Pilgrims paid homage last night to one of Ireland's favourite saints, the patron of lost things, St Anthony, whose relic was welcomed to a Dublin church.
At the start of a nine-day Irish tour of the relic to Dublin and Carlow, Cardinal Desmond Connell presided over the official ceremony to welcome it when it arrived at Our Lady of the Visitation Church in Fairview.
The relic was flown into the State yesterday afternoon and arrived at the church with a Garda escort. The church was filled to capacity as several hundred people came to honour the saint and many waited outside for the relic's arrival.
At just after 7 p.m., Cardinal Connell accompanied by Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, Father Xavier Goulet, parish priest and other church dignitaries led the procession.
Through a guard of honour formed by members of local branches of CSI, Scouting Ireland and St Mary's Primary School, Fairview, a gold-covered statue of the saint with a lantern in which the relic was enshrined was carried into the church. As it passed, some people reached out to touch it and blessed themselves.
After the ceremony, men, women and children queued to slowly file past the relic, many of them carrying white lilies which the saint is always depicted holding in statues and pictures. The veneration continued until 10 p.m.
Welcoming the relic at the church portal, Cardinal Connell said he wanted the visit of St Anthony to Ireland to be an opportunity to express gratitude to God.
Archbishop Lazzarotto, who gave the homily, said they welcomed with devotion and deep emotion the relic of the saint who was well-known, greatly loved and venerated the world over.