The reliquary of St Therese of Lisieux will arrive in Northern Ireland today. It is expected at the Cathedral of SS Patrick and Colman in Newry this afternoon. It will come from Kilnacrott Abbey in Co Cavan.
The Norbertine Order, at Kilnacrott, has long associations with the saint. All proofs of her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, were read by the local prior.
The reliquary will be in the North until June 1st, when it travels to the Cathedral of SS Eunan and Columba in Letterkenny, Co Donegal. Apart from a visit to St Macartan's Cathedral in Monaghan next Saturday, it will be at the Carmelite convent in Newry today; St Peter's in Shankill, Lurgan, Co Armagh, tomorrow; St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh on Friday; St Peter's Cathedral in Belfast on Sunday; the Redemptorist monastery at Clonard, on Monday next; the Passionists in the Ardoyne next Tuesday; and St Eugene's Cathedral in Derry today week.
It will complete the Northern Ireland tour with a visit to the Carmelites at Termonbacca in Derry on Thursday, May 31st.
The main organiser of the tour, Father Joe Ryan, said no special security measures were being put in place. The reliquary was never out of the sight of two people at any time, he said.
He had been in contact with the RUC about arrangements and had received cordial correspondence assuring co-operation from Supt Bailey, acting for the Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan.
Father Ryan estimated that over a million people had seen the reliquary and he expected that three out of every five people on the island will have seen it when it leaves Rosslare on June 28th.
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