Catholic university in the Bronx houses large collection of relics

In a mountainous area of ​​the Bronx, New York (United States) is Manhattan University, a private Catholic university founded in 1853 by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a lay order dedicated to education. The university also houses a large collection of relics sacred.

Founded by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle in 1680, the Order of Brothers of the Christian Schools He began establishing schools for poor children to receive education. The order spread quickly throughout France and other European countries and, eventually, throughout the world. Currently, the Order has its headquarters in Rome.

However, in recent decades, the order has been shrinking and many of its schools and other institutions have closed in North America. As a result, boxes of documents and artifacts (including an impressive collection of relics) from those facilities have found their way to Manhattan College.

Amy Surak, the university archivist, oversees this collection of relics on the university campus.

“I feel very blessed and incredibly fortunate to be around these honored and revered objects that are so loved and respected and really have so much power,” she told CNA — EWTN News’ English agency — in an email exchange.

While Surak doesn’t know the exact number of relics found on the university campus, he said “it’s easily in the hundreds.”

“I’ve photographed and inventoried at least 200-plus so far, but I’m still opening boxes and finding them in our raw collections,” he added.

One relic that particularly caught Surak’s attention was the relic of Saint Therese of Lisieux.

“Since I was a child, I have always been fascinated by Saint Therese,” she shared. “There is something unique and attainable about performing small tasks or everyday acts that can express one’s piety; It makes faith a little more practical and accessible, at least that’s how it was for me when I was young.”

“When I came across his relics, I felt a bit like a fan. “I felt like it was there to remind me that small acts can have profound results,” he said.

Another highly esteemed relic is that of the order’s founder: a piece of the hip bone of La Salle, the popular saint who was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1900 and considered the patron saint of teachers.

Other valuable objects in the collection include a priest’s vestments that would be used for the canonization of a saint, papers with illustrations of seven Christian De La Salle brothers martyred during the Spanish Civil War, and several teaks, small medallions containing small pieces of bone of the brothers.

At its peak in 1965, there were 16,000 Christian School Brothers serving in 80 countries. Today, there are fewer than 3,000 in the order, although the number of countries they serve has not decreased. On the Manhattan College campus, there are 23 brothers, although many are already retired.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.