A County Meath chalice, which had been missing for almost twenty years this week, turned up on a local priest’s doorstep. Culmullen parish received the welcome boost when the 200-year-old chalice mysteriously arrived back on the doorstep of the local parish church early one morning in the New Year.
The precious piece of silverware had been recorded in diocesan records in the 1930s, but it is uncertain when it went missing from St Martin's Church in Culmullen.
Retired parish priest of Dunshaughlin and Culmullen, Fr John Kerrane, who now lives in Culmullen, does not recollect the chalice being in the parish during his tenure, from 1989.
According to the Meath Chronicle newspaper, "the cup and an accompanying paten were left sitting on the step of the church, wrapped in bubble wrap and a brown paper envelope, early one morning. 
It was discovered by the husband of the local sacristan, just as the church opened for morning Mass.
The envelope was marked 'Culmullen Chapel'. It hadn't been there when he locked up the evening before and was still dry so hadn't been too long there that morning.”
The chalice is inscribed, “The gift of the parishioners of Cultrummer 1794.”
Cultrummer is a townland in Drumree and was the site of a previous church. Diocesan historian Fr John Brady, who published histories of the parishes in the early part of the last century, said that when active persecution of Catholics ceased, a mud-wall chapel was erected at Cultrummer.
Culmullen Church underwent a restoration and renovation in 1989 and it is possible that, at this stage, the chalice was put into safekeeping with somebody in the parish and may have only came to light recently.
According to a diocesan spokesperson, the return of the chalice remains a mystery.
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