Bishop likens saint's pilgrimage to Queen's final journey as relics arrive in Shropshire
A bishop likened a saint's pilgrimage across the UK to the posthumous journey of the late Queen Elizabeth II on a special occasion at a county cathedral.
A stunning golden casket containing parts of the body of St Bernadette of Lourdes arrived at Shrewsbury Cathedral as part of a national tour.
The relics include fragments of two ribs, the saint’s kneecaps, muscle from the right thigh, and other muscle, skin and hair tissue, which are kept in a reliquary.
The visionary Saint is believed to have received visits from the Blessed Mary Virgin in the French Pyrenees in the mid-19th century, which has made Lourdes one of the largest centres of pilgrimage in the world.
Around 200 worshippers gathered at the cathedral, waiting patiently for the much-anticipated moment. Visitors, poised with their phones at the ready to capture the arrival, may have been surprised to see the remains arrive in the back of a Ford Transit van rather than a hearse.
But, after a table and a few boxes were heaved out of its back doors by the venerable removal men, stunned onlookers caught a glimpse of the beautiful reliquary, glistening in the September sunshine.
The relics, along with a statue of the Blessed Mary Virgin, were then carefully carried into the cathedral.
Worshippers queued patiently as they waited for their opportunity to approach the relics for prayer and reflection. One little girl asked her mum what was inside the gold casket, and was told: "It's magic, It's got special things inside."
Later, in a homily preached at a 7pm Mass in the presence of the relics, Bishop Mark Davies made a comparison between the progress of the saint’s remains across the country and the journey of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II from Scotland to London following Her Majesty’s death at the age of 96 at Balmoral last Thursday.
Bishop Davies said: “In our time of national mourning, we have witnessed the reverence and love with which the mortal remains of our departed Queen Elizabeth have been received on their last journey across our land.
“Her Majesty’s mortal remains are a tangible connection with our late monarch, recalling the memory of her dedicated life and inviting prayer among the many who have stood along the roadways or passed before them.
“These scenes might help us appreciate how the church, from the beginning treated the bodies of the saints with great reverence, as those who had lived united with Christ who left for us the memory of their witness and are now forever united with Christ in heaven.
“And while we pray for our beloved Queen, as we pray for each other in the hour of death, the church has always invited us to ask the saints to pray for us.
“And so it is, with the pilgrimage of the relics of St Bernadette across our country, they provide us with a tangible connection with the heroic life of this young woman; and as we venerate them with reverence, we are invited to ask her prayers in heaven as we continue our journey on earth.”
Bishop Davies said that the relics connected the faithful with a saint who was frail and poor and who might challenge contemporary society on its attitudes to “the frailest and weakest from the unborn to the sick and to the aged”.
The relics of St Bernadette arrived in England at the beginning of September and have so far passed through the Archdiocese of Westminster and the dioceses of Portsmouth, Plymouth, Clifton, Cardiff and Menevia.
They arrived at Shrewsbury Cathedral at 2.30pm on Tuesday, September 13, where they remained until 9am the next morning.
On departing from Shrewsbury Cathedral, the relics were driven to St Werburgh’s Church in Chester city centre where they were made available for public veneration.
Members of the public were invited to enter both venues to venerate the relics and offer silent prayers in their presence.
Overall, the relics of St Bernadette will be in England, Scotland and Wales, until November 1 as they continue their tour through all of the dioceses.
The tour will give British Catholics the chance to make a personal pilgrimage to the saint and to pray for her intercession.
In 2012 the relic of the heart of St John Vianney, the patron of parish priests, was brought to the Diocese of Shrewsbury, and neighbouring dioceses, in a tour aimed at helping young people to discern their vocations.
Three years earlier the visit of the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux to Britain attracted a quarter of a million people to queue up to pray at the side of the reliquary.
