A relic of St. Bernadette Soubirous, to whom the Virgin Mary appeared in 1858 at Lourdes, France, is touring the United States and will be displayed for veneration at two parishes of the Diocese of Columbus in June.
The relic will be at Ada Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 300 E. Highland Ave., from Thursday, June 2 to Saturday, June 4, when it will be transferred to Lancaster St. Bernadette Church, 1343 Wheeling Road, for veneration until Monday, June 6, the Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church.
A plenary indulgence, which fully removes all punishment for sin, will be granted to everyone who visits the relic and fulfills all other conditions required for the indulgence, which include being in the state of grace, having an interior disposition of complete detachment from sin, making a sacramental confession and receiving the Eucharist within a reasonable period of time, and praying for the pope’s intentions.
Mary appeared to St. Bernadette, a 14-year-old peasant girl, 18 times at a grotto in Lourdes between Feb. 11 and July 16, 1858, identifying herself for the first time as the Immaculate Conception during the 16th appearance.
Mary asked that a church be built in her honor at the grotto, which has been a place of pilgrimage ever since. It has been the site of many physical healings, including 70 recognized as miracles by the Catholic Church, and countless instances of spiritual healing. Following the apparitions, St. Bernadette became a member of the Sisters of Charity and died in 1879.
The relic is a fragment of one of St. Bernadette’s ribs, displayed in a reliquary. The Sanctuary of Lourdes, which supervises the saint’s relics, has permitted its display from April 7 to Aug. 4 at 41 sites throughout the United States.
Its other stops in Ohio will be in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati at St. Bernadette Church in Amelia on Wednesday and Thursday, June 8 and 9 and Cincinnati Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Friday, June 10.
The schedule for the relic display in Ada and Lancaster is:
Thursday, June 2 (Ada): 8:30 a.m., veneration begins; 9 a.m., rite of welcome; 9:15 a.m., Mass including sprinkling rite with Lourdes water; 6 to 8 p.m., Lourdes virtual pilgrimage experience; 8 p.m., candlelight rosary procession; 8:45 to 9:30 p.m., confessions; 10 p.m., church closes.
Friday, June 3 (Ada): 8 a.m., church opens; noon, Mass with Columbus Bishop Earl Fernandes as principal celebrant, including sprinkling rite and concluding with anointing of the sick for those eligible; 3 p.m., Divine Mercy Chaplet and Litany of St. Bernadette; 6 to 8 p.m., virtual pilgrimage experience; 8 p.m., candlelight rosary procession; 8:45 to 9:30 p.m., confessions; 10 p.m., church closes.
Saturday, June 4 (Ada and Lancaster): 8 a.m., church opens; 9 a.m., First Saturday Mass including sprinkling rite; 11:30 a.m., farewell celebration and sending of relic to Lancaster; 4 p.m., Vigil Mass of Pentecost with solemn reception of relic in Lancaster; 5 p.m., veneration begins; 9 p.m., church closes.
Sunday, June 5 (Lancaster): 9 a.m., church opens; 10 a.m., Mass of Pentecost and sacrament of confirmation with Bishop Fernandes; 2 p.m., spiritual conference on the life of St. Bernadette, confessions available; 3 p.m., virtual pilgrimage, Lourdes water and rock from the Lourdes grotto; 7:30 p.m., music for Mary; 8:30 p.m., chanted Litany of Loretto, candlelight rosary, procession to grotto.
Monday, June 6 (Lancaster): 8:20 a.m., Mass; 9 a.m., veneration begins; 10 a.m., virtual pilgrimage; noon, pilgrims’ Mass; 3 p.m., rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, prayers for the nation; 9 p.m., solemn closing of veneration.
