Christmas ornaments a tradition at St. Mary’s
NATCHEZ — Each year for the past 16 years, St. Mary Basilica has made available pewter ornaments depicting images from the basilica’s stained glass windows.
Parish leaders and the pastor had searched for many years for a fitting souvenir or memento of the basilica. Their search ended in 1993 when they found they could custom-design pewter ornaments using the images from the windows. The first ornament depicting the Nativity scene from one of the windows was offered for sale around Thanksgiving 1993.
“People wait eagerly each year for these ornaments,” said Regina Mardis, parish secretary. “Not only parishioners but many people in the Natchez area recognize these as very attractive gifts.
“Many families purchase these each year and send them to family members who live outside of the Natchez area. We find that visitors to the basilica during the year also like to buy them as souvenirs,” she said.
The stained-glass windows of St. Mary Basilica have religious themes, mostly depicting the saints and most of the windows were created by Tiroler Glasmalerei in Insbrook, Austria, and were installed in the 1880s and 1890s.
Each ornament is numbered and dated, and carries an inscription on the back detailing who donated the window and also the name of the person in whose honor or memory the window was donated.
For Christmas 1994, ornament #2 was made available, depicting Our Lady of Sorrows, under whose patronage the historic church was first dedicated.
The 2008 ornament #16 depicts St. Patrick. The inscription on the back reads “in memory of Mary Kiernan, the window was made by Tiroler Glassmalerei, St. Mary Basilica, Natchez, MS 2008 #16.”
Thirteen ornaments use images from the windows. For three years, however, the images did not take their inspiration from the windows but from other events going on. Ornament #7 for the 1999 Christmas season depicts the frontal outside view of St. Mary Basilica because that year, St. Mary Church was designated a “basilica” by the Vatican.
Christmas ornament #13 for 2005 took its image from the statue of St. Rock in the basilica. It was in August 2005 that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Mississippi coast, and St. Rock was chosen because he is the patron saint of natural disasters and the ornament was a memorial to hurricane victims.
The 2007 ornament #15) as the image of Bishop John J. Chanche, the founding bishop of the Catholic Church in Mississippi and the first bishop of the diocese of Natchez (comprising the entire state of Mississippi). Bishop Chanche served as bishop from 1841 – 1852.
The image of Bishop Chanche was chosen in 2007 because it was during that year his body was exhumed in Baltimore, Md., where he was interred in 1852, and was re-interred beside his own cathedral (St. Mary) on Jan.19, 2008.
Mary Flowers, parish business manager, said “The sale of these ornaments is not a fund-raising project. Each ornament sells for $10, a break-even cost. This year we have ornaments available for each of the years since 1993. An entire set of ornaments will sell for $140.
“These ornaments have become family keepsakes,” she said. “Each year my mother gives an ornament to each member of our family. We expect this year’s ornament, St. Patrick, will have a great appeal. The church office, on request, ships these ornaments to people around this country. So far this year we have shipped an ornament to Alaska and Hawaii.”
