The Shrine of All Saints in Morton Grove, Illinois, is a private Catholic reliquary collection assembled and cared for by Father Dennis O'Neill, a local priest who has spent decades gathering authenticated sacred relics from around the world. Housed in an unassuming suburban setting outside Chicago, the shrine is believed to hold more than 3,100 individual relics — a staggering number that makes it one of the largest such collections in the United States, though that designation should be taken as a local claim rather than a formally verified superlative. Visitors encounter an intimate, almost overwhelming display of reliquaries, each item accompanied by documentation tracing its chain of ecclesiastical custody. What drew Gates to Morton Grove, however, was not the breadth of the collection but a single bone fragment: a piece said to belong to Saint Nicholas of Myra, the fourth-century bishop whose legend eventually gave the world Santa Claus. Father O'Neill traces the fragment's provenance through a French church collection, and its significance — if authentic — hinges on a very specific anatomical detail that connects it to ongoing scholarly debate about the saint's scattered remains.
Saint Nicholas of Myra is believed to have been born in what is now southern Turkey, according to tradition
Saint Nicholas is believed to have died and was reportedly buried on Gemiler Island or in Myra, per historical tradition
Italian sailors from Bari are said to have removed the majority of Saint Nicholas's remains from Myra and transported them to Bari, Italy
A Venetian expedition reportedly claimed a separate portion of Saint Nicholas's relics, now housed at the Church of San Nicolò al Lido
Gates investigates Father O'Neill's shrine and examines the claimed relic during the Expedition Unknown Season 15 episode 'Searching for World War II's Lost Hero'
The relics of Saint Nicholas have been a source of devotion, rivalry, and scholarly debate for nearly a thousand years. The mainstream historical account holds that Nicholas was a Christian bishop in Myra (in present-day Turkey) during the fourth century, and that his remains were removed — some would say stolen — by sailors from Bari, Italy, in 1087. The Basilica di San Nicola in Bari has since been the primary custodian of what it claims are the saint's bones. A secondary cache of relics, claimed by Venice, has also been venerated for centuries at the Church of San Nicolò al Lido. Both collections are regarded as genuine by their respective institutions, and both have been the subject of osteological study.
The question of what, exactly, each collection contains has been examined by researchers over the years. A notable analysis of the Bari relics identified which bones were present — and, crucially, which were not. The claim that the Morton Grove fragment represents a left pubic bone absent from Bari's inventory is the centerpiece of Father O'Neill's argument for its authenticity, and it is a claim rooted in anatomy rather than pure tradition. Whether the fragment has been formally examined by an independent forensic or physical anthropologist outside the church's own verification process is not confirmed by the available evidence.
Father O'Neill traces the Morton Grove relic's provenance through a documented chain of church custody leading back to a French collection, which is the standard method Catholic institutions use to authenticate relics. That process, however, is theological and ecclesiastical rather than scientific, and mainstream historians and forensic experts would note that chain-of-custody documentation does not substitute for material analysis. The genuine scientific question — whether DNA could be extracted from centuries-old bone fragments and compared across the Bari, Venice, and Morton Grove samples — is something Gates' episode raises as a tantalizing possibility without claiming a conclusion.
What the Expedition Unknown episode contributes is a rare on-camera examination of a suburban American shrine as a legitimate node in a global relic network, and it frames the Morton Grove collection not as a curiosity but as a potentially meaningful piece of a centuries-old puzzle. Whether the bone fragment is authentic remains genuinely open. Gates, characteristically, presents the question rather than the answer.
The shrine is said to hold more than 3,100 individual relics, assembled by Father Dennis O'Neill over many years through networks of church donations and acquisitions.
Saint Nicholas of Myra, the historical figure behind Santa Claus, is believed to have lived in what is now southern Turkey — roughly 4,000 miles from Morton Grove, Illinois.
The bones of Saint Nicholas are claimed by institutions in at least two Italian cities — Bari and Venice — making the question of their completeness and distribution an ongoing matter of religious and historical contention.
Osteological study of relics — the scientific examination of bone fragments claimed to be sacred — is a recognized field that has been applied to several major Christian relic collections in Europe.
The Shrine of All Saints is a private collection under the care of Father Dennis O'Neill and is not a standard tourist attraction with regular public hours; visitors interested in seeing the collection should make inquiries in advance, as access may be granted on an appointment or invitation basis. The shrine is located in Morton Grove, a northern suburb of Chicago, and is generally described as a modest, intimate space rather than a grand ecclesiastical institution. Visitors should check current local advisories and contact the shrine directly before planning a trip.
Chicago, Illinois — approximately 15 miles southeast of Morton Grove.
As an indoor private collection in the Chicago suburbs, the shrine is not significantly affected by season, though the surrounding area is most pleasant in late spring through early fall. Winter visits are entirely feasible, and the subject matter has obvious thematic resonance with the Christmas season.
Church of San Nicolò al Lido, Venice
The Church of San Nicolò al Lido in Venice holds one of the two major institutional collections of Saint Nicholas relics, making it a direct counterpart to the Morton Grove fragment investigated in the same Expedition Unknown episode.
Cloister of St. Apollonia, Venice
The Cloister of St. Apollonia in Venice connects to the broader Venetian ecclesiastical tradition that Gates investigated during his Saint Nicholas relic search in Season 15.
Istanbul
Istanbul — ancient Constantinople and the capital of the Byzantine Empire — sits near the region where Saint Nicholas lived and is central to the historical and religious context Gates traces in his investigation of the saint's origins and remains.