Featured Catholic chalice 'Pall'

G Lens identified this as a liturgical 'pall' to cover the chalice with wine in it during Mass, and until Communion. Looks like it's embroidered silk.

The tag says: Jordan R. Blecha, O. Praem. August 12, 1939 Ordination

I don't find anything about Father Blecha online.

Any comments or context appreciated! Thanks!

Piece is 10.5" x10.5", not counting the lace pinned to the sides. Found in Portland, Oregon.

 

that's interesting !!!

 

I agree with google lens.
A commemorative gift for his ordination.
O. Praem

 

You can find him on familysearch.org. Ralph (Jordan) Blecha. b. Athens, Wisconsin 1913. Working for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1940. d. De Pere, Wisconsin 2003. And this is from findagrave.com. No clue as to how that ended up in Oregon.

Debora

 

maybe something a family member might wish to have back??

 

Beautiful knotted stitch embroidery. Such pieces were usually done by nuns.

 

Thanks @bluumz-- I assumed that the title was ecclesiastical but hadn't found it.

And thanks @Debora-- your research skills are amazing.

I'll assume he didn't have kids . But maybe a spiritual brother or sister. There is a Jesuit center near me that I could perhaps ask.

That's interesting! It is weird that it ended up in a thrift store, in Oregon as Debora noted.

 

Nieces and nephews maybe.

 

And they're conveniently named in that obit Debora found. I'll look around.

 

How's this? From familysearch.org... "When Francis John Blecha was born on 8 August 1910, in Wisconsin, United States, his father, Arthur Joseph Blecha, was 31 and his mother, Anna Laura Lonsdorf, was 29. He married Regina Marie on 19 June 1934. They were the parents of at least 1 daughter. He lived in Athens, Marathon, Wisconsin, United States in 1930 and Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin, United States in 1940. He died on 9 January 1985, in Marion, Oregon, United States, at the age of 74, and was buried in Salem, Marion, Oregon, United States."

They only had one daughter, Dolores, who died in 2008. That would have been the end of the Oregon line.

Debora

 

So they are, I didn't read the whole thing. But they could be the ones who sold it in the first place.

 

This is brother Edward's grandson, Aaron. Jordan Blecha officiated at his grandparent's wedding in 1945.

https://thebrightagency.com/uk/childrens-illustration/artists/aaron-blecha

https://prokowall.com/obituaries/laverne-a-nys-blecha/

He might be interested, being an artist et. al.

Debora

 

Aaron Blecha can be contacted via his talent agency's link above. (Think there's a bit of family resemblance, by way.)

Debora

 

Aaron illustrated a book of (humerous) bible tales.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/more-bible-tales-bob-hartman/1140773116

Debora

 

Seems a fun person.

 

Thanks for the sleuthing!! Email has been sent to Aaron.

 

Hope this goes home. I hate finding bits like this and have rehomed one or two. They don't belong in the wild.

 

I agree. Lost bits of family history.

Debora

 

Some of the things family members rid themselves of would make your head spin. We would see it all of the time at the auction house. Piles of family albums, a trunk load of family photos going back to the earliest examples, military medals (including Purple Hearts), military uniforms, commemorative military saber, etc.

I personally rescued back in 2005 a man's military uniforms & military medals (including his Silver Star) that his sons had put into black plastic garbage bags to be thrown away. Before you try to say they did not know what they were doing one of the sons was an Air Force officer & the other was a doctor. The medals were in a clear plastic box so they were clearly visible.

 

They couldn't even be bothered to donate them to a thrift store, where someone would find and love them? (Or resell to someone who would.) That's a crying shame. If the man himself was a disgusting pig out of uniform, I can understand not wanting the reminders, but ..a silver star in the trash????