Thérèse relics tour ends at Cathedral
By Anna Arco and Mark Greaves

16 October 2009

The relics of the saint are venerated on their arrival in Westminster Cathedral Mazur/CatholicChurch.co.uk

The relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux concluded their month-long tour of England and Wales this week when they were brought to Westminster Cathedral.

Over 180,000 people had already flocked to see the relics during the tour and organisers in London expected around 100,000 visitors at the relics' last stop.

On Monday huge queues filled the Cathedral piazza as Auxiliary Bishop John Arnold of Westminster presided over a welcome Mass, where he preached about the critical media reaction to the relics and explained their significance in the modern world.

He praised St Thérèse's approach to life. Although she was no St Paul or St Augustine, St Ignatius or St Francis Xavier, he said, "she simply got on with the simplicity of everyday life".

As the relics of the 19th-century Carmelite French nun were brought into the nave after the Mass, people were in tears. One woman held up a St George's Cross as she stood on a chair. Cameras flashed. Some people waved roses. In the congregation, priests and religious of all stripes, including a large number of Carmelites and a small group of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta's Missionaries of Charity, mixed with the laity.

Later that evening people were still queueing to get a glimpse of the relics.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster presided over solemn Mass on Tuesday. He preached about St Thérèse's ability to love and trust in God. He pointed out that the saint lived in an age when "the spirit of Jansenism, which over-emphasised the strictness of God's judgment and the difficulties of getting to heaven" prevented people from seeing God as a loving Father.

He said: "Yet Thérèse had the strength and the grace to develop a radically different way of viewing God: as our Father who desires nothing more than to pour out the depths of his love on each one of us, and who did so in Jesus.

"Today this strict view of God has not entirely disappeared from our hearts. We also face another obstacle to the intimacy with God for which we long. Today God has become a distant reality who touches our lives, if at all, only to interfere with our personal freedom, the most jealously guarded treasure of the individual today.

"St Thérèse shows us that only in humility and with a boundless trust in God can we overcome this sense of distance. Humility and trust directly oppose our pride and our self-sufficiency. This is the key to her famous 'Little Way of Spiritual Childhood'." Seminarians from Allen Hall attended the all-night vigil on Tuesday, which was dedicated to the Year for Priests. Archbishop-elect Bernard Longley of Birmingham was also present.

Earlier on Monday the relics stopped for two hours with Carmelite nuns at a convent in Notting Hill, west London, as well as at Wormwood Scrubs, a category-B security prison. The previous day they had been received into the Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Simon Stock in Kensington where they were visited by 10,000 people. In Wormwood Scrubs Archbishop Nichols celebrated Mass for around 100 inmates. Two prisoners were serving at Mass and inadvertently set off the fire alarms with incense.

Archbishop Nichols said: "It reminds us that everyone, no matter how vulnerable, is a spiritual being and has the capacity for peace and wholeness. This is as true for prisoners here in Wormwood Scrubs as it is for anyone else wherever they may be."

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the emeritus Archbishop of Westminster, venerated the relics in Kensington. He said that he always thought the visit of the relics would be a success.

He said: "It's interesting how so many people have had a devotion to St Thérèse. [Her writing] is easy to read and has the wonderful message of her life. Nobody knew her except her sisters in the convent and within a few years it was selling millions of copies. She did not do great things - she longed to be a martyr or a missionary - but her vocation was love, which is at the heart of the Church. Her 'Little Way', a way of sanctifying every act of the day, is very simple but also very profound. People all over the world have resonated with it.

"It makes you ask: 'What's the significance of my life?' It's in your faith, your love of Christ and the dedication of your daily life in those small ways."

He said that venerating relics was a reminder of Catholic piety, of "the link between God's world and God's people in all its aspects. That's why we have places of pilgrimage: those places are linked to holy events. These relics were united with a living body and that person is now praying for us."

Last weekend pupils from schools in Kent, east London and the Diocese of Brentwood lined the drive as the hearse bearing the reliquary holding St Thérèse's relics arrived at Aylesford, Kent. The prior, Fr Brendan Grady, said: "Come and touch the casket - suspend your lack of belief, your indifference, your cynicism. Come as you are. Be open to the possibility that God will surprise us. Perhaps you want to say to God: 'Touch me as you touched St Thérèse. Make me holy as you made St Thérèse holy. Fill me with your love. Make me an instrument of your love to other people.'"

During their two-day stay in Aylesford the relics attracted around 17,000 people. Archbishop Kevin McDonald of Southwark spoke at one of the Masses and the prior general of the Carmelites, Fr Fernando Millán, preached at the farewell Mass. Fr John Keating was the homilist at the main Mass. He spoke about St Thérèse's surrender to God's love.

The relics stopped at St Joseph's Priory and Church at Gerrard Cross, Buckinghamshire, where over 2,000 pilgrims came to venerate them. Over 1,000 slices of cake and cups of tea and coffee were consumed before evening Mass. The parish priest Fr Tony Parsons spoke about St Thérèse's confidence in God's love.

In his homily he said: "As I look out here today; the whole mixture - the believer, the unbeliever, the sick, the healthy, the young and the old - everyone of us has their own personal story; we are called to be unique in our relationship with God. We are not called to be Thérèse, but ourselves. We break out of that through the power of intercessory prayer; it helps us to bring people to mind - the Church, the world - a life worth living."

At Oxford last week, the relics attracted 6,200 pilgrims to the Oxford Oratory where the various Catholic groups, religious and organisations in the town and at the university contributed to the events. Bishop William Kenney celebrated the main Mass and Fr Daniel Seward celebrated an Extraordinary Form Mass the next day.