Beyond being a namesake and possible author of one of the four established Christian gospels, Mark is a central figure in the early church. His family’s home might have been a meeting place for Jesus and the apostles for gatherings including the Last Supper.
Soon, bones said to belong to Mark, who died in or around 68 A.D., will be on display at the Shrine of All Saints in Morton Grove.
The shrine is home to thousands of religious relics — objects “often associated with a saint’s body” or belongings that are kept for “historical interest or spiritual devotion.”
The Rev. Dennis O’Neill, who founded the shrine, says he recently purchased ulna (arm) and carpal (hand) bones from a middleman who got them from the family of a deceased Italian cardinal who’d gotten them from a Venetian church where most of Mark’s body might be interred.
“It’s unquestionably St. Mark, as sure as anyone can be,” O’Neill says of the bones. “He’s someone who knew Jesus, he wrote the first of the four gospels and was present at all the important events — he was right there at the beginning.”
Bones said to belong to Mark, namesake and possibly author of one of the four Christian gospels, are in an ornate bronze container that will soon be on permanent display at the Shrine of All Saints in Morton Grove.
Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times
While Mark wasn’t one of Jesus’ 12 apostles, he was believed to be close with Peter, a prominent disciple some scholars believe is likely to have been one of the main sources for the Gospel of Mark.
The gospels of Matthew and Luke each appear to draw from Mark’s book, which is the “oldest and shortest” of all four and “emphasizes Jesus’s rejection by humanity while being God’s triumphant envoy,” according to a description by Franciscan Media. “Probably written for Gentile converts in Rome — after the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70 — Mark’s gospel is the gradual manifestation of a ‘scandal’: a crucified messiah.
“We cannot be certain whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane” that preceded his crucifixion, according to the Franciscans.
The account in the Gospel of Mark says, “Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.”
Other scholars question whether Mark was actually the author of the book bearing his name.
Mark’s home in Jerusalem also is thought by some religious scholars to have been a meeting point for Jesus and the apostles — possibly the site of the Last Supper and later where the Holy Spirit was said to descend on disciples after Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to heaven.
Afterward, as the disciples spread Jesus’ teachings, Mark traveled with Paul and Barnabas on an early missionary trip to what is now Turkey, according to traditional Christian accounts.
Paul’s significance to Christianity is vast. In part, that’s because he “translated both facts and doctrine into a broad theological synthesis characterized by a universalism of salvation, an intricate theory of grace and a central function of Jesus as man and as God,” according to Encyclopedia.com — an apt description, experts say.
Mark was believed to have been the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, where there are conflicting stories of how he died — peacefully or violently, dragged through the streets with a rope around his neck.
In 828 or so, merchants smuggled Mark’s body out of Alexandria by hiding it in “wicker baskets . . . protected by cabbage leaves and pork,” according to the Basilica di San Marco, the ancient Venetian church that says it houses most of his remains today.
In 1980, the patriarch of Venice, the late Cardinal Marco Ce, “removed from the sarcophagus the right ulna and a carpal bone from the right hand of St. Mark and placed them in a gilded bronze arm reliquary,” according to a written account O’Neill recently authored for parishioners.
“He kept this reliquary in his private collection,” and, after his death in 2014, “his family obtained it,” according to O’Neill.
He says a dealer bought the bones, which, along with other relics, were being kept in Italy “in a barn wrapped up in old vestments,” and the priest bought them from him.
He declined to discuss the cost but says he uses his own money to obtain relics, “rescuing them back for the church.”
The shrine, located in what used to be a multipurpose room at the now-closed St. Martha School, includes relics associated with more than 3,000 saints, either given to or purchased by O’Neill, sometimes over eBay.
Many of the relics were from shuttered Catholic churches whose altars often contain what are said to be remnants of saints, churches that had seen attendance plummet amid growing secularization in the West.
chicago.suntimes.com
Soon, bones said to belong to Mark, who died in or around 68 A.D., will be on display at the Shrine of All Saints in Morton Grove.
The shrine is home to thousands of religious relics — objects “often associated with a saint’s body” or belongings that are kept for “historical interest or spiritual devotion.”
The Rev. Dennis O’Neill, who founded the shrine, says he recently purchased ulna (arm) and carpal (hand) bones from a middleman who got them from the family of a deceased Italian cardinal who’d gotten them from a Venetian church where most of Mark’s body might be interred.
“It’s unquestionably St. Mark, as sure as anyone can be,” O’Neill says of the bones. “He’s someone who knew Jesus, he wrote the first of the four gospels and was present at all the important events — he was right there at the beginning.”
Bones said to belong to Mark, namesake and possibly author of one of the four Christian gospels, are in an ornate bronze container that will soon be on permanent display at the Shrine of All Saints in Morton Grove.
Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times
While Mark wasn’t one of Jesus’ 12 apostles, he was believed to be close with Peter, a prominent disciple some scholars believe is likely to have been one of the main sources for the Gospel of Mark.
The gospels of Matthew and Luke each appear to draw from Mark’s book, which is the “oldest and shortest” of all four and “emphasizes Jesus’s rejection by humanity while being God’s triumphant envoy,” according to a description by Franciscan Media. “Probably written for Gentile converts in Rome — after the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70 — Mark’s gospel is the gradual manifestation of a ‘scandal’: a crucified messiah.
“We cannot be certain whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane” that preceded his crucifixion, according to the Franciscans.
The account in the Gospel of Mark says, “Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.”
Other scholars question whether Mark was actually the author of the book bearing his name.
Mark’s home in Jerusalem also is thought by some religious scholars to have been a meeting point for Jesus and the apostles — possibly the site of the Last Supper and later where the Holy Spirit was said to descend on disciples after Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to heaven.
Afterward, as the disciples spread Jesus’ teachings, Mark traveled with Paul and Barnabas on an early missionary trip to what is now Turkey, according to traditional Christian accounts.
Paul’s significance to Christianity is vast. In part, that’s because he “translated both facts and doctrine into a broad theological synthesis characterized by a universalism of salvation, an intricate theory of grace and a central function of Jesus as man and as God,” according to Encyclopedia.com — an apt description, experts say.
Mark was believed to have been the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, where there are conflicting stories of how he died — peacefully or violently, dragged through the streets with a rope around his neck.
In 828 or so, merchants smuggled Mark’s body out of Alexandria by hiding it in “wicker baskets . . . protected by cabbage leaves and pork,” according to the Basilica di San Marco, the ancient Venetian church that says it houses most of his remains today.
In 1980, the patriarch of Venice, the late Cardinal Marco Ce, “removed from the sarcophagus the right ulna and a carpal bone from the right hand of St. Mark and placed them in a gilded bronze arm reliquary,” according to a written account O’Neill recently authored for parishioners.
“He kept this reliquary in his private collection,” and, after his death in 2014, “his family obtained it,” according to O’Neill.
He says a dealer bought the bones, which, along with other relics, were being kept in Italy “in a barn wrapped up in old vestments,” and the priest bought them from him.
He declined to discuss the cost but says he uses his own money to obtain relics, “rescuing them back for the church.”
The shrine, located in what used to be a multipurpose room at the now-closed St. Martha School, includes relics associated with more than 3,000 saints, either given to or purchased by O’Neill, sometimes over eBay.
Many of the relics were from shuttered Catholic churches whose altars often contain what are said to be remnants of saints, churches that had seen attendance plummet amid growing secularization in the West.
Bones said to belong to gospel writer Mark bought for display at suburban shrine
They’re the latest religious relics at the Shrine of All Saints in Morton Grove, which includes objects associated with more than 3,000 saints.
chicago.suntimes.com
