Barbelin at the Prep

A card-sized, collectible photograph of founder Felix Barbelin, S.J., on loan from the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center.

Felix-Joseph Barbelin, S.J., the "Apostle of Philadelphia," was both a great man and the 'founder' of St. Joseph's Preparatory School - but would you have kept a trading card of him had you known him?  That is precisely what 19th century Philadelphians did - in addition to being able to own card-sized copies of the portraits of famous civil war generals and well-liked presidents - images of Barbelin would have been available for a popular market.  How do we know that?  Because of a generous loan from the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center (PAHRC), we currently have a small exhibit of Barbelin relics on display in front of the Prep's main office, including a number of these small images.

The locks of hair.

The 'elephant in the room' of this exhibit, and the most commonly commented upon item since it has been installed this fall, is a lock of Barbelin's hair.  Why would anyone, let alone an archive save a lock of hair from a French-born Jesuit priest who died in 1869 Philadelphia?  There are many potential answers, but seemingly no definitive one, as no details concerning the origin of this artifact have been saved with it. Speculation about the creation and preservation of this relic points towards the respect and fame that Barbelin earned during his career in Philadelphia, as well as the 19th century Catholic culture of relics.  A glowing (if not hagiographical) biography of Barbelin that was written after his death, and his biography published in the "Catholic Encyclopedia" (linked to earlier in this article) both point towards his popularity.  Although when, where, and why this lock of hair was clipped is speculation, it seems probable that it was taken after he had died in Philadelphia, as it appears in the same frame as a lock of hair from the Rev. John P. Dunn, who also died in 1869.

Also included in the display, are the coffin plates from Barbelin and Rev. John Blox, S.J., a pastor at St. John's who died nine years earlier than Barbelin.  Because of that time difference, and the fact that they are physically framed together, perhaps they were removed from the coffins when the graves were moved, as we discussed on this blog before (see "Villiger Buried Twice in Elysian Fields!")  There is, however, no documentation to prove this.

A particularly dapper image of the founder of St. Joe's Prep, Felix Barbelin, S.J., on loan from the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center

The collection will be on display until the summer, when the majority of the relics need to return to the PAHRC, who generously loaned them and allowed us to put this information online.  We placed the exhibit directly underneath the school's portrait of Barbelin (seemingly from the 1960's or 1970's - I am unsure of the exact history of that painting).  Viewing the exhibit as a whole, I was particularly struck by how life-like the later portrait is, even when displayed next to multiple contemporary images of Barbelin.  This exhibit has forever changed the way that I look at that portrait.