Chester: Catholic church hosts relics of St Bernadette

St Werburgh's Church. Wiki image

Bishop Mark Davies today welcomed the relics of St Bernadette of Lourdes to a Catholic church in Chester.

The relics were brought to St Werburgh's Church in the city centre as part of the national pilgrimage. In a homily preached at the 12.15pm Mass in the presence of the relics, Bishop Davies made a comparison between the progress of the saint's remains across the country to the journey of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II from Scotland to London following Her Majesty's death at Balmoral on 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 this 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 in Heaven to pray for us. And so it is, with the pilgrimage of the relics of Saint Bernadette across our country, they provide for us 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."

The Bishop also said the message of Lourdes "speaks of the value and dignity of the little ones of the earth; of the greatness of our call to holiness; of our need of prayer, of penance and conversion but, above all, the events at Lourdes and the enduring witness of Bernadette always lead us to the Eucharist".

He reminded the faithful that in "this ancient city" of Chester "where the relics of Saint Werburgh once awakened in the hearts of our ancestors a longing for conversion and true holiness" the pilgrimage of St Bernadette's relics leads them to the Eucharist.

LINKS

Read more about the tour of the Relics: www.indcatholicnews.com/news/45207
For the full itinerary see: www.indcatholicnews.com/news/45315