priests, with standard questions – made a reference to the "so-called Reformation." Okay, add him <\/em>to the room with Benedict and Zen. You might never want to leave.<\/p>\n

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Among items displayed are early photographs of several church-related buildings no longer in existence, including the first bishop\u2019s residence and St. Augustine\u2019s, the first Catholic educational institution in Fort Wayne.<\/p>\n

There are stained-glass windows from Fort Wayne\u2019s St. Paul\u2019s Catholic Church, torn down in 2004, and a sanctuary lamp taken from St. Mary\u2019s Catholic Church before it burned in 1993 that was found at an antiques dealer.<\/p>\n

In one display case are the ceremonial staffs called crosiers used by all the diocese\u2019s bishops, save that of current Bishop John M. D\u2019Arcy, which is in a separate display marking his 50 years as a priest.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most unexpected items are a handwritten Bible in Latin from A.D. 1250, a papal ring and seal and the relics of several saints.<\/p>\n

The Bible is called a scholar\u2019s Bible because it has notations in red ink along with the text, which is mostly in black. About the size of a paperback novel, the Bible is written in script barely a quarter-inch high.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t conceive of doing that,\u201d Widmann says, \u201clet alone reading it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Widmann says the Bible, and several other items including some paintings not yet on display, were brought from Europe by Bishop Joseph Dwenger, the diocese\u2019s second bishop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story goes that Bishop Dwenger was the first American bishop to make the pilgrimage to Lourdes (France, site of a famous apparition of the Virgin Mary),\u201d Widmann says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile he traveled, he came across paintings and other artifacts in a monastery somewhere that had been looted earlier that century by Napoleonic armies. Whether he gave a donation or what, no one knows, but he brought these items back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Widmann says he doesn\u2019t know the full story of many of the items on display, but he has been able to document the papal ring and seal. Because of its unique characteristics, he has been able to date it to October-November of 1503. It probably was used by Pope Julius II.<\/p>\n

snip<\/em><\/p>\n

What usually startles museum visitors, say volunteers Joan and Ray Schott of Fort Wayne, is a life-like and nearly life-size statue of the scourged Jesus.<\/p>\n

\"Sscourged\"<\/a> For many years, the statue was on display in the cathedral.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey used to cover it with a cloak because people didn\u2019t like to look at it, Ray Schott says. The statue depicts Jesus with many pieces of his flesh ripped open and his back raw and bloody from being beaten and whipped before the Crucifixion.<\/p>\n

Widmann says the statue dates to the 1930s and was made by the Daleiden Co. in Chicago, a famed maker of high-quality religious statuary now out of business.<\/p>\n

The sculpture follows in a Spanish Catholic tradition of graphic displays of Christ\u2019s suffering to inspire pity and penance, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took on added interest following the movie, (Mel Gibson\u2019s) \u2018The Passion of the Christ,\u2019?\u201d Widmann says. \u201cWhen people went to the movie and saw all the blood they were shocked. Americans, particularly Evangelical Christians, aren\u2019t used to seeing Christ depicted that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adds Jean Scott of the statue\u2019s effect on visitors: \u201cIt really shakes them up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here’s something interesting – the photo of the statue (above) wasn’t in the print edition – only online. I don’t know if it was space or..something else..that led to that decision. Perhaps the effect of the piece would have been lost in a black-and-white version. Interesting, though.<\/p>\n

I want to give props to the writer of this piece, Rosa Salter Rodgriguez. Rose interviewed me last year for a profile, and it seems to me she is single-handedly resurrecting the religion page of this paper from a paintful, wire-service-driven death. She is consistently getting very interesting, well-done pieces in the paper, including one last week on the role that churches are playing in a hot petition drive that’s currently going on here about a massive, half-billion dollar funding of physical improvements to public schools – it’s rare to see that kind of exploration of issues, the kind of exploration that might step on toes – in the local media here. Kudos to Rose for that! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. 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