Jesuit mission marks 300 years of serving Delmarva Catholics

Published: 2003-10-28

WARWICK, Md. (CNS) -- Marji Matyniak has emptied her soul to James Heath many times over the past 40 years. Never mind that Heath has been dead since 1731. More than 225 years after the death of Heath -- a founder of the town of Warwick in Maryland's Cecil County -- Matyniak discovered St. Francis Xavier Shrine and Cemetery, where Heath is buried. She has found it a source of comfort ever since. "The first time I came it was a beautiful, sunny summer day," the New Castle, Del., woman said of the church and grounds known as Old Bohemia. "As soon as I hit the grounds I knew it was a special place; you felt it." She especially liked the view from beside the church, next to Heath's vault, overlooking the hillside cemetery. "I used to sit here and talk about all my problems," she said. Today, as president of the Old Bohemia Historical Society, Matyniak, 62, has channeled her love for the shrine into a crusade to fully restore the historic 1797 church and grounds from which Jesuit priests served colonial Catholics starting in 1704.

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