MANILA (UCAN): The relics of St. Therese of the Child Jesus arrived in Manila, the Philippines, on February 18 to a shower of white and red rose petals.
 
Devotees waved yellow flags as the reliquary containing the saint’s relics entered Manila’s San Fernando de Dilao parish church.
 
Father Rolando dela Cruz said that the people in his parish were honoured to have been chosen as one of the places to receive the relics.
 
“This day is precious because God showed us his love,” he said the during the welcome Mass. “May your visit bring us real conversion, repentance, and new life,” he said.
 
Born in France in 1873, St. Therese has been an influential model for many Filipino Catholics for her simplicity.
 
She became a nun in the cloistered Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy, in 1888. She died of tuberculosis at the age of 24.
 
The relics of St. Therese will be in the Philippines until May 31 for a tour of various dioceses.
 
The reliquary of that travels around the world was originally called the Centennial Reliquary because it was made during the centenary of her death in 1997. It is made from a scented hardwood from South America. The main relic case is solid silver dipped in gold.