Whether for the love of art or the love of a venerated saint, viewing The St. Francis Missal, opening at The Walters Art Museum on Feb. 1, is an essential pilgrimage.

At the center of this exhibition, housed on the third floor among other medieval treasures, is the Missal itself, said to have been the book consulted by St. Francis when he was looking for guidance from God on what his path might be. Legend has it that Francis and two followers opened the Missal, which sat on an alter in Assisi, three times at random. Each time, the text encouraged the renouncing of earthly possessions, thus laying the foundation for the Franciscan order.

As with most relics, the veracity of the claim can’t be positively proven, but the known facts about the manuscript do make its interaction with the saint plausible.

“This was a very heavily used manuscript,” says The Walters’ Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts Lynley Herbert. “This is the book that would be on the altar and used regularly during the services. It was made for the church of San Nicolo, so we know that it was in the church that we want it to be in for the story of Francis. And we also have the name of a donor who was known to have lived in the 1180s and 1190s. So we can sort of use those things to triangulate the date and place of this manuscript. There really has never been another proposed book that could have been the book he opened. It’s actually more unlikely that I get to touch this book then that he would have.”

The Missal was acquired by Henry Walters in 1924. Since then, this relic of touch has been visited by scores of pilgrims and scholars. The decades of handling took their toll, and in 2017 a restoration to preserve it begun. Head of Book and Paper Conservation Abigail Quandt and Mellon Fellow Cathie Magee presided over the meticulous repair and stabilization project, which included taking the manuscript apart, hand-sewing the pages back together with linen thread, and binding new leather to heavily damaged 15th-century boards.

“The fact that it’s handled, and the pages are turned, we took that into consideration when making the decision about whether to actually take apart the whole book,” says Quandt. “But ultimately we decided that it would be best for the text to take it apart because then we could do the repair more successfully. It would be stronger repairs and it would last longer.”

Magee’s 21st-century stitches now run through the 15th-century binding holes and the 12th-century pages, very literally tying the relic’s presence at the Walters to its medieval past.

The new exhibition, which runs through May 31, is the first time in nearly 40 years that the Missal has been displayed publicly. It’s surrounded by other Franciscan pieces and relics pulled from the Walters’ archives, including items of private devotion and images of Saints Anthony and Clare—two important early Franciscan followers. They’re arranged around the Missal in an intimate space that evokes the side chapels of Europe’s old cathedrals—the traditional homes of many a Catholic relic.

In fact, the Missal is one of very few relics of St. Francis available to worshipers and historians in the United States. “I’m not aware of any other major relics connected to him in the country,” says Herbert. “This is one of the ones that people are most excited about.”

To give visitors the best experience with the Missal, on crowded days a limited number of people will be allowed in the small exhibition space at a time, with no time limit on viewing. The goal, says Herbert, is to allow those captivated by the relic to have their space and take the time they need, whether for interest or devotion.

“You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the fact that it’s this important historical moment,” says Herbert. “If somebody wants to come and stand here for an hour, having a moment with the book, that’s going to be probably one person in a hundred. It’s not going to cause a traffic jam. I’d rather that they get to have that experience, and I hope that people will feel comfortable coming in here and not having the crowds around. I hope it’s special for different reasons for different people.”

The St. Francis Missal opens Feb. 1 and will run through May 31. Herbert and Quandt will also present a lecture on the conservation of the manuscript, “Saving the Sacred: Medieval Tales and Modern Technology in the St. Francis Missal” on April 9.

Update: As of September 4, the first day of school for Baltimore City students, Archbishop Lori has announced that the newest Catholic school will be named Mother Mary Lange Catholic School in honor of Mary Elizabeth Lange. She is known as the foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the first catholic school for black children.

“One can’t tell the history of the Catholic school system in this country without mentioning Mother Mary Lange,” Archbishop Lori said in a press release.“She was a visionary woman of deep faith and recognized the life-changing role of education in the lives of children, most especially those living on society’s margins. Please God, Mother Lange’s name on our new school will be a beacon that shines brightly for the children of Baltimore and a reminder to all that every child of God deserves a good education and the hope and opportunity that comes with it.”

Mother Lange is currently on the path to sainthood. The Vatican is reviewing her cause for canonization, which requires confirmation of two miracles attributed to her intercession.

In May, it was announced that the Archdiocese of Baltimore was going to open its first school in Baltimore City in 50 years. The school was going to be named after Cardinal William Keeler, but following new reports of sexual abuse cover-up by the former cardinal, that is no longer the case.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court released on August 14 a redacted version of a grand jury investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse by hundreds of Catholic priests and clergy in six dioceses. In that investigation, Keeler was accused of criminal inaction for his part in the cover-up of the of child sex abuse by Catholic priests while serving as bishop of Harrisburg in the 1980s.

Baltimore Archbishop William Lori released a statement saying, in part, “At this difficult time in the life of the church, we in the Archdiocese of Baltimore are especially saddened and troubled by the news of the late Cardinal William H. Keeler’s failures while serving as bishop of Harrisburg, one of the six dioceses cited in the grand jury report. As a result of today’s painful revelations about the cardinal’s failures to protect children while serving as bishop of Harrisburg, it is no longer the plan of the archdiocese to name the proposed new Catholic school in Baltimore after Cardinal Keeler.”

Instead, the archbishop is considering a proposal for the new West Baltimore school to be named after Mother Mary Lange, who established the country’s first Catholic school for black children. The proposal came from local resident, Ralph Moore, in the form of a letter to The Baltimore Sun.

“The fact that Archbishop of Baltimore, William Lori, has decided to remove former Cardinal William Keeler’s name from the new Catholic school planned for opening in West Baltimore is clearly more than the right thing to do,” Moore wrote in the letter. “One way to begin healing is to rename the planned school for Mother Mary Lange, the founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, an order of African-American nuns here in Baltimore.”

Sean Caine, vice chancellor for the archdiocese, said that Mother Mary Lange was being considered before Moore proposed the idea. Although he was unable to provide the other names being considered, he says that it is an ongoing process.

“The Archbishop is consulting with local pastors, school, and leaders in the community where the school will be located before making a final decision,” he said in an email. “It’s among the names being considered for the school. No timetable for that decision has been set.”

Born in the Caribbean, Elizabeth Mary Lange moved to Baltimore in the early 1800s and opened a free school for black children in Fells Point. Lange also founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first order of black nuns in modern history. Their school became St. Frances, the oldest Catholic school for children of color in the United States. She is currently on the path to canonization and could become the first black American saint.

Sister Gwynette Proctor, who is the director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministries, says that naming the school after Mother Lange is a no-brainer. She believes that her influence has spanned worldwide.

“The impact her life has had on the black community, it cannot be measured,” she said. “Naming the school after her could be the first tangible step in the healing process in the Catholic church.”

In the meantime, the Archdiocese is still in the process of gathering funds for the school, having raised more than $13 million towards the $18.5 million goal to open the co-ed school that will serve pre-k through eighth grade. Caine said that no groundbreaking or open date will be set until all funds are raised.

Until then, the Archbishop will continue to weigh his options for the new school’s name. Sister Proctor is praying the organization votes in favor of Mother Lange.

“I can’t predict what he will decide but what I do know of Archbishop Lori is that he’s passionate about education and he has an open mind and, he too, has been promoting the cause of Mother Mary Lange,” Proctor said. “This action right now, for black Catholics, is tremendously significant. This certainly could be a great public witness to her influence.”

*If you have experienced or are experiencing sexual abuse, help is available through the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). Please call 800-656-HOPE (4673) to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. 

**Be aware, this post includes spoilers for the Netflix docu-series The Keepers.

**This post has been updated with new information regarding the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s participation in the documentary, Maskell’s status as a priest following the abuse allegations, and the number of plaintiffs in the 1994 civil suit.   

On April 19, the trailer for the new Netflix documentary series The Keepers was released, and since then a heavy foreboding has hung in the air. What, everyone seems to be wondering, will the seven-part series reveal? Its intersecting subjects—widespread sexual abuse at South Baltimore’s Archbishop Keough High School in the ’60s and ’70s and the 1969 murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a 26-year-old nun, who many say was planning to reveal the abuse—are about as explosive as can be.  

For its part, the Archdiocese of Baltimore spent the week trying to get ahead of what it acknowledges is an unfavorable portrayal in the series. The church is represented in the documentary only through its answers to six written questions submitted by the filmmakers. Archdiocese spokesman Sean Caine admits the archdiocese declined filmmakers’ invitation to appear on camera, but insists that there was no nefarious motivation behind the decision. In fact, he says church officials would have welcomed the opportunity to participate in a more robust written correspondence. “I have my doubts about why they would not have had more questions for us,” Caine said Friday morning, after staying up all night to watch the series. “There was certainly a lot presented in the documentary that warranted additional questions that would have given us an opportunity to provide additional context for it. So I’m disappointed that we were given very few questions. Because, at the end of the day, it’s information you want. It doesn’t have to be on your terms. In other words, if you want to put us on camera to try to embarrass us by asking us questions we can’t answer, [we decline], but we’d be happy to research and get back to you.” Caine notes that The Archdiocese has created a microsite addressing the documentary’s release, which includes a FAQs page and a statement from Archbishop William E. Lori that was sent to the archdiocese’s entire email list earlier this week. 

Meanwhile, others see the documentary as a validation of the victims and those who have worked to tell their stories. On a Facebook group dedicated to solving Sister Cathy’s 47-year-old murder, Cesnik’s sister, Marilyn Cesnik Radakovic, wrote that, “This is a very difficult documentary to watch, but this documentary is about courage, and I hope this display of courage is felt by all that view this.”

In any case, the wait is now over. As of 3:01 a.m. today, The Keepers is available for streaming. Before you watch though, here are some things to know. 

1. This Has Been a Long Time Coming

Though Cesnik’s murder and the abuse scandal at Archbishop Keough have gone decades without the kind of international attention this series brings, these are not unknown events. Cesnik’s disappearance was front page news in November 1969, and made headlines again when her body was recovered from a secluded industrial area in Lansdowne in January 1970. After that, however, the trail seemed to grow cold and her death—from blunt force trauma to the head—was theorized to have been the result of a robbery gone wrong. But her memory lived on with her pupils. Over time, her death became something of an urban legend at the all-girls school, which was renamed Seton-Keough High School in 1988 and will close in June 2017 due to declining enrollment. 

2. The Story Was Kept Alive by a Dedicated Few 

Cesnik’s murder investigation heated up again in the ’90s when two women—both Archbishop Keough alums—brought a $40 million lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Baltimore and a priest named Father A. Joseph Maskell. The suit claimed that the plaintiffs had been subjected to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, and that the church had covered up Maskell’s depravity. Furthermore, the lawsuit alleged that Maskell had been joined in the abuse by other clergy, police officers, a local gynecologist, and at least one politician. The plaintiffs were then known only as Jane Doe and Jane Roe, but the women have subsequently revealed themselves to be Jean Wehner (Doe) and Teresa Lancaster (Roe). Attorneys for Wehner and Lancaster located more than 30 people—both men and women—who were willing to testify against Maskell in the suit. Read more about the lawsuit in the award-winning 1995 Baltimore magazine article “God Only Knows”.  

In the mid-’90s, headlines about the lawsuit sparked the interest of two other Keough alumnae, Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Fitzgerald Schaub. Though neither experienced any abuse themselves, they were moved by the stories of the victims and the memory of their late teacher. With help from numerous others, they began conducting their own unofficial investigation. Several years ago, the duo began a public Facebook group, which recently surpassed 1,000 members. They also run a website where people can submit anonymous tips.

These four women—Wehner, Lancaster, Hoskins, and Schaub—will be at the center of The Keeper‘s narrative. 

3. The Lawsuit Was Dismissed, But The Archdiocese of Baltimore Has Since Compensated Victims

The lawsuit was dismissed in 1995 after a judge ruled that the suit had been filed outside the statue of limitations for juvenile abuse cases. (Wehner maintains that she only recovered memories of her abuse in the early ’90s, long after the statute of limitations had expired. Lancaster and many other victims say they always remembered their abuse but were too scared to go public. This spring, Maryland extended, from age 25 to age 38, the length of time victims of childhood abuse have to sue offenders.) Father Maskell was interviewed by police and had his priestly powers revoked by the archdiocese in 1994, but he was never charged with a crime. Before the civil trial could start, however, Maskell quietly moved to Ireland, where he found work as a psychologist, sometimes even treating adolescents. According to the archdiocese’s FAQ, “the Archdiocese learned in 1996 that Maskell was living in Ireland . . . [and] informed authorities in Ireland about Maskell’s history and attempted to contact Maskell in writing on numerous occasions.” Maskell eventually returned to the Baltimore area, where he lived in archdiocese-affiliated facilities until his death in 2001. Beginning in 2002, his name was added to a list of clergy credibly accused of abuse published on the archdiocese’s website. In addition, the Archdiocese acknowledges it has paid “over $97,000 in counseling assistance and over $472,000 in direct financial assistance to those who may [have] been abused by Maskell,” including Lancaster and Wehner.

4. Sister Cathy May Not Be the Only Murder Victim

It seems likely that the series will delve into theories connecting Cesnik’s murder to the death of three other women: 16-year-old Pamela Lynn Conyers, whose body was found in Anne Arundel County in 1970; 16-year-old Grace Elizabeth “Gay” Montanye, whose body was found in 1971 in South Baltimore; and 20-year-old Joyce Malecki, who disappeared just days after Cesnik and whose body was found in Fort Meade. Because Malecki’s body was discovered on federal property, the FBI had jurisdiction over the case. It is unclear, however, if the FBI investigated the case at that time. Maskell knew the Malecki family because they were parishioners at St. Clement Church in Lansdowne, where he lived and ministered for a time in the ’60s and ’70s. With the permission of the Malecki family, Schaub filed a Freedom of Information Request in August of 2014 for all files related to a 1994 FBI/Baltimore County homicide joint task force into Malecki’s death. So far, Schaub has received no files, but did receive a reply from the FBI in April stating, “Your request . . . is . . . still awaiting assignment to a disclosure analyst for processing. The current estimated date of completion for the request is October 2017. However, given our current workload and staffing levels, it may be a very long time before you begin to receive material from this request.”    

5. Maskell’s Body Was Exhumed In February For DNA Testing

In dramatic fashion, news broke on May 4 that Maskell’s body had been exhumed from a Randallstown cemetery in February and that DNA samples had been taken from it that would be compared to physical evidence from Cesnik’s murder scene. Then, this week, barely 48 hours before the premiere of the documentary, test results revealed that Maskell’s DNA did not match DNA found at the crime scene. “For now, we’ve pretty well reached the end of the road when it comes to forensic evidence,” Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost told The Sun. “Our best hope for solving this case at this point lies with the people who are still alive. And we hope that someone will be able to come forward with conclusive information about the murder.”

Anyone with information about Cesnik’s murder is encouraged to contact the Baltimore County Police Department’s Homicide Department, Unsolved Case Squad. Information about the murder of Joyce Malecki can be submitted to the FBI’s Baltimore field office.