DYKER HEIGHTS — By the time the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette opened its doors on Oct. 19 to offer the faithful the chance to venerate first–class relics of the church’s namesake, the line stretched around the block.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Ron Rice, a St. Bernadette parishioner, one of the hundreds of faithful who attended. “I think it will deepen my faith.”
St. Bernadette was a miller’s daughter from France, whose apparitions of the Virgin Mary in a grotto in Lourdes in 1858 became a much-beloved part of Church history. The first-class relics brought to the church included strands of her hair, fragments of her fifth and sixth ribs, her kneecaps, a sample of muscle from her right femur, and fragments of other muscles and skin.
The relics are kept in a 24-karat gold-plated reliquary that the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France is currently bringing to churches around the U.S. as part of the “Journey of Grace” tour. The relics are considered first class because they are actual parts of St. Bernadette’s body.
“I think that does attract many more people, and that’s maybe why so many people have come through our doors today,” said Father Jeremy Canna, pastor of the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette. “The opportunity to perhaps get closer to her in a way that they, on most other days in their life, would not be able to.”
The Shrine Church of St. Bernadette was one stop on the 140-stop tour, which began in September and will end next August.
The faithful, many clutching rosaries and crosses, patiently filed into the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette to venerate the relics. The reliquary, contained in a glass case, stood in the center of the altar. At the edge of the altar stood two pedestals, each holding a small section of the grotto from Lourdes that the faithful could touch.
Many in attendance handed their rosaries, crosses, and medals to a church volunteer on the altar and asked them to touch the reliquary’s glass case with them.
St. Bernadette (1844-1879) is the patron saint of illness and body infirmity. Many people said they were there to ask for her intercession and help coping.
Sean McCann, who was diagnosed with ALS (known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) in 2024, came in his wheelchair from Staten Island with his mother, Sue Glynn, a breast cancer survivor, and his stepfather, William Glynn, a prostate cancer survivor.
“I’m not looking for a cure. … It’s more like, ‘Please, whatever’s thrown at me next, give me some sort of strength to navigate it,’ ” McCann said.
As she stood in line outside of the church, Bernadette McQuade, a parishioner of Mary Queen of Heaven Church in Mill Basin, said she was eager to see the relics, knowing she’ll never make it to Lourdes herself.
“When I heard her relics were going to be here, I wanted to be here,” she said.
Father Canna, who said he was surprised by the sheer size of the crowds, added that he hoped people could benefit from venerating the relics.
“I hope they’re able to spiritually unite themselves with Lourdes and the baths that are at Lourdes and (have) opportunity to find a sense of God’s healing in their life,” he said, “whether it be body or soul … and be able to take God’s healing with them from this day.”