Icon of the Holy Family arrives for Cebu City visit

After the recent visit to Cebu of the relics of the St. Therese of the Child Jesus, another holy icon had arrived yesterday, the Byzantine Icon of the Holy Family.

The icon was brought to the Sacred Heart Parish in Capitol, and it is scheduled to be taken to the Holy Family Parish at Maguikay in Mandaue City, then to the Redemptorist Church and the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral on March 11.

The public is urged to visit the holy image, and attend the Masses that will be held in the parishes that it will visit.

The visit of the Icon of the Holy Family has been spearheaded by the Regina Pacis Mundi, a group that works for the development of Catholic families, and with the support of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

Church authorities said this is the original icon blessed by Pope John Paul II when taken to the 4th World Meeting of Families in Manila on January 26, 2003, and shown to the public during the Papal Mass officiated by Papal Legate Alfonso Cardinal Lopez Trujillo.

They said that the image is a combination of the features of the images of Our Lady of Kazan, the patron saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Pieta, the masterpiece of Michaelangelo. — Jasmin R. Uy/RAE