ABOUT THE PILGRIMAGE

Early in Father J.J. Mech’s rectorship, he discovered a treasure trove of saints: there were relics, reliquaries, and authentication paperwork in different locations throughout the campus. Dedicated helpers began to gather, organize, and catalog them.

One morning during prayer time in the chapel, several staff members heard a heavenly plea for these relics to be made available to the people. On a different occasion, a visiting teen mentioned that he heard the same call.

As we cataloged over 80 relics and made plans for the far future, we also wanted to heed the call to make at least some of the relics available to the public in a permanent, secure, and beautiful way as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Father J.J. became caretaker of 14 larger-than-life statues which used to dwell high up inside St. Benedict Catholic Church in nearby Highland Park, Michigan. St. Benedict is now closed. The statues were commissioned for St. Benedict circa 1927 and created in the city of St. Ulrich Groeden, which was in old Austria and is now within Italy. We are told that the original funding for the project was accomplished with a “penny drive.” The figures are made of wood (one big tree trunk each) with a partial polychrome treatment.

The statues we inherited are 2 angels, 10 of the original 12 apostles, St. Paul (“Apostle to the Gentiles”), and one called St. Mathias, which is the name of the Apostle who replaced Judas. There is not a statue of Judas, which is typical; neither is there a statue clearly called St. Matthew. We don’t know why. It’s possible that the woodcarver created an image of St. Matthew but spelled out St. Mathias at the bottom. The implements of either apostle would be quite similar, and of course their names are too.

After they were transported to the cathedral, the statues needed to be cleaned and restored.

When we realized that we had the first-class relics to correspond with these magnificent statues, the Apostles became our first focus. Twelve of the apostle relics were housed together in one reliquary. Fr. Carlos Martins CC, leader of the Treasures of the Church ministry, separated them for us into 12 different reliquaries.

As teams continued to pray, meet, plan, raise funds, and craft the first stages of the Apostolic public pilgrimage, we also had opportunities to make certain relics available on certain occasions such as Good Friday, the Feast of St. Anne (patroness of Detroit), All Saints’ Day (above) and the Feast of St. Joseph (below).

In 2021, we began to host preview pilgrimages for small groups. Behind the scenes, teams continued to work on pedestal design, reliquary acquisition, prayerful and informational signage, a commissioned painting of Mary, Mother of the Church in Detroit, lighting improvements, continued relic organization and documentation, and other logistics.

The Williamson Lumber and Millwork group, led by Will Williamson, built 14 custom pedestals and the statues’ special installation scaffolding offsite.

On December 14, 2023, St. James the Less, chosen to be a disciple after St. James the Greater, was nevertheless the first to be installed inside the Cathedral. Thanks to the Williamson team, our project manager Mark Garascia and our facilities manager Keith Calleja, all 14 statues were in place by the end of the day on December 30, 2023.

After many setbacks with reliquary design, production, and implementation, on January 8, 2024, the relic of St. Philip (below) was the first to be installed.

Keith Calleja had nine of the relics in place by the end of the day on January 9. The remaining four had to wait - for special measurements for the St. Matthew/St. Mathias partnership and for installation of the two new window towers near Sts. Simon and Jude.

Mike Trego of IMAGIO Glass began installing the custom signage on January 10, 2024 (below). We are so grateful for his generous and thoughtful help with this project. Thanks also to our prayer-rooted writing team led by Marian Bart and her chief editor Theresa Schena, to Kathleen Cyr of Coffee Talk Creative, LLC for the beautiful graphic design work, and to Jeremy Bastyr for his steadfast photography.

In the final days of January, 2024, Mike Trego installed our three identical welcome signs, the two different angel signs, and the sign in the chapel which helps to bring closure - and a new beginning - to each journey.

On February 5, just a few days before the planned dedication event, the two new custom-created window ‘towers’ for Sts. Simon and Jude arrived and were installed. Shortly before that, the similar stained glass window near St. James the Less, which had been out on loan as a template for the new ones, was re-installed in its proper place. The towers and new stained-glass windows were contracted through G.A. Fuchs Church Supply led by Tom & Matt Klopp.  The contracted carpenter was Matt Bock, and the window company was Radiant Arts led by Jim Foltz.  Electrical work was performed by R. Simon Electric.

Early in the evening of February 8, 2024, major donors enjoyed dedicated time to pray with the statues and relics they sponsored; afterward they partook of a special reception in the rectory. Then, at 6:30 PM the church began to swell with joy, hope… and people! In a liturgy presided over by Archbishop Allen Vigneron and Very Reverend J.J. Mech, assisted by Deacon Michael Van Dyke, the pilgrimage and all pilgrims were lifted up in prayers of praise, thanks, and petition. Bishop Kalabat, Bishop Battersby, and Bishop Fisher were also in attendance. Together we all marveled at the promise in chapter 5 of the Acts of the Apostles: “Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles.”

We ALSO unveiled a unique, commissioned artwork that evening. Christopher Darga painted this image (below) of Mary, Mother of the Church of Detroit. The scene portrays Mary standing near the Cathedral and the Eucharist pouring out heavenly blessings while saints already known to us and those who are ‘still in process’ gather under Mary’s mantle. The frame for the painting was not yet on site.

“One should not wish to become a saint in four days, but step by step.”

— St. Philip Neri