Every city has those historical treasures. Those sacred items that are on display for all to see, those great stories that are passed down through the generations. Philadelphia has as much of that sacred, holy architecture as anywhere in America , notably in Gloria Dei Old Swedes Church. Built between 1698 and 1700, Gloria Dei is the oldest church in the state of Pennsylvania and the second oldest in the country.

Philadelphia also has it’s own saint in St. John Neumann. Earlier this month,  it was revealed that sometime between January 6th and 7th, a statue of baby Jesus that was part of a nativity scene at the National Shrine of St. John Neumann was stolen. The Church was built in 1843 and Neumann was enshrined there after his death in 1860 prior to the American Civil War. When the church caught fire in 2007,  St. John’s relics were not harmed.

Last month, at St. John The Evangelist Church in Center City, a burglar broke into the Church and removed a gold crown laced with diamonds from the marble statue of Mary inside the church and close to the altar. Originally constructed in 1830, the original church was first consecrated in 1832. In 1834, the church hosted the first Mozart’s Requiem Mass was held for the first time in the US. In 1844 , during the violence of the Philadelphia Nativist Riots,  General George Cadwalader placed artillery around the Church in order to protect it.

In February of 1899, when a fire burned down the Church, four firefighters were killed while fighting the blaze. The structure would eventually collapse. The gold crown placed on the head of the statue of Mary was created for the new church and includes diamonds from the congregation.

During the last year, Philadelphia saw its fair share of church vandalism. Last February, at Mother Bethel AME Church in Society Hill, a man was sighted throwing a brick through the Church’s historic windows dating from 1890. The cost for repairs was reported to be approximately $15,000. The church dates from 1794. Damages to the Saint John Neumann Shrine after rocks and bricks damaged the imported Austrian stained glass used in the windows were estimated at a value of $20,000 to repair.

Many times, modern church congregations alone cannot foot the bill for expensive repairs. At St. Luke’s Memorial Episcopal Church one of Philadelphia’s Churches formed during the Civil War in 1861 was impacted when twenty-three headstones were toppled over totaling around $10,000.00 in damages. 

Vandalism and age have taken their toll on Philadelphia’s religious treasures.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.