January 03 ,2013: Thousands of Catholics carrying red roses welcomed the relics of
St Therese of the Child Jesus in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines, on Thursday.
Bishop
Renato Mayugba of Laoag diocese said the visit is "significant" and an opportunity
to invite young people to become missionaries of the Church.
The relics, which
are bone fragments of the saint housed in a special reliquary, arrived in the Philippines
on December 15 for a four-month tour that will include visits to 48 archdioceses and
dioceses throughout the country.
The relics traveled from the Basilica of St
Therese in Lisieux, France.
This is the third time the pilgrim relics have
visited the Philippines. The first two visits in 2000 and 2008 were reportedly marked
with miracles and thousands of devotees gathering to pray.
St Thérèse
of Lisieux, or St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, was a French Carmelite nun who felt
an early call to religious life. She overcame various obstacles to become a nun in
1888 at the young age of 15, and joined two of her elder sisters in the cloistered
Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy.
After nine years as a Carmelite
nun, she died of tuberculosis at the age of 24.
During the celebration of the
relic's arrival, Bishop Mayugba said anyone can become a saint if he or she does "what
you are supposed to do."