Eric Lavin recalls “rescuing” a relic of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini from an antique shop in Montclair, New Jersey. The piece of bone and a lock of her hair, both contained in the same reliquary, had all the proper documentation certifying a first-class relic. “It was quite a find — authentic,” Lavin said, “and as real as real can be.”
Lavin paid “a few hundred bucks” for the relic, but not for himself. That, he noted, would be a “sin of simony.” Instead, it is now one of nearly 700 saintly artifacts housed at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Newark, where Lavin, 30, is a lifelong member.
