I
mentioned back in August that our parish, St. Rita's Church, was given the huge honor of hosting
the relics of St. Maria Goretti as she tours the United States. Well Wednesday, September 30th,
was the day. I want to share some of the
photos.
Here
she is in the Reliquary in front of our altar.
And
a close up of the Reliquary.
The
Tour also brought along an exhibit, including this lovely statue placed in the church
vestibule.
DSCN1690
As
I said in the previous post on this, the body in the Reliquary is only a wax life-sized
doll. The relics are placed inside a box
inside the doll. You can read more about
it on the Tour website, here. Here is a close up of the wax doll.
There
was a wonderful Mass that evening, celebrated by our Bishop John J. O’Hara.
Having
been killed at eleven years old for resisting a rape attempt, St. Maria Goretti
is the youngest saint in the communion of saints. She is a saint not for resisting the rape,
but for forgiving her murder. You can
read about her here.
I hope you acknowledge the utterly inherent unfairness of you and New York in general receiving these relics on the heels of hosting the pope. (Or perhaps the powers that be sensed the need for some holiness there.) Be that as it may, I hope you found the veneration a beautiful and moving experience. I'm envious...I hope to have the opportunity to venerate another saint one day.
ReplyDeleteThis was my first experience with saint's relics. I have to say it was really something. The relics are not only in NY or the east coast. A good portion of the trip will be in the mid west. Unfortunately they will not go as far west as your state. Here is the travel schedule:
Deletehttp://mariagoretti.com/tour-schedule-3/
Maybe there will be a future trip to the west side of the country.
Thank you Manny. Please pray for us.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Thanks for sharing this. What a moving and impactful experience it must have been. I can feel the holiness in the photos.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Gerri. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
Delete