Father Thomas Buffer (a local priest) is a regular visitor to the Jubilee Museum. He often works on the pipe organs there, and has encouraged the growth of the museum over the years. He uses an interesting phrase every time some new and remarkable item cones in: ”You go from strength to strength.” This beautiful Jewish phrase has a nice ring to it. The strength and the success is all from the Hand of God. There have been many blessings here in the parish that have helped us with our two main goals: to feed the hungry and to feed the soul as well through the teaching power of art.
Our latest strength has been the reception of several more gifts from John Lawrence, one of our great benefactors. Recently John brought six large framed pages from an antiphonary originally hand printed for a Franciscan monastery in the early 1500s. Several of his gifts that will be permanently given to the museum some time in the future were brought for temporary display. These included a hand printed and illuminated nun’s prayer book began around 1400, as well as a Liturgy of Hours personally made for the King of France around the year 1440. Each page is printed on vellum, and to show off the royal wealth, about a fourth of each page was left blank. (Vellum was so expensive that scribes would often use every square inch of the page.)
John brought these gifts for the filming of the museum by the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). On March 7, a six-person film crew from ETWN paid a visit to the Jubilee Museum. They filmed the museum for about two hours, and in the months to come, I will be invited down to Irondale, Alabama to appear on EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa. All of the film that the crew took will be used as a back drop to the interview. So far they have not said when the interview will be or when the show will air.
To prepare for EWTN, the staff and numerous volunteers spent countless hours of cleaning, redesigning, painting, and preparing exhibits. The result— the museum looks the best it has ever looked! New exhibit rooms include the Holy Land Collection, with ancient and medieval artifacts from Israel and Byzantium. Also, the John Lawrence Collection has a new permanent location; the room has been painted, fitted with new track lighting, UV windows, and display cabinets.
My sincere thanks to all who have helped us through spiritual, financial, and physical support. I am grateful to God for the many blessings He has bestowed upon our enterprise in preserving the Catholic mind and memory. Through His grace, may we continue to go from strength to strength!
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