The month-long tour of the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux, 1873-1897, Doctor of the Church, has been a time of tremendous grace and blessing for the Catholic Church throughout England and Wales during the autumn of 2009.
The visit of the relics of St Thérèse, known as the Little Flower, has without doubt been the most important and memorable event for ordinary Catholics since the historic Pastoral Visit of Pope John Paul II in 1982.
The relics have made a lasting impact, and captured the imagination of thousands and thousands of pilgrims – the final number was 286,650. There were probably many more as the numbers were understated by the organisers of the tour.
Catholics and Christians from other traditions turned out in their thousands throughout the day and night, to venerate the relics for just a few precious moments. Members of other Religious Faiths and none also came to be in the presence of a holy person.
This memorable and remarkable tour began in Portsmouth Roman Catholic Cathedral on Wednesday 16 September and ended with an emotional goodbye from the thousands of pilgrims who packed Westminster Cathedral and the Piazza outside, on the afternoon of Thursday 15 October.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, was the principal celebrant and preacher at a wonderful Mass of Farewell to the Relics of St Thérèse in Westminster Cathedral, on Thursday 15 October.
Among the concelebrants were the Auxiliary Bishops of Westminster – including Bishop Bernard Longley, now Archbishop-Elect of Birmingham – and a priest representative from every place visited by the relics. The Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz and Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, were present in the sanctuary.
The ornate wooden casket containing the relics – bones of St Thérèse – was showered with rose petals, and pilgrims clapped and waved goodbye as it was carried shoulder-high out of Westminster Cathedral and into the bright mid-October afternoon sunshine and the hurly burly of London life.
The Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, and Bishop Bernard Longley,
Archbishop-elect of Birmingham, pictured after the Mass of Thanksgiving at Westminster
Cathedral, on 15 October, for the month-long visit of the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux to
England and Wales.
A huge crowed packed the piazza in front of Westminster Cathedral, Mother Church of the diocese for a final glimpse of the casket. People in the new glass-fronted offices across Victoria Street also stopped their work briefly to see what was going on.
The relics of the young French saint remained overnight in England before returning to Lisieux in France on Friday 16 October via the Channel Tunnel.
Altogether, 95,000 pilgrims visited the relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux during their four-day stay at Westminster Cathedral. This brings to 286,650 the total number of pilgrims who have visited the relics during their month-long stay in England and Wales.
I was privileged to have had the opportunity of being with the relics of St Thérèse in four different locations during their visit. Three of them in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Firstly the Metropolitan Cathedral and minor Basilica of St Chad, in Birmingham, on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September. Secondly at the parish church of the Sacred Heart & St Teresa, Coleshill, near Birmingham on Monday 21 September. Thirdly at the Oxford Catholic Church of St Aloysius in Oratory when the relics arrived on a cold and wet early evening of 7 October. Then in Westminster Cathedral to say goodbye.
Fr Daniel Seward, Parish Priest of the Oxford Oratory, told me: ‘Despite the pouring rain on Wednesday evening 6,200 pilgrims were crammed into the Oratory Church during the 22 hours of the visit of the relics of St Thérèse. It was an overwhelming occasion of grace, with many hundreds of people going to confession. Large numbers of non-Catholics visited the church for the first time and a tremendous variety of pilgrims from near and far afield.’
Fr Seward added: ‘A team of more than 100 volunteers from the Oratory parish marshalled the crowds and provided free refreshments, making for an atmosphere of welcome and joy. Thérèse has done what she promised: showered rose petals from heaven.’
This personal reflection would not be complete without mentioning that the visit of the relics of St Thérèse also captured the attention of the media and new media. The coverage in television, radio and in the press, both national and local has significantly raised the profile of the Catholic Church in England and Wales in a positive and constructive way.
Some of the cynical correspondents who are usually dismissive of anything to do with the Catholic Church were left bemused as to why people of every age and background came in their thousands to venerate the relics of this much loved saint.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols ended his challenging and thought-provoking homily at the Mass of Thanksgiving in Westminster Cathedral with these words: ‘Let us again open our hearts to the Lord that he may guide our every moment, and fill the reservoir of emptiness within each of us. Then we will be able to accept our mission, our task, in this land today. If we are renewed in this sense of purpose, then these wonderful days of this pilgrimage will bear fruit indeed.’
