Special Wyong mass to install First Class Relic

Wyong Catholic Parish will hold a special mass to officially install a First Class Relic of their Patron Saint, St Cecilia, on November 23 at 11am.

It will be officiated by the Very Reverend Father David Ranson, Vicar General of the Broken Bay Diocese. 

Relics of the saints are the most precious heirlooms of the church and seen as not simply historical mementos.

A First Class Relic is the “highest” form of relic and refers to a piece of the body of the saint – including bones, hair and other body parts.

The martyrdom of Cecilia is said to have followed that of her husband Valerian and his brother at the hands of the prefect Turcius Almachius.

The legend about Cecilia’s death is that after being struck three times on the neck with a sword, she lived for three days and asked the pope to convert her home into a church.

St Cecilia was buried in the Catacomb of Callixtus and later transferred to the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere.

In 1599 her body was found still incorrupt and seeming to be asleep.

Mari Palomares, the parish secretary at St Luke’s Revesby, was given the relic by Sister Cecilia Mahoney, a Josephite Sister in the early 1990s.

“Sister Cecilia wanted to give the relic to one who would appreciate it,” Palomares reported.

“Years later, like Sister Cecilia I wanted to pass it on where it would be treasured.

“After much prayer, it came to me that my niece belonged to St Cecilia’s Parish, Wyong.

“That’s when I approached her and offered her the relic for the church.

“I was so pleased that the parish accepted this offering, and I pray that it will be a blessing to the parish. I feel that now the relic is home.”

In 1904 a developer, Albert Hamlyn Warner, purchased a large parcel of land in Byron St in Wyong and generously donated the same to both the Catholic church and the Anglican church.  

The foundation stone at the entrance to St Cecilia’s states it was laid by Cardinal Moran on October 6, 1907.

It was laid on that date but not by Cardinal Moran as he was too ill to travel from Sydney to Wyong. 

Instead, it was laid by his Vicar General, Monsignor Carroll.

The Cardinal was present for the opening of the church the following year when the building was completed and opened for worship on April 26, 1908.