A crowd of several thousands turned out in Rosslare today for the arrival of the relics of St Therese of Lisieux. The relics arrived in Rosslare this morning after an overnight sailing from the French port of Cherbourg.
Over three thousand people are estimated to have joined the Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey who officially welcomed the relics before they were transferred to Rosslare Harbour Church.
The relics will lie overnight at St Aidan's Cathedral, Enniscorthy. The organisers predict that more than one million people will come to see the relics during their tour, which will last two months and will visit every diocese in the Republic.
Speaking to journalists, Bishop Brendan Comiskey said lay people and not the hierarchy had requested the presence of the relics.
Considered by many as the patron saint of women priests, St Therese herself professed a desire to become a priest.
Therese was born on January 2, 1873, in Alencon, France. She was one of nine children. Four died in their infancy. Therese entered the Carmel of Lisieux at the age of fifteen years old and took her vows on September 8, 1890.
She died of tuberculosis on September 30, 1897, at the age of twenty-four and was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II in October 1997.