Fourth Sunday of Easter- A Reflection from Erin O’Leary
As we continue the joyous Easter Season, we might call to mind the early Christians who faced persecution and death to celebrate Mass and yet were still able to be joyful in their faith. Often, these early Christians celebrated in catacombs and used one of the flat tombs for their altar. This began our tradition of recognizing the presence of the Communion of Saints and our ancestors in faith at each Liturgy. This also began another long tradition in the Church- that of having relics placed in a niche in every altar. These relics are small fragments of bone- usually from two different canonized martyr saints- that help make our altar a holy table of sacrifice.
At Holy Name, we have two saints who join us at the altar for Mass. Their relics were in the original marble altar and then moved to our current wood altar. As part of our Centennial Year preparation, we investigated “our” saints. Next time you are at Mass, you can think about St. Bonosa and St. Adrian! Their relics were placed in the original altar just before April 29, 1962- the date the worship space was dedicated by Archbishop Leo Binz. Both of these saints are considered to be “Pre-Congregation” meaning that they lived so long ago we don’t know many facts about them. Here are facts we do know:
St. Bonosa’s Feast Day is July 15th. She was martyred in the Christian persecutions by Emperor Aurelian in 207 A.D. in Porto Romano Italy and interred in the catacombs of Pontiani. In 1700, her relics were enshrined in the Cistercian nun’s convent at Agnani because Bonosa was a Virgin Martyr who the sisters admired. When the Italian government seized the Convent in 1901 during a time of political and religious problems, St. Bonosa’s remains were transferred to the Church of St. Martin of Tours in Louisville, Kentucky! The pastor there had a special desire to preserve the remains and Pope Leo XIII gave permission. When these remains were cleaned, examined and re-enshrined in 2012, an archaeologist was able to determine that Bonosa was 24 years old and her remains were about 95% complete. You can visit her shrine and clear coffin at St. Martin’s today!
St. Adrian was a Roman officer in the court of Emperor Diocletian around 306 A.D. When he saw the courage of the Christians being killed, he converted and was then imprisoned and tortured. Documents say his wife Natalia was present at his execution and was able to take one of his severed hands with her when she fled to safety at Constantinople. Adrian’s Feast Day is Sept. 8th.
We haven’t been able to find any paperwork on why these two saints were given/chosen for our altar. So, other than some interesting historical trivia, what do St. Bonosa and St. Adrian mean to us? They can remind us of the fact that sometimes our faith takes a great commitment and sacrifice. They can connect us to our ancestors in faith who helped the Church continue in spite of persecution. They can remind us to be strong in our faith even in the most difficult times and to keep our Easter Joy all year round!