Scroll presenting the reliquary of St. Therese and her parents, Louis and Zelie Martin, to the United States

With his generous gift of the relics of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin (and the gracious gift of the Carmelites of Lisieux of the relics of their daughter St. Therese), Mgr. Bernard Lagoutte, former rector of the Shrine at Lisieux, presented the above scroll to mark the occasion of the arrival of the reliquary in Philadelphia.  I reproduce the text in typewriting below. 

Msgr. Lagoutte visited the Carmelite Monastery in Philadelphia on Sunday, November 10, the day after Magnificat Day, and offered Mass for the nuns and their guests together with the new rector, Father Olivier Ruffray.  He had the joy of seeing the shrine where the reliquary will be venerated and of speaking to the Carmelites about continuing their mission of communicating the spirituality of St. Therese and of the Martin family.  The nuns welcomed both rectors with great happiness.

The reliquary was transferred to the Carmelite Monastery this afternoon, where a beautiful evening Mass celebrated this great joy.  Children, lay persons, religious sisters, deacons, and priests joined the Carmelites in thanking God.  Visitors drove from as far away as Maryland and Virginia to venerate the relics, and the chapel was adorned with two hundred roses sent by a friend of the community.  We rejoiced especially in the presence of a delegation of schoolchildren and young people from Regina Coeli Academy in Abington.  The reliquary now rests in the shrine of St. Therese in the chapel, not many yards from the tombs of the four foundresses of Carmel in Philadelphia who did so much to make Sister Therese known early in this century.  Public veneration resumes at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow and continues until 8:00 p.m., interrupted only for Benediction at 3:00 p.m. and a conference by Fr. Frederick Miller at 3:30 p.m.  We welcome everyone to come, share our happiness and pray for your intentions.

In September 1896, one year before being called back to God, Thérèse had an intuition of the celestial mission that Jesus was going to entrust to her until the end of time:  “I wish to travel the world proclaiming your name throughout the earth!” she cried to Jesus.  The reality of this mission would be verified almost immediately after her death by the incredible universality of her spiritual experience and the innumerable graces obtained through her intercession.

Today the Little Flower, Thérèse, proclaimed Doctor of the Church and Patron of Missions, still travels the world proclaiming the Flame of Jesus!  She does this notably through the tangible sign of her relics.  And when joined by those of her cherished parents, Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin, this sign is all the more meaningful for the men and women of our time who are engaged in the vocation of marriage.   In inviting veneration of these relics brought together for the first time in a unique ‘family’ reliquary, I hope that all of America—spouses, parents, and children—will give thanks to God for their love lived in the humility of everyday life and will pray that their family life may be a road to sanctity.  Yes, that all may confide their family joys, anxieties, and distresses to the Lord, through the intercession of Thérèse, Louis, and Zélie!  I also hope that on the occasion of the veneration of these relics, my brother priests may revitalize their zeal for pastoral initiatives for families.  I wanted to entrust these precious relics to the Magnificat Foundation because, in their work of evangelization through the good, the true, and the beautiful, I am certain that they will know how to share and make known the spirituality of the Martin family in the U.S.  Happy and moved to see this reliquary arrive here in Philadelphia on this magnificent continent where the faith burns with ardor.  I give it my benediction.

Msgr. Bernard Lagoutte
Rector of the Sanctuary of Lisieux
July 2013

The Wisely family of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, gathered around the reliquary of the Martin family on Sunday, November 10, 2013

Yesterday afternoon, at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, I was deeply touched to see the Wisely family of Phoenixville come in to pray as a family before the first-ever reliquary that is a shrine to a family.  I am happy to think that a mother, father, and children can now pray together in the presence of the relics of a mother, a father, and a child, and I hope that many other families will receive graces by doing so. 

I have been in the Cathedral with the reliquary over three days, and it is a beautiful contemplative experience of graces at once personal and universal, as though  God wants this Magnificat week to foreshadow the graces God is going to pour out on this diocese through the presence of the reliquary of this family.  The reverent atmosphere that surrounds them is itself healing. I was deeply moved to see a young married couple who came from Washington, D.C. by train to pray in the presence of the reliquariy; young mothers bringing their infants to the reliquary to pray; many couples praying before the intertwined wedding rings that form part of the design of this family reliquary; a family from Maryland who venerated the reliquary both Saturday and Sunday; and persons who prayed the whole afternoon.

Even if you plan to pray in the presence of the relics at Carmel, I encourage you to visit them in the Cathedral this week if you can.  Through and including Friday, you can pray in the presence of the reliquary from 7:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m.  Prayer services for public veneration are at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 13th and again at 1;30 p.m. on Thursday, November 14th.

Click on the image to see it as a slightly larger PDF.  Download it here.  Please circulate it. Note that, especially if you are coming to Philadelphia from out of town or if you do not know your way around all parts of the city, the events of November 9-16 are your best chance to pray in the presence of the relics in the center of town.  The Cathedral Basilica is centrally located, there is paid parking nearby, and transportation to and from the airport is not difficult.