Cork to host relics of St Bernadette of Lourdes for two days at the end of the month
Display Two Month Of Relics Of On Their Recently During St The Pilgrimage Bernadette Galway In Cathedral Ireland
The relics of St Bernadette of Lourdes will arrive in Cork next week for two days of veneration by members of the public.
The relics are in Ireland on a two-month pilgrimage, taking in every diocese in the country. They will be brought to the Cathedral of St Mary and St Anne in Cork City on Wednesday, October 30.
St Bernadette witnessed 18 apparitions of Our Lady at Lourdes in 1858, with a shrine at the site now attracting huge numbers of pilgrims every year.
People will be able to venerate the relics at the Cathedral of St Mary and St Anne on Wednesday and Thursday, and at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Clonakilty, on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
The relics will arrive at the Cathedral at 4pm on Wednesday afternoon, with veneration from 4.20pm to 6.45pm. Concelebrated Mass led by Bishop Fintan Gavin will take place at 7pm, followed by veneration by the public from 8pm to 10pm.
Veneration will be between 6am and 12 noon on Thursday morning, with Mass at 10am. The relics will then depart to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, arriving at 2pm. Veneration will take place in the Clonakilty church from 2.30pm and 7.45pm, with concelebrated Mass led by Bishop Gavin at 8pm.
Veneration will follow between 9pm and 10pm, with the church open from 7am to 10am on Friday morning for the public again. The relics will depart for Athlone following 10am Mass.
Parish priest of Clonakilty, Fr Tom Hayes said: “A lot of people in Ireland have very close affections with Lourdes and a lot of people have been there but there is also a lot of people who have never been able to get next or near it. This will be a very special opportunity for people in that category to get close to the relics of St Bernadette.
“Lots of people give petitions to people who are going.
"Both of those containers of petitions will be taken to Lourdes and placed at the shrine.”
Fr Hayes said those who cannot make it to either church will also be able to submit petitions privately online, and they will be downloaded to a USB stick and also taken to the Lourdes shrine.
He said that the visit of the relics to Ireland has been very positive, with large queues to get close to the relics in different parts of the country. The relics will depart Ireland on November 5.
Archbishop of Armagh Eamonn Martin said: “The visit of the relics will be a fitting prelude to the launch of the Jubilee Year 2025 with its theme ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.”