Marian visionary’s relics coming to Newark’s Sacred Heart Cathedral
On Oct. 8, for one day only, the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ, will host the relics of St. Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary to whom Our Lady of Lourdes appeared in 1858.
Then a 14-year-old girl, Bernadette encountered “a lady wearing a lovely white dress.” During her 18 apparitions to Bernadette, the lady eventually identified herself as “the Immaculate Conception,” a term the teenager did not understand.
Crowds gathered as the apparitions continued, but only Bernadette saw the lady who spoke to her about the need for penance and conversion. Civil and religious authorities were skeptical. Then, during an apparition on Feb. 25, she told Bernadette to dig in the grotto and drink from the spring found there. Bernadette obeyed and a stream of water did appear as the lady had told her.
“Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me!”
The spring at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes has continued to flow ever since, drawing the penitent, the sick, and the suffering. There have been thousands of cases of healings recorded at the shrine, with 72 currently confirmed by the Church to be miraculous.
Following the events at Lourdes, Bernadette, eager to live simply, entered the Sisters of Charity. In the convent she suffered illness and was often treated harshly but she accepted her circumstances with humility. When she died in great pain at the age of 35, her final words referred to the lady who had appeared to her 20 years previously: “Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me! A poor sinner, a poor sinner…”
Saint Bernadette was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1933 on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Changing human hearts
According to EWTN News, St. Bernadette’s relics left the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in September and are in the midst of a year-long tour with stops at around 140 locations in the US, including Newark’s cathedral on Thursday, Oct. 8.
The relics will be on display for prayer and veneration from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
On Sept. 27, Pope Leo XIV visited the Lourde’s sanctuary during his papal trip to France. In his homily there, Pope Leo XIV referred to the message of Our Lady to Saint Bernadette:
“We hear the same urgent call to conversion in the words which Mary spoke right here, ‘Penance! Penance! Penance!’ She repeats the word three times. And she asks Bernadette to perform certain acts of penance. Why? Are we slow to understand? Do we too easily think of ourselves without sin? Do we not practice penance enough? The Virgin asks us to do penance not only for ourselves, because we too need it, but also ‘for sinners,’ for a world that is going astray. How can our hearts not be moved by the conflicts that are spreading and destroying so many innocent lives? Yet the evil of our time comes from the human heart. God is not responsible for it. As he says to the Israelites, ‘Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?’ (Ez 18:25). It is therefore human hearts that must change, beginning with our own.”
Below is the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart’s schedule for the Oct. 8 visit:
9:15 a.m. – Welcome ceremony
10 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Confessions available
2 p.m. to 3 p.m. – Confessions available
3 p.m. – Rosary
3:45 p.m. – Closing ceremony
To see all the stops along the tour of St. Bernadette’s relics, CLICK HERE.
Visit the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart’s website to plan a visit.
Featured image: A man prays near a reliquary containing the relics of St. Bernadette at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City during a previous relic tour on May 23, 2022. The relics of the Marian visionary of Lourdes, France, are currently touring the US and will visit Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Oct. 8. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
