Michael Paulson up at the Boston Globe has an intriguing story about the fight over what will happen to the remains of Boston’s late Cardinal William O’Connell.

It seems O’Connell very specifically directed to be buried on the grounds of St. John’s Seminary outside Boston, even building a chapel to house his remains. But that land is now owned by Boston College (part of a deal to sell-off church land to pay sex abuse settlements) and BC officials don’t want a cemetery on their campus.

So church officials want to move O’Connell to the crypt of the cathedral in Boston, but O’Connell’s family-two great-nieces and three great-nephews-object, saying O’Connell made it very clear where he wanted to spend eternity.

Here’s the most interesting part: one of the great-nephews, Edward Kirk, never met O’Connell but was conceived when his father returned from overseas for O’Connell’s funeral. Says Kirk: “I have the cardinal’s passing to credit for my arrival on this earth.”