Havertown shop provides Obama with gift for pontiff
Saturday, July 11, 2009
By LOIS PUGLIONESI

Delaware County Times Correspondent

HAVERFORD — Norma DiCocco, co-founder of the St. Jude Shop in Havertown, bears special devotion to St. John Neumann after experiencing what she believes was a miracle 30 years ago.It was then that a dangerous heart abnormality threatened to take the life of her 10-year-old nephew. Doctors gave him six months to live.DiCocco turned to priests at the National Shrine of St. John Neumann. The priests suggested holding a special mass over the beloved saint’s body, enshrined in a glass casket under an altar at St. Peter’s Church in Philadelphia.

About a week after the family had gathered to pray, DiCocco’s sister took her son to the Mayo Clinic. Doctors there encouraged the family to try a promising surgical procedure.When DiCocco’s nephew came out of the operating room, his lips were no longer tinged with blue, and her sister knew he’d recover. Now 46, he is married and has a family.So DiCocco is thrilled beyond words to have played a role in President Barack Obama’s presentation to Pope Benedict XVI of a stole once placed on St. John Neumann’s remains. President Obama presented the relic when he exchanged gifts with the Pope during a visit Friday, following a three-day summit with world leaders.

The State Department consulted the DiCoccos for a gift suggestion prior to the president’s visit. In addition to fostering spirituality with books, gifts and music, the DiCoccos maintain a liturgical arts studio renowned for the design, construction and restoration of church interiors.Officials at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., contracted the studio last year to design a chair for Benedict’s visit in April 2008. Norma DiCocco’s son and president of St. Jude Shop, Inc., Louis DiCocco III said, “The people in Washington remembered and contacted us to help them with a gift the president could provide the Holy Father.”Although an antique chalice was on the list of possibilities, the DiCoccos realized something more historic was in order. They reached out to friends and institutions in the region, including the Redemptorist Fathers, an order of priests from St. Peter’s Church, to which St. John Neumann belonged.“When St. John Neumann was re-dressed there was a stole he had on, which they suggested would be appropriate for the president to give the Holy Father,” Louis DiCocco said.

Born in Bohemia in 1811, St. John Neumann “came here and started over 38 Catholic schools and took care of immigrants who had nothing. His life was a direct reflection of Catholic history in Philadelphia and America,” Norma DiCocco said.“St. John Neumann started as a simple, humble immigrant and later became a saint. What better gift to give than a piece that was worn by him, an immigrant who helped Catholic history flourish here in Philadelphia,” said Louis DiCocco. Apparently, the president agreed.

Louis DiCocco personally transferred the sash to Washington in early July.Ornately embroidered with red, blue and gold, the cream-colored stole is considered a second class relic because it touched St. John Neumann’s body. “It’s a priceless item,” Norma DiCocco said.By Friday afternoon, Louis DiCocco said he had received word from the White House that the stole will be housed in a “place of honor.”Said Louis DiCocco, “It’s nice to know a piece of Philadelphia Catholic history will be displayed in the Vatican. We’re all very humbled by the whole experience and happy to be of service to the Holy Father as well as to the country.”

Vatican Spokesman say Pope was pleased with Presidential Gift

The pope thanked the president for the gift and looked very pleased, saying the saint had been "a wonderful person."

Father Lombardi, Vatican Spokesman, told pool reporters that giving the pope such a relic was "a sign of care, of sensitivity."

St. John Neumann's stole to be Obama gift to Pope
By Kristin E. Holmes
Inquirer Staff Writer


The owners of the DiCocco Family St. Jude Shop are getting to be experts at this. When there's a presentation for the pope, call the store in Havertown. Twice in the last 15 months, the store owners have been tapped for their Benedict XVI know-how. The first time, they helped supply a specially made chair the pope used during a U.S. visit. This time, they assisted the White House in finding a gift for him. That present will be given to Benedict as part of President Obama's visit to the Vatican tomorrow.

The box will contain a stole that had been draped around the enshrined body of St. John Neumann in Philadelphia for nearly 20 years. "It's a sacred gift," said the Rev. Kevin Moley, pastor of the National Shrine of St. John Neumann in Northern Liberties. "I'm glad [the administration] asked St. Jude, and St. Jude asked us, because it represents the U.S. and Rome. We should all be pleased and thankful." White House officials declined to confirm the gift or discuss the matter before the meeting tomorrow.

At the end of June, a State Department official called the shop and asked for advice on a papal gift, said Louis DiCocco. The official first suggested an antique chalice, but then gave up the idea, hoping for something with more historical significance. DiCocco and his brother Robert began discussing possibilities. They called their contacts in the Catholic community. When they phoned the National Shrine of St. John Neumann, officials there suggested the stole, Louis DiCocco said.


"We told [State Department officials] that we had something very precious, representing Catholic history in America and specifically Philadelphia history," Louis DiCocco said. State Department officials thought the sash of St. John Neumann was perfect. The ivory stole, with gold, crimson, and blue trim, was wrapped around the body of Neumann, the first U.S. bishop to be named a saint.

Born in what is now the Czech Republic, Neumann immigrated to the United States and served as bishop of Philadelphia from 1852 until his death in 1860. He was known for his service to immigrant communities, and built 35 Catholic schools in eight years. A member of the Redemptorist Fathers and Brothers religious order, he was canonized in 1977.



Mrs. Norma DiCocco, CEO of the St. Jude Shop, pictured with son Louis DiCocco III. Louis is President of St. Jude Shop and Director of the St. Jude Liturgical Arts Studio.

The sash was in place under a glass encasement starting in 1989. It was removed in 2007 when the body was re-dressed with the help of Cardinal Justin Rigali. The sash then was kept at the church, Moley said, until Louis DiCocco came calling. DiCocco and his family have operated a series of religious gift shops since 1964, when DiCocco's parents, Louis Jr., now deceased, and Norma, founded the first one in Havertown. The family now has three additional outlets, in Philadelphia, Malvern, and Cherry Hill.

In 2008, the store was contacted by Msgr. Walter Rossi, of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, to provide a chair for Benedict. The pope met with bishops on a trip to the nation's capital in April that year and needed a a special chair for the occasion. The chair was designed at the DiCocco shop and built by a father-son team of woodworkers from Bucks County. A year later, when the State Department needed a gift, somebody in Washington remembered the DiCocco Family St. Jude Shop, Louis DiCocco said.
On July 1, DiCocco placed Neumann's stole in a box, drove it to Washington, and hand-delivered it to State Department officials.

"How many times do you get a chance to do something not once, but twice for the Holy Father?" DiCocco said. Norma DiCocco calls it a highlight of her 45 years in a family business that she calls a ministry. "We take this as privilege," Norma DiCocco said. "We are beyond words."

The picture below shows the body of St. John Neumann wearing the vestment set which includes the stole which will be presented to the Holy Father. The stole, a vestment symbolizing the priestly office, is worn under the larger outer vestment called a chasuble. The stole, because it rested over the shoulders of St. John Neumann for nearly twenty years, is now considered a second class relic of our beloved saint.

St. Jude Liturgical Arts Studio provides President Obama's gift to Pope Benedict XVI

WHAT THE PRESIDENT WILL GIVE THE POPE?
from the blog of EWTN's Raymond Arroyo


I am told by a source in Philadelphia that the President will present the Pope with a stole that once belonged to St. John Neumann when he visits Rome on the 10th. Apparently, [Obama]administration officials contacted "The DiCocco Family's St. Jude Shop" in Pennsylvania for help in locating an "appropriate gift" for the Holy Father. The DiCocco's are no stranger to the Pope Benedict. They created the Papal Chair for Benedict's visit to the National Shrine last year. (They also worked on some of the furnishings at Mother Angelica's Shrine in Hanceville).
My source tells me that St. Peter's Church at the St. John Neumann Shrine donated the stole--a second class relic-- for the special occasion. Now you know what to look for during the President's meeting with the Pope.
-Raymond Arroyo


The DiCocco Family has a history of devotion to this special Saint of Philadelphia. In 2000 Mrs. Norma DiCocco, CEO of the St. Jude Shop, traveled to the Czech Republic on a pilgrimage to the saint's hometown only to discover that knowledge about their most holy countryman was scarce. In fact many of the youth of the area were not even aware that their hometown had provided the church with a saint! The area was poor and even after many years, locals were still not able to raise enough money for a statue of their saint for the local church.

Mrs. DiCocco's heart was moved and she responded with the same generous spirit of ministry that inspired her, along with her late husband Louis, to found the St. Jude Shop nearly fifty years ago. She made plans at once for the St. Jude Liturgical Arts to begin work on a magnificent life-sized statue of the saint which was then donated to the town of Prachatice, birthplace of St. John Neumann. When asked to comment on the gift, Mrs. DiCocco stated, "I've had answers to prayers through his intercession myself and wanted to see his devotion spread." ...a gift of love from our family to the brethren of one of our most beloved Saints!

Historic Icon to be Enthroned

The Blessed Mother side altar in the Cathedral displays the framework for Our Lady of Perpetual Help icon.
By Lou Baldwin

Special feature in The Archdiocese of Philadelphia's

Catholic Standard & Times

An heirloom copy of the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help will be enthroned in the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul by Cardinal Justin Rigali on June 13 at the 5:15 p.m. Vigil Mass. At the same time the Cardinal will bless four new or refurbished marble side shrines in the Cathedral. This includes shrines dedicated to St. Joseph and St. Katharine Drexel on the north side and shrines dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and St. John Neumann on the south side. Each has a newly sculpted seven-foot marble statue of the honored saint over its altar. The altars of the shrines to Our Lady and St. Joseph are new to the cathedral, but formerly graced North Philadelphia’s St. Boniface Church (1866-2006) and date from the late 19th-century. The statue on the Blessed Mother altar is a rendition of the image on the Miraculous Medal. It is at this altar also where the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help will be enshrined in a marble frame.

In fact, this same image and frame, now beautifully restored, graced this altar for more than a century when it was at St. Boniface.What is completely new on all four shrines are the imposing marble statues and the marble reredos which serve as backdrops, explained Msgr. John McIntyre, secretary to Cardinal Rigali who also noted the incorporation of Our Lady’s image in its original frame and altar is appropriate.“The Cardinal does have a great devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help,” he said.

The design and building of the four shrines took about two years, according to Louis DiCocco, president of St. Jude Shop, the firm that undertook the project.The four marble statues each weigh between 5,500 and 6,000 pounds and were sculpted in St. Jude Liturgical Arts Division's studio in Italy. The Neumann and Drexel statues were especially challenging because they are based on recent saints whose true likenesses are known and had to be captured by the sculptors, according to DiCocco. It was especially important that the original altar be retained at the St. Katharine Shrine because it was donated in the 19th century by St. Katharine herself, along with her sisters, Elizabeth and Louise, as a memorial to their deceased parents, Francis and Emma Drexel.

Because all four altars were crafted in the 19th-century, they used marbles which have become extremely rare and the level of craftsmanship in their construction can’t be duplicated today, DiCocco said.In addition to utilizing the altars from St. Boniface, the shrines to the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph are enclosed by sections of the original marble altar rail from that same church, DiCocco noted, and the new marble reredos, embellished with Venetian gold mosaics, match the older work in color, design and style.

The four shrines, planned and executed with a unified vision, replace the more eclectic original works each in a different style and constructed at different times. When reconstructed, “they maintain a classical look consistent with the Cathedral,” DiCocco said. “His eminence has a keen eye for that.” The original icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, also known as Our Mother of Perpetual Help, is painted on walnut in Byzantine style. It is believed to have been executed in Crete in the Middle Ages and taken to Rome in the 15th century, where it achieved a reputation for miracles granted to supplicants who prayed at its shrine. The image shows Mary holding the child Jesus in her protective arms with accompanying symbols suggesting He has received a premonition of His future suffering and death on the cross. The original has been in the custody of the Redemptorist Fathers in Rome’s St. Alphonsus Church since the 19th century.

The reproduction, which was donated by the Redemptorists, is an especially fine copy originally obtained from the Vatican and was given pride of place at St. Boniface, a church conducted by that congregation for much of its history.“Our Lady of Perpetual Help is our patroness,” said Redemptorist Father Bruce Lewandowski, pastor of Visitation B.V.M. Parish. “We are in 75 countries and wherever we go we promote her devotion.” His own parish conducts devotion to Mary under this title in three languages — English, Spanish and Vietnamese — and a number of the parishioners will be at the Cathedral for the enthronement ceremony.

The work on the four shrines is part of an ongoing restoration of the Cathedral.“All of the work that has been done so far is a beautiful addition to this historic basilica that is such an inspiration to all, both Catholic and non-Catholic alike, who come here to worship,” said the Cathedral’s pastor, Msgr. Michael T. McCulken. “Through the Heritage of Faith — Vision of Hope capital campaign we hope to preserve the basilica for generations to come with all of the work that is yet to be done.”

Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.

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