Relics of St. Therese of Lisieux and of Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin to visit Chicago and of Minneapolis in the autumn of 2023
Monday, January 17, 2022 at 04:20PM
Maureen O'Riordan

The "family reliquary" of St. Therese and Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, entrusted by the Magnificat Foundation to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, venerated during the Magnificat Day of Faith in Philadelphia, November 9, 2013 Relics of St. Therese of Lisieux and her parents, Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, to visit Minneapolis and Chicago in the autumn of 2023

The Shrine at Lisieux has announced that the "Centenary Reliquary" of St. Therese of Lisieux and the traveling reliquary of Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin will jointly visit the American Midwest in the autumn of 2023.  According to the Shrine's Web site, the relics will be in the Chicago area from September 16 to October 2, 2023.  On October 3, 2023, they will travel to the Minneapolis area, where they will remain until October 16, 2023. I am sure that, when the itineraries are ready, the dioceses which are hosting the visits of the reliquaries will announce the local details.

Composite photo of Sts. Louis and Zelie with three-year-old St. Therese against the background of Notre Dame Church in Alencon. Photo credit: Shrine of Sts. Louis and Zelie at Alencon.

Important Anniversaries for the Martin Family

We are blessed that the relics are visiting the United States in this decade, during which we will celebrate many important anniversaries for the Martin saints:

These anniversaries offer many opportunities for the Church to educate about the spirituality of Sts. Louis and Zelie and St. Therese. to reflect on how they inspire us, and to pray over their lives and their texts. 

Photos of the two reliquaries

The Shrine's photos of the reliquaries are under copyright.  Click to see the centenary reliquary (so called because it began to travel in 1997, the year of the centenary of the death of St.  Therese).  Click to see the traveling reliquary of Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, which is a smaller replica of the reliquary in which their bodies repose in the crypt of the Basilica at Lisieux.

A call to prayer

The "centenary reliquary" of St. Therese has been on pilgrimage throughout the world since 1997.  It visited the United States for about three months at the end of 1999 and was received by large and devout crowds.  The reliquary of Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin has been on pilgrimage since 2015; I believe that 2023 marks its first visit to the United States.  Let's begin to pray that the visit of the relics of the first saints canonized as a couple and of their daughter, a Doctor of the Church, will offer many opportunities for prayer, healing, evangelization, and receiving a flood of graces.

Article originally appeared on Saint Therese of Lisieux (http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/).
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