Relics of St. Therese: Devotees prepare for 3rd visit in Bacolod

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Devotees, especially protegees and those named after St. Therese of the Child Jesus, gathered here for a concelebrated mass Thursday in commemoration of her 140th birthday and in preparation for the 3rd visit of the pilgrim’s relics in March.

The mass was celebrated at the Carmel of St. Joseph in Mandalagan of this city and devotees joined the “Yahong ni Therese,” the feeding arm for the visit, with foods served during the affair.

As part of the preparation for the visit, the education committee of the diocese invited lay associations, schools and other church organizations to a series of seminar workshops as part of the catechesis on the life and message of St. Therese.

“We aim to reach the parishes, the chaplaincies, the lay associations and movements, the schools and other groups,” said Rev. Fr. Jude Serfino, diocesan coordinator.

The seminar-workshops are scheduled on January 9, 16, 23, and 30, and on February 13, 20, and 27 at the Mother Mary Louise Agape Hall of the Carmelite Monastery in Mandalagan.

The pilgrim relics of St. Therese arrived in the Philippines last December 15 to begin a four-month tour that will include visits to 48 archdioceses and dioceses of the Catholic Church throughout the country, including Negros Occidental.

The relics’ visit in Negros Occidental will have its first stop in Kabankalan City. On March 5, it will travel to Bacolod in a grand motorcade that will have whistlestops in churches along the highway, a detour at the provincial jail in Bago City and then to the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod for the welcome honors and mass.

It will stay at the cathedral for a few hours, and then take off in a motorcade to Carmel where a mass will be officiated by Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra.

The relics, which are bone fragments of the St. Therese housed in a special reliquary and venerated by the faithful as a reminder of her life and spirituality, traveled from the Basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux, France, and arrived in Manila, with the Shrine dedicated to her in Newport City, Pasay City, as its first stop.

Dubbed as ‘the greatest saint for modern times,’ Therese joined Carmel at 15, under a special papal dispensation that allowed her despite her young age. She died nine years later, leaving behind a slim autobiography.

That autobiography, published as Story of a Soul, became a bestseller. In it, the saint laid down what is now known as the Doctrine of Spiritual Childhood which popes and theologians have hailed as a sure path to salvation.

This will be the third time the pilgrim relics of St. Therese visits the Philippines. The first two, in 2000 and 2008, were marked with miracles and thousands of devotees gathering to pray in its presence. —CONTRIBUTED