A glance at the past

Since the inception of the Paterson Diocese in 1937, St. John the Baptist, the titular of our diocesan Cathedral, has always been considered the patron saint of the Diocese. But, there are four other saints, Clement and Felicity, Urban and Claude, all early Roman martyrs, who might also make a claim as diocesan patrons. These four saints — two popes, a Roman maiden and a stonemason — are not well known and do not have any churches or chapels in the Diocese dedicated to them. Nonetheless, they have a substantial presence in the Diocese because the relics of these martyrs are imbedded in many of the altars of the Diocese.

In the early Church, the custom developed of celebrating Mass on or near the tombs of the martyrs. Gradually this evolved into the practice of depositing relics of martyrs in all altars, even those not in the catacombs. (I hesitate in this section because one of the acknowledged experts on the use of relics in altars, Doctor Suzanne Herold, is a parishioner of the Paterson Diocese at Holy Family, Florham Park. See her 2016 doctoral dissertation, “Christ and the Triumphant Victims: Relics and the Altar in the Ordo Dedicationis Ecclesiae et Altaris.”)

The “altars” come in two forms: “fixed” and “portable.” A fixed altar is a large stone table, or mensa permanently erected in a church in which there is a cavity for enclosing relics of martyrs. A portable altar is a small marble slab, usually 9 by 12 inches, in which there is a similar cavity for the deposition of relics. This “portable altar” can be easily moved from place to place as is necessary. In the 1960s and 1970s, when “home Masses” were in vogue, it would not be unusual to see a priest bring one of these “portable altar” stones with him and place it on someone’s dining room table in order to celebrate Mass.

Gradually, in many parts of the United States, a compromise between fixed and portable altars became common in many churches. Altars that were moveable, or constructed of wood or other materials other than marble, were routinely constructed with a cavity in the center, large enough to allow an entire “portable” altar stone to be placed in it in a semi-permanent fashion. At St. Anthony’s in Hawthorne, we have three different arrangements. The altar currently in use for Mass has a carved wooden mensa with an altar stone deposited in the center. The original altar, still in place facing the wall, is a fixed altar with the relics deposited in the marble mensa itself. And the three “side altars” were never consecrated, but have the cavity in the middle of the marble mensa awaiting relics of martyrs.

Now, why Saints Clement and Felicity, Urban and Claude? In the 1950s and 1960s there was an “explosion” of altar construction in the Paterson Diocese. The period saw the erection of many new parishes in the central and western regions of the diocese with the subsequent construction of new altars. This was followed by the liturgical changes of the 1960s and 1970s which saw the onset of celebration of Mass “facing the people.” Beginning with Holy Trinity, Passaic, and ending with Our Lady of Pompei, Paterson, one by one, each of the parishes of the Diocese began offering Mass on a “temporary altar” facing the people. This meant an increase in the need for “portable altars,” or “altar stones,” for all these new altars.

Sometime in the late 1950s, Paterson’s third bishop, Bishop James A. McNulty, visited Rome and returned with a quantity of relics for the consecration of new altars. Most of these relics were of Saints Clement, Felicity, Urban and Claude. St. Clement (died c. 100) was the third successor of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome. He is possibly mentioned in the New Testament in Philippians 4:3. His “Letter to the Corinthians,” around 95-98 A.D. is the earliest written evidence we have of the Bishop of Rome exercising oversight in the wider Church. His relics ultimately wound up in the famous Roman church of San Clemente, which may have been the site of his house. St. Felicity, not to be confused with the North African martyr mentioned along with St. Perpetua in the First Eucharistic Prayer, was martyred in 165 and buried in the Catacombs of Maximus on the Via Salaria, where a church was later erected over her tomb. There is a sermon about her from the late sixth century by St. Gregory the Great. Her tomb was rediscovered in 1885 and some of her relics are in the former American Church in Rome, Santa Susanna. Both of these martyrs, although not connected in any other way, have feasts on Nov. 23. St. Urban I died in 230 after a papacy of eight years. He was buried in the Catacombs of Calixtus and is remembered in the liturgy on May 25. St. Claude was a stonemason, martyred near the end of the third century with several others for refusing to fashion a statue of a pagan god. He is one of the Four Holy Crowned Martyrs, honored in the ancient Roman basilica of the same name on Nov. 8.

Slowly but surely, the relics of these four early Roman martyrs began to proliferate across the Paterson Diocese. While not the official patrons of the Diocese, the four do have a physical presence in many of our churches. They connect us in a tangible and spiritual way with the faith and witness of the early Church. When we pray, in the Third Eucharistic Prayer, “that we may obtain an inheritance with your elect . . . with your blessed Apostles and glorious Martyrs,” the relics of Saints Clement and Felicity, Urban and Claude underscore that prayer.

In the diocesan archives, in a wooden box, we still have several packets of the relics of these martyrs, neatly bound with red thread, the liturgical color of the martyrs, waiting to be placed in the altars of the future.