Time Capsule From 1966 Found in Altar of Florida Church

— -- A time capsule from 1966 was found this week in the altar of a church in Florida.

When the altar at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine was taken apart Wednesday to be renovated, a box was uncovered from February 1966, complete with newspapers, photographs, and money.

"There is a longstanding tradition of placing a time capsule inside the main altar," when a Catholic church is renovated, Fr. Thomas Willis of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine said today. "So that's in all likelihood why we found it here."

Willis said the capsule featured three newspapers: the weekly national Catholic paper The Wanderer, the weekly local Catholic newspaper The Florida Catholic, and the daily local paper, The St. Augustine Record.

Willis said the money in the time capsule included "just some regular change, a few quarters, a dime, and nickle" that "didn't amount to much more than a dollar," but "the real find was six Morgan Silver Dollars that were dated from 1882 to 1900."

"Those coins were placed in the time capsule when that time capsule was originally placed in the altar in 1966, but we think there might have been a time capsule in the altar when it was first placed in the cathedral in the late 1880s," Willis said.

Some of the items from the 1966 capsule will be put on display in St. Augustine.

A new time capsule will be added to the altar when when it is reassembled in mid-March.