Relics of St. Bernadette Journey Around Ireland
Relics of St. Bernadette are making a journey around Ireland which began on September 4th and will continue through October and into November coming to an end on November 5th. During this journey the relics of St. Bernadette will be making many stops in various locations across the country including being stationed in Holycross Abbey, Tipperary on the 19th and 20th of September.
St. Bernadette was born in Lourdes. Coming from a poor family, she lived a life of hardship and because she often had to stay home to work, she was relatively uneducated for most of her young life. In 1858 something miraculous began happening to this peasant girl, she witnessed several apparitions of the Virgin Mary at the Grotto of Massabielle. Following these apparitions Bernadette decided to follow her religious vocation and become a member of the Sisters of Charity convent. Here she worked until she became seriously ill with tuberculosis and died aged 35. She was proclaimed blessed in 1925 and made a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1933.
Lourdes has since become synonymous with the miracle of the apparitions witnessed by St. Bernadette and her relics. Many people partake in the pilgrimage to Lourdes each year in the hope of having a similar experience to that of St. Bernadette in 1858. This tour of Ireland with the relics of St. Bernadette creates a special, once in a lifetime opportunity for the Irish public to view these relics outside of Lourdes.
