A Boston church has experienced Christmas a week before when an anonymous donor gave the church a winning $100,000 lottery ticket with no strings attached.

Executive director of St. Anthony’s Shrine in Boston, Fr. Tom Conway, “In a lot of ways it’s kind of like they gave us Christmas. It’s very touching and very generous.”

Conway said that the donor, who wished to remain anonymous, had been in touch with the shrine’s director of development for a few weeks and brought the winning ticket to the shrine.

Conway, dressed in his Franciscan habit, and the director of development, Maryanne Rooney-Hegan, had taken the ticket later, to the Massachusetts State Lottery office in Brainbridge. Conway has described it as a surreal moment.

He said with a smile, “I’m there with a habit and a $100,000 ticket and everyone else is cashing their smaller cash winnings. The joke is that it’s not something that they teach in the seminary, but these things happen.”

The church had taken home $70,000 in a lump sum payment after taxes. It is home to 28 Franciscan Friars and is financially independent from the Catholic Church, said Conway.

A lottery spokesman said that the donated ticket had been purchased at Cal’s News in Lynn, Massachusetts. The store has been located about 30 minutes from the shrine.

Conway said, “The donor didn’t ask for any of it back but just said it’s yours, I just want to give it to you. It’s really pretty remarkable.”

The $70,000 will be used to cover the shrine’s annual Christmas activities, which will be included in buying groceries for 500 needy families, hosting a post-Christmas dinner for the veterans and paying musicians who had performed at the shrine’s 14 Christmas weekend services.

By Prakriti Neogi