How 2 women found new homes for a historic Pennsylvania seminary's sacred treasures
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For the first time, Mary Ann Sullivan sees the seminary's new chapel.
The longtime employee of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary is in awe. The many appointments, details, statues and fixtures have been handled by her and other staff members over the last several years.
The seminary, now located near Gwynedd Mercy University, is 30 miles from where it all started.
The Archdiocese downsized its sprawling 73-acre property at Lancaster and City avenues in Lower Merion Township and sold it to Main Line Health.
"There has been a grieving process leaving the Overbrook campus for sure," Bishop Keith Chylinski said.
Chylinski has overseen the massive move that hasn't gone unnoticed.
Neighbors even stopped to share what they've noticed in recent weeks and months.
"There were some very large cranes last week and they were removing the crosses," Mary Coyne said.
Behind the scenes – there had accumulated 150 years worth of stuff, including paintings and statues, according to Chylinski.
With a move-out date on the horizon, enter Sullivan and her friend and colleague, Maria Stumpf.
Stumpf recalls how her superiors first sold her on a mission to relocate all of the seminary's art and valuables: "Can you work on this little project?"
That little project entailed finding new homes for the paintings and statues the seminary couldn't take to its newer, smaller location.
"We didn't know how it was going to end out, and how it would be received, and do open houses," Sullivan said. "I mean let people in and just wander the place and take stuff down? No, that wouldn't work."
The art, some sacred, some not – was displayed around a dark room in the former seminary. It had long been sorted, cataloged and arranged for display and pick-up.
An online inventory showed what was up for grabs, some for a set price, others by donation.
Churches near and far expressed interest and came.
The so-called curators of the process even reunited artwork with the family of a priest who recently died.
"It (the art) wasn't on any list, but we connected it with his family who was very, very grateful," Sullivan said.
The heavy lift of downsizing the equivalent of a major museum came to a piece at a time.
It was, in one word: "Overwhelming," according to Sullivan.
To be part of the closing of one, big chapter and opening a new one, in a whisper: "You can't make this stuff up," Stumpf said.
"It's just been a beautiful experience and for people to share their emotions, hearts," she added.
The many parts of history – all those individual pieces passed on to new homes, by way of caring hands.
"The whole is way more than the sum of its parts," Sullivan said. "Definitely, deep profound gratitude for being a part of this."
