Fifth year students find relic of saint in Dublin school

RTÉ News​

22-05-2025

A relic of a saint which is believed to date from the second or third century has been found in a secondary school in north Dublin.
The surprise discovery of a vial of blood of Saint Hilarii was found by a group of students as they helped with preparations for a graduation ceremony last week.
The fifth year students in St Vincent's Secondary School in Glasnevin were moving the school's altar from an upstairs room down to the hall, when a change to the usual access route meant they had to tilt the structure upwards in order to maneuver it to its destination.
Colin Sheridan, Conor Brogan Carr, Munasar Omar, Jonathan Taite and Ethan Byrne were carrying the altar down the stairs when Ethan noticed it had a false bottom which was moving.
"One of the lads noticed something inside of it and we just thought it was wood," explains Conor.
"But it was kind of darker and then it fell through."
The students brought the large parcel wrapped in paper, which had a hand-written label in Latin on the top, along with the date 1787, straight to the principal's office.
A quick translation of the text by staff suggested that the visibly old and well sealed package contained the remains of a saint.
Colin said their discovery has been the talk of the school.
"The school has just been buzzing the past couple of days, everyone's been really excited to find out what it is," he said.
Principal Máire Quinn, a former history teacher, immediately contacted the National Museum and staff at Glasnevin Cemetery, which is across the road from the school, for advice.
She also got in touch with the archives of the Edmund Rice Trust of which the former Christian Brothers School is a part of.
All indications were that the relic was legitimate and the school called on the services of the Catholic Church's expert in this area, Fr William Purcell.
Fr Purcell, who is based in Kilkenny and the owner of more than 2,000 relics, admits that his friends affectionately call him 'The Bone Collector' or 'Indiana Jones'.
On arrival at the school he took out a toolkit of magnifying glasses before advising the principal to carefully cut off the paper wrapping, ensuring she preserve the written note on top.
Its removal revealed a wooden box with the letters GA and a number of lines of text, suggesting the container originated in Nantes, France.
It was firmly nailed shut, so Fr Purcell prised the lid open and as the first piece came away he took a sharp intake of breath as staff and students watched.
"Wow. I'm really excited about this because I can already see the wax seal and the authenticity of a relic is the wax seal," he said.
When the lid was fully removed it revealed an ornate green and red box with a number of red wax seals and in the window of the box sat another envelope, this time with English writing on it.
Fr Purcell opened the envelope and unfurled a printed certificate with an embossed stamp on the bottom left corner and read the words "Reverend John Augustine Grace, authentication of the body of St Hilary martyr, 1878 from Rome".
After reading its contents for a moment he looked at the group with a smile. "This is the guaranteed proof with the wax seals, that this is a first class genuine relic of the martyr Hilarii," he said.
Closer examination revealed the vile of blood was visible through the window of the wax sealed box.
"Now we have a choice" he declared, telling the group they could either open the box or leave it sealed.
The principal decided to leave it closed, saying she did not believe they needed to further disturb the object.
Fr Purcell said the discovery of a relic in a school is unusual and that while all alters are said to contain a relic, many do not come with documentary evidence to back up its veracity.
Consultation with the Edmund Rice Trust suggests that the altar came to St Vincent's in Glasnevin from O'Connell's School in the city centre more than 30 years ago, but nobody appeared to be aware that it contained this relic.
Little is known about Saint Hilarii, but Fr Purcell believes the relic dates from the 2nd or 3rd century and that the vial of blood would have been removed from the Roman catacombs and sent to Dublin at the request of the Christian Brothers around the 1700s.
A document in their archives suggest they sought to verify the relic in the early 1900s.
"There is this very little known about him," Fr Purcell said.
"All we know is that he is a pre-congregation saint. Pre-congregation saint means that he was declared a saint before the Congregation of Saints was established.
"So the people acclaimed him, which was very beautiful, because it was the people who saw in the life of this person, and saw in his death that he was a man who gave his life for Christ, and in doing so, then they acclaimed him as a martyr and a saint."
Ms Quinn said she did not need any more evidence that the relic was legitimate and said the school's journey of discovery has now only just begun.
"It's been incredibly exciting over the last few days," she said.
"It feels like we've been given a puzzle and we've spent the last few days just trying to figure it all out.
"I have to be honest, because it was sixth year graduation there was a part of me that thought 'Is this a prank?'"
"There's still more to fine out because you know, why was that specific martyr picked for this particular school. So there's definitely more to uncover."
The school has notified the Diocese of Dublin about the find and its next step is to notify the Vatican.
However, tradition dictates that as the relic was found on their premises, it remains their property.
Ms Quinn said their focus now is to find a safe and suitable location for the relic to be preserved and viewed by future generations of students.