The "Saint Sebastian Chalice” was commissioned by the founding pastor Msgr. Zwisler. He requested that the ladies of the parish who had diamond jewelry that they were no longer wearing donate the diamonds to the parish to be incorporated into a chalice. The diamonds range from incredibly small to one of respectable size. (I wouldn't be too excited about diamonds however - like a car it is amazing how quickly they lose their value once they leave the jewelry shop. As one lady put it, "Call off an engagement and see how much you can get back for that diamond!”)
Just below the cup there is a ring of 9 diamonds. At the node there is a Chi Rho made up of 16 diamonds. Around the node is a ring of 16 diamonds. Around the base is another ring of 31 diamonds. There is a circle of diamonds around a "Tau" or Greek letter "T" that represents the Cross. The circle has 12 diamonds in it and the Tau has 3 diamonds in it. Also in the Tau are 3 blue sapphires and two tiny pearls. This makes a total of 87 diamonds, 3 sapphires, and two pearls. Around the base of the chalice is the inscription, "Sancte Sebastiane ora pro nobis" or "Saint Sebastian pray for us."
Mr. Nick Ciriello tells how one day, soon after the chalice was finished, he came across Monsignor carrying a burlap sack. “Come with me,” he said to the young server. “Do you want to see what is inside the sack?”
“Sure,” he replied.
With that he pulled out the chalice. “I keep it in that bag,” he said. “If anybody came by to rob us, the last place they’d look for something expensive and beautiful is in an old burlap bag!”
1 comment:
The chalice that was in my care had a removable cross with the priest's mother's diamonds on it. And a local parish asked for donations of gold jewelry ehen they needed to re-gild chalices.
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