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WHEREAS, as early as 1849, the Redemptorists Fathers had built a chapel where North Catholic High School Auditorium now stands, and on December 12, 1850, a Solemn High Mass was celebrated for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed, which is believed to mark the first Mass offered on Troy Hill; and
WHEREAS, on August 26, 1866, a cornerstone was laid, and on June 7, 1868 - 140 years ago this week - the Most Holy Name of Jesus Church was dedicated in Troy Hill, and Father Suitbert Mollinger was appointed the first pastor, a man who had been educated in medicine and prescriptions in Italy, and whose family had considerable wealth; and
WHEREAS, Father Mollinger considered the primary concern of the parish to be education of the children, and devoted a room in the back of the church to education, in 1874 building Most Holy Name School;
WHEREAS, when Father Mollinger arrived in this country in 1868 he brought with him his own larger-than-average collection of relics, and when he found a need for a formal repository he built St. Anthony's Chapel with his own funds, laying the cornerstone on June 13, 1883 - 125 years ago, on the Feast of St. Anthony; and
WHEREAS, St. Anthony's Chapel houses beautiful wood-carved life-sized stations and a marble altar, and features many relics of St. Anthony, slivers of bones believed to be from each of the Apostles, a piece of cloth that was worn by the Virgin Mary, splinters from the actual cross carried by Jesus, a small piece of wood from the table of the Last Supper, all being certified by the Church as real - all representing a collection second in size only to that of the Vatican; and
WHEREAS, St. Anthony's Chapel had fallen into a state of disrepair, and in 1972, a Saint Anthony's Chapel Restoration Fund Committee was formed, and two stages of restoration were completed by November 1977; and
WHEREAS, in June 1983, a religious articles gift shop was opened to help support the Chapel, and on June 10, 1986, a ...
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