Relic of St. Thérèse to visit Cebu diocese

CEBU, Philippines — For the fifth time, the pilgrim relic of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus will visit the Archdiocese of Cebu on Tuesday and will stay until February 18.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said that the relic’s visit is also a significant happening as it is also her 150th birth anniversary and the centennial of her beatification.

“Since we are privileged to be part of the itinerary of this visit this year, may we make the most of this pilgrim relic’s stay in the Archdiocese and continue to learn more profoundly about her life and the message of God’s gift of merciful love through her Way of Spiritual Childhood. By her example and intercession, Saint Thérèse continues to enrich the lives of the Filipino people,” Palma said.

St. Thérèse’s pilgrim relic, which consists of her bone fragment, started her journey to the country in 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2018.

In a separate interview, Dr.  Rey Martinez, founder of St. Thérèse of Child Jesus Diocesan Shrine of Naval, Kalubian, Leyte, said the pilgrim relic will arrive in Leyte on February 12 and will stay until February 14, 2023 before it sails to Cebu in the evening of February 14 via one of the vessels of Roble Shipping.

Martinez added that the recent visit of the pilgrim relic to the Naval diocesan shrine will be the fourth since 2000.

According to treasuresofthechurch.com, relics are physical objects that have a direct association with the saints or with Our Lord.

It said that relics are usually broken down into three classes.

First class relics are the body or fragments of the body of a saint, such as pieces of bone or flesh. The second class relics are something that a saint personally owned, such as a shirt or book (or fragments of those items), while third class relics are those items that a saint touched or that have been touched to a first, second, or another third class relic of a saint.

For this year, St. Thérèse pilgrim relic has arrived in the country on January 2, 2023 and scheduled to visit more than 50 archdiocese and diocesan in the country. The pilgrim relic visit at the Cebu Archdiocese would be the 25th place.

From Cebu, the pilgrim relic will proceed to Tagbilaran, Bohol and will leave the country on April 30, 2023 and will proceed to Lisieux, France.

According to catholicnewsagency.com, St. Thérèse was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II in 1997, which is 100 years after her death at the age of 24.

She is only the third woman to be so proclaimed, after Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa of Avila. —  GAN (FREEMAN)