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CHICAGO CATHOLIC: BEYOND THE HEADLINES -- Relics, Saints, and the Exhumation Process

Catholic Chicago

Deacon David Keene is a canon lawyer who serves as chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago, but he also holds a doctorate in archeology and is an expert in the exhumation of human remains. Before he retired, federal, state, county and local officials regularly called him when remains were found and needed to be preserved or relocated. The archdiocese called on him to conduct the exhumation of the remains of Venerable Father Augustus Tolton in 2016. He also led the 2021 exhumation of Father Patrick Ryan, whose canonization cause is underway in the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee. He recently sat down with editor Joyce Duriga to talk about the church’s history of preserving relics of saints and the exhumation of Father Tolton.