Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 19, 2025
On Saturday, January 11, at 1:02 AM, a man climbed the fence on Ludlow Street and slipped into our cemetery. He crossed the cemetery and quickly climbed the wall of the church, using one of the large plaques as support. He then took out a tool and smashed one of the stained glass windows and entered the upper church, near the baptismal font. Upon entering, he shone a flashlight around for a few seconds and immediately entered the sanctuary, where he moved a chair and climbed up the altar to the statue of Mary.
He then took the golden crown from the head of Mary’s statue and also the rosary from her hands. He then climbed down, went through the now broken window, into the cemetery and over the fence back onto Ludlow Street.
From the time he climbed the fence to get in until he climbed the fence again to get out, he spent seven minutes. He was fast. He acted with deliberation. He knew exactly what he came for and he took it.
There is a remarkable history behind our Virgin Mary statue and the crown which adorned it.
In the Spring of 1855, Francis Cooper of Philadelphia, left for Europe on a ship. When a heavy storm threatened to sink the ship, Mr. Cooper prayed to Mary and promised that if she would spare the ship and his life, that he would erect a tribute to her at Saint John Church.
The ship did not sink. Mr. Cooper went to Saint John’s to fulfil his vow. After some discussion, it was decided to build a magnificent statue of the Immaculate Conception. However, this statue was beyond his means, so he had to raise most of the money. In 1857, the statue was crafted in Italy, shipped to Philadelphia and placed in the Church of Saint John.
However, in 1899 when Saint John’s Church burned, the statue was spared and the image of the statue standing safe and erect among the fire’s rubble, seemed miraculous. In thanksgiving for the sparing of the statue, the people decided to create a masterpiece crown to adorn the miraculous statue. People were asked to bring their precious bejeweled heirlooms so that they could be combined into a one of a kind gold and jewel studded crown.
People brought gold and jewels: a bracelet of Bohemian garnets, a pair of earrings donated by a formerly enslaved woman, a gold medal of honor conferred upon the donor by the French government. People donated wedding rings, bracelets and brooches.
The well known jeweler, James E. Caldwell & Co, created the crown made of “200 pennyweight” of gold (look it up. 200 pennyweight of gold is a lot of gold and very valuable). There were also diamonds, turquoises, amethysts, opals, pearls, rubies, sapphires and more.
Our crown is a valuable piece of jewelry and an artistic masterpiece.
Perhaps we should not have had it on display, but as one parishioner told me, “it was made for the Mary’s head”. It was made to be seen. I knew it was valuable, but I had no idea how valuable!
If we get back our treasure, we will appreciate it more than ever. It was and is a symbol of faith in Christ and love for Christ’s mother.
The police have been very responsive and have been eager to follow every lead. I hope and pray that they are successful and that our crown is soon back at our church and honoring the Mother of God.
In the meantime, we will do what we always do. Serve God. Preach the Gospel. Be a center of prayer and peace. Love one another as Christ taught us. With or without our golden crown, we will continue to be disciples of the Lord Jesus. As disciples of Christ, we forgive the one who took our precious relic, but we urge that man to repent and to turn away from sin.
