Relics of the Blessed Card. Newman and Pope Pius XII

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Yesterday was the feast day of Bl. John Henry Newman, and our friend Fr Adrian Hilton of the Cincinnnati Oratory sent in some pictures of relics of his Oratorian confrere from his collection. It was also the 60th anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII, and he included two relics of the future Saint, one of his zucchettos, and a letter. I have added some photos of the solemn Mass celebrated yesterday at the Oratory for the feast day.

This book was given as a prize to Arthur Richards, a student at the Oratory school, and signed by Card. Newman on the bookplate.

A letter in which Card. Newman expresses his regrets for his inability to contribute an article to an encyclopedia, pleading old age. He was 82 at the time, but would live to be 89.

A zucchetto worn by Pope Pius XII, with the certificate of authenticity, given while he was still alive. Many of these were and still are obtained by bringing a white zucchetto to a Papal audience, and offering it to the Pope, who then exchanges it with the one he has been wearing. An old friend of my family, JP McFadden, who was the founder of the Human Life Review, once did this at a Papal audience in the early 1950s. The Pope, however, mistook the woman standing next to him for McFadden’s wife, and gave his zucchetto to her. She was in fact an American reporter known for her strong anti-Catholic sentiments, but she was so moved by Pius XII’s mere presence that she insisted on keeping it.