A U.S. tour of a French saint’s relics will end in a visit to her namesake parish in Los Angeles at the end of the month.
The relics of St. Bernadette Soubirous, who was visited by the Virgin Mary 18 times over six months in the town of Lourdes in 1858, are scheduled to arrive at St. Bernadette Church in Baldwin Hills on July 31. Virtual Lourdes pilgrimages and candlelight processions are scheduled as part of the celebration.
On August 1, Archbishop Gomez will welcome the relics at a special Mass at St. Bernadette at 7 p.m., joined by Bishop Micas, the bishop of Tarbes (Lourdes). From there, the relics will go to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on August 2, and St. John Baptist de la Salle in Granada Hills on August 3, before heading back to Lourdes.
St. Bernadette’s body, exhumed in 1925 for her beatification, was found to be uncorrupted. Fragments of the fifth and sixth vertebrae were removed and reserved for veneration by the faithful.
The Vatican has granted a plenary indulgence for those who venerate the relics during the tour.
The relics’ Los Angeles visit is the end of a four-month tour that started in Miami in April and traveled through several states, including New York, Montana, and Georgia.
For more information about the St. Bernadette relic tour, visit https://lacatholics.org/relic-tour/.
