Altar stone

[CHRISTINE12]

I work at St.Johns hospital Joplin MO (now known as Mercy of Joplin) Our hospital was distroyer last May by a tornado. We just recently recover the alter stone from our chapel from the rubble. There were no documents with this stone. Does anyone know if there is a way to find out what Saints relics are in this stone? Is there somewhere this information is registered? I think the stone is very old. Probable late 1800 or early 1900. Thank you
Christine12

 

[domandcarols]

Contact the diocese and ask… I’m sure someone else will have a better suggestion…

 

[adopted_heir]

Well the church is usually named for the saint whose relic is in the altar stone, unless there are multiple altars as in older churches, in which case it’s usually the relic in the main altar. So it’s a pretty good guess that it’s a relic of St John… but there are what, a hundred St Johns? The diocese should have some record of that. I would say maybe the periodicals section of the library, but you’d have to know when the church was sacralized, and then again it would depend on the condition of the library after the tornado.

 

[tradcathusa]

The stone is so old you may not find out, but the Diocese is the place to go. I know the saints in my altar stone because I remember the Bishop saying their names at the consecration of my church (traditional latin mass parish). They are Casta Acta and Auxillius. In the old Rite, the Bishop sits on a throne outside of the front door of the church and proclaims an indulgence to all those in the future who visit the church and venerate the relics of the saints in the altar stone. Besides the 3 bones of the martyrs, the stone conatins 2 pieces of incense. The consecration of a church takes at least 6 hours to perform and is a wonder to behold. It starts with an all night vigil of the relics by the Faithful and on the next day they process with the relics on a bier to the church. If you see stone crosses by the front doors or on the inside of the ruins of the church, then it was consecrated. If consecrated, then there should be a record of the saints put in the tomb. Hope this helps

 

[kiapokspika]

It does not matter whose relics are there, but that the Saints are physically present, the Sacrifice is more remembered as a gathering of the Church Militant, Triumphant and Suffering.

btw, I would like those who have unused Altar Stones to chime in or to PM me, maybe some folks will be interested to give them to us. We have several Latin Mass groups in the Philippines that do not have a validly consecrated Altar to celebrate the Mass on. Thanks!

 

[CatholicLife]

I would suggest to donate it to a Latin Mass community in your area . [edited]