BUFFALO, N.Y., Jan. 3 (UPI) -- A tapestry found in a Buffalo, N.Y., convent contains relics from 365 Catholic saints and is purported to include some from Jesus Christ, church officials say.
The artifact at its center has a collection of relics believers say came from Jesus, including fragments from the garment he wore during the passion, his crown of thorns and the sponge used to moisten his lips while he died on the cross. Around these is the old Roman Catholic calendar, which depicts every saint's day with a relic.
In total, there are 365 purported saints' relics and at least five pieces identified as belonging to Christ, The Buffalo News reported Tuesday.
The Vatican gave the tapestry as a gift to Buffalo Diocese Bishop John Timon in the 1850s or 1860s. After Timon's death, around the turn of the 20th century, the artifact went to the Sisters of Saint Joseph, where it faded from memory for nearly 100 years.
Recently the convent's Sister Eva Amadori found it while searching through the archives, and brought it to the diocese.
"It caught my eye," she told the News. "I thought, 'What is this?'"
The authenticity of the relics, particularly those of Jesus, is in question.
Monsignor James F. Campbell, rector at St. Joseph's Cathedral, where the tapestry now hangs, noted "Rome goes back a long way" and "they have relics of all of those saints."
Holger A. Klein of Columbia University, an expert on such matters, called the re-discovery of the tapestry "fascinating."
But the Rev. J. Peter Schineller, archivist for the New York Province of the Society of Jesus, said verifying the tapestry's authenticity is "not so simple."
"There are many interesting but probably inauthentic relics of saints -- of Mary, of John the Baptist, of the apostles," Schineller said.
