From the Archives
By Mary Woodward
Occasionally, we have people wandering in wanting to stroll through our diocesan archives hoping to find long lost information about a parish event in 1950 or a baptismal record for a great grandparent. Often, these items are available at the local parish.
As a gentle reminder, the diocesan archives house the historical papers of each bishop and are open by appointment to scholars and historical researchers writing dissertations and articles for historical and church journals. Right now, we are doing some cleaning and reorganizing so the archives are closed to researchers until that is completed.

However, on the Thursday before Holy Week an old friend showed up in the chancery lobby and asked to see me. He had with him something I thought was lost forever – a large canvas painting of St. Augustine that once adorned the walls of the sanctuary in our Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle.
The current St. Peter’s was completed in 1900. It is the third church building. [The first burned in 1863; the second built in 1868 was moved in 1913 a few blocks north to become the first Holy Ghost church.] Its interior has gone through several renovations over the last 126 years, most recently in 2011-2012.
During a renovation in the 1950s, eight large canvas paintings of the four evangelists and four church fathers – Augustine, Ambrose, Athanasius and John Chrysostom were added to the sanctuary walls. The saints would gaze down upon the sacred mysteries with great joy and serenity.
In a later renovation, the interior went through a monochromatic phase and the eight canvases were removed. I had seen photos of them, but I never thought I would see them in person. But right here in front of me was one of them.
My friend explained that a former organist of the cathedral had found them discarded during renovation and took them home. Just recently he was moving and contacted my friend to come and get a few things he was not taking with him. Augustine was among those things.
What is even better is my friend told me he had seven more of these at home and would be happy to donate them to our archives. He just wanted me to see one and decide if we could take them on. (n.b., we do not take everything, so please call or email before bringing items for archives.)

The next day he brought in the remaining seven and all now reside safely in an ancillary archive room waiting for an opportunity to be cleaned and restored. We have just the spot for them.
The lesson is: when a renovation occurs at a parish, keep meticulous notes and records in a parish file of all contractors, architects, artists and craftsmen who do the work. If items are removed document where they go – to the parish hall or parish school, another parish, or if they are destroyed properly. Fifty to 100 years later, they may be the perfect piece needed to complete a renovation.

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)