Ste. Therese Visits Iraq

From Vidimus Dominum:

Iraq: the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux have arrived in Baghdad


A visit that according to the Patriarch of Antioch of
the Maronites could keep war away
Baghdad (Iraq), November 21 (VID) – Two days
ago, a little before the arrival of the UN inspectors in Baghdad, arrived the relics of Saint Therese of Lisieux, from Beirut where they remained for two- and-a-half months of pilgrimage in the country of the cedars.

“The visit of the sacred relics, can keep the ghost of the war from Iraq and from the entire region” Cardinal Pierre Nasrallah Sfeir, the Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites. affirmed. The pilgrimage of the relics in Lebanon has been sealed, last Sunday, by the celebration of the Saint Mess in the cathedral of Notre-Dames of Sarissa, in which thousands of faithful took part.

Among the highlights of the itinerary was the passage of the relics of Saint Therese in the prison of Roumieh, to north of Beirut, where 5 thousand prisoners hare held. After the mass, all the prisoners were allowed to pass through the courtyard to revere the relics of Saint Therese. In his homily, the Maronite Patriarch questioned the effectiveness of the imprisonment in the struggle against the crime, and then addressed the prisoners.

“I know well that your personal dignity has been sorely tried as a result of the imprisonment– said the prelate - but if you had remembered the dignity of the human person, both yours as well as that of your victims, you would not have done the deed.”


The Cardinal finished with an invitation to repentance and reconciliation. The Patriarch furthermore expressed his gratification for the popular fervour on the occasion of the visit of the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux in the various parts of Lebanon, which were received everywhere by processions, in which Christians and Moslems took part..

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There is a picture here.