Relic of Saint Thomas

   A sacred relic of Saint Thomas the Apostle, his mummified right hand, lost and found many times since the death of Thomas in India on the Malabar coast in 72 A.D., has been reported lost again. A Vatican spokesman made the announcement about two months ago but did not explain the long delay between the disappearance of the relic in 2004 and the recent announcement in 2013.             

   The relic disappeared from the Church of Saint Thomas in Abbruzzo, Italy, in May 2004, the same month and year that Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law was transferred to the Vatican.

   The relic was hermetically sealed in a glass case trimmed with gold leaf. The case was missing also.

   The mummified hand of Saint Thomas, blackened by time and elements, is supposed to provide protection from persecution and prosecution to anyone in possession of it. Holding it and praying to God, early Christians believed, protected good and bad people from misfortune.

   It was accepted as a matter of faith that the right hand of Thomas the Apostle received its extraordinary powers at the moment “Doubting” Thomas touched the body of the resurrected Jesus and said: “My Lord and my God.”

   Yesterday, a person who claimed to be working at the Vatican museum announced that the relic had been found. This person was the same spokesman who announced that it had been lost. It was found, said Angelo DiPietro, at the residence of the former Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Mr. DiPietro said that it was the residence of Cardinal Law, and explained that Cardinal Law lost the Archpriest title when he reached the retirement age of 80 in 2011.

  The Vatican has not made an official announcement about the relic’s rediscovery, nor has it commented about the awful rumor that Pope Francis may send Cardinal Law to a monastery, or worse, back to Boston.

   The Cortland Contrarian had an agreement of confidentiality with Mr. DiPietro, the source of  our information about the relic, but decided to break it when we found out that Mr. DiPietro was fired by the Vatican in 2012 for telling lies about the Virgin Mary and Saint Thomas.

 

   Mr. DiPietro plans to run in the next general election for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian Parliament. We think he has chosen the right place to display his talent for fiction.

Reference:
Cardinal Bernard Law Fast Facts--CNN