St. Eymard’s Bone Relic visits ACDO

From top to bottom: Fr. Joel Lasutaz, SSS (left) holds the monstrance containing the Relic of St. Peter Julian Eymard for veneration by pilgrims; Close-up of the Relic, housed in a monstrance.


By Fr. Joel R. Lasutaz, SSS

The Pilgrimage of the Bone Relic of St. Peter Julian Eymard, the Modern Apostle of the Eucharist and Founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament received a warm welcome from parishioners of the Sacred Heart Parish when it arrived last September 24, 2010 from Davao with Fr. Frankie de los Reyes, SSS,  who led the delegation of mostly members of the Life in the Eucharist Seminar (LITES) team.

The relic was welcomed at the Stigmatines Seminary in Upper Puerto with a  motorcade from the seminary to the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Holy Eucharist (ASHE),  R.N. Pelaez Blvd., Kauswagan, Cagayan de Oro City.

During the Mass,  the shrine was  filled with pilgrims who attended the Holy Hour and  the veneration of the relic.

The pilgrimage  was in celebration of St. Eymard’s  200th birthday on February 4, 2011 and his baptism anniversary on February 5, which for St. Eymard is far more significant than his day of birth.  The  pilgrimage is done to proclaim his message “to set the four corners of the world on fire with eucharistic love”.

St. Eymard’s  message of Eucharistic Love resounds until these days. He desired to be embraced by Jesus’ love in the Eucharist.   His belief in Divine Love celebrated in the Eucharist and contemplated in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament exposed made him the Apostle of the Eucharist when he was canonized a saint in December 9, 1962 by Pope John XXIII at the end of the First Session of the Second Vatican Council. It was this Council of the Church that declared the “Eucharist is the Source and Summit of Christian Life” (Lumen Gentium 11) following St. Eymard’s Eucharistic Spirituality and Theology.

St. Eymard’s Bone Relic visited the churches of Jesus Nazareno (Lapasan),  San Antonio de Padua (Nazareth),  the Cathedral, Eco Church (Kauswagan),  Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Carmen), Sto. Niño de Oro (Cogon) at ASHE,  Immaculate Conception (Bulua) and Nuestra Señora Virgen del Rosario (Consolacion).  It  was also venerated during the culmination of the City West District Catechetical Month at Country Village Hotel.

The Relic was brought to Manila and accompanied the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament during their Amplified Provincial Council Meeting attended by Parish Priests and Local Superiors of SSS Communities nationwide last October 18-22, 2010.