Europe

Relics visit ex Soviet Union
THE RELICS of St Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, have completed a highlysuccessful 30,000km tour through Russia, Siberia and Kazakhstan.
The relics travelled by bus stopping at 60 important parishes. Simultaneously, ten small reliquaries were taken to remote locations such as Astrakhan and Magadan, where they visited hospitals, prisons, orphanages and the housebound.
The saint's autobiography has meanwhile become a bestseller in parts of the former Soviet Union.
The French custodians of the relics said the tour confirmed that St Therese was one of the most important missionaries of this century.