By Steve Weatherbe

THE communion chalice holds a powerful place in society’s collective consciousness, in such expressions of popular culture as books and movies like The Da Vinci Code and The Silver Chalice – not to mention The Assassin’s Creed computer game.

When chalices are where they belong, they are cherished by believers of several Christian faiths. When they turn up in thrift shops, they become interesting to everyone.

So when an anonymous – in fact, unnoticed – donor left a collection of gleaming objects at the Bibles for Missions thrift store just before Christmas, volunteer Trudy Fiege knew immediately what they were.

Though tarnished and weathered, they were elaborate silver and gold chalices, and other communion accessories – such as a thurible, for burning incense; a paten, which is a metal plate to lay the communion host upon; and a velvet-lined box to carry one chalice and the paten.

Fiege brought the whole assortment to St. Edward’s Catholic Church, where the detective work began.

“What a find! What treasures!” wrote parish secretary Sherriden Clements, one of the lead detectives on the case, in the Victoria diocesan newsletter.  

Inscriptions on two of the chalices deepened the mystery. One read: “Mrs. Thos. Ryan to Rev. E.M. Gannon, Nov.12, 1894”; it bore the stamp of manufacturer Benzinger Bros., New York. The second  stated: “In Memory of Sir Knight Rt. Rev. Delbert W. Basche, by Marquette General Assembly 4th Degree K of C., Green Bay, Wisconsin.”

Gannon was tracked to St. Sebastian’s RCChurch in Woodside, New York, a parish established in 1894, just across from New York City. Edward Gannon was its first pastor.

The 35 year old priest began by ministering to 53 Catholic families in Woodside – comprising 350 souls, which the parish website estimates was half the population of the still-small community. He said mass in private homes, clubhouses and even the firehall.

A familiar type of founding priest, Gannon organized lawn parties, festivals and shows to raise funds to build a church, rectory and school – and to acquire the land to set them on.

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Each evening, he would walk through the community with his St. Bernard dog, collecting donations from passersby. By 1896, the church was up and running. By 1902, the congregation numbered 1,000. Gannon stayed at St. Sebastian until his death in 1911.

St. Sebastian’s current pastor, Michael Hardiman, told BCCN the parish was “so, so pleased when Sherriden called us up – and so delighted to get the chalice back. It’s a piece of our history.” He added that the chalice would soon be used for the first communion of a number of the church’s children.

He noted the importance of the chalices used in the Catholic mass. They hold the consecrated hosts and wine which, he stressed, “we Catholics believe are the body and blood of Christ.”

Hardiman said it is customary for a new priest’s family to give him his own communion set upon ordination. He would keep this set wherever he served, though each parish would have its own set of chalices and accessories.

“It’s his personal property and he could leave it to someone else when he dies. “More often, the pastor asks the family if they want the set. If they don’t, the parish retains it or gives it to a deserving new priest.”

That may be what happened with the second chalice, according to Dave Tlachac, Grand Knight of the Monsignor Basche Council of the Knights of Columbus in Green Bay.

“The knights may have gifted it to a young priest. But we don’t know to whom . . . It was from all the knights of the fourth degree,” he said. These are the most senior members of the organization, and in each area they form their own assembly – which in Green Bay’s case, will be consulted as to the chalice’s disposition.

“If they don’t want it, we may give it to a seminarian whom we support,” said Tlachac. “It was a wonderful thing to get it back.”

The third, uninscribed, chalice in the cache will go to Fr. Scott Whittemore, the new pastor for Ucluelet and Tofino on Vancouver Island’s west coast.

One mystery remains:how did these American sacred implements find their way to Vancouver Island? Clements and Hardiman don’t rule out theft. But both are just happy they have been returned.

May 2010