Pilgrimage of Mercy: the Tour of the Major Relics of St. Maria Goretti will visit the Diocese of Brooklyn in October.
It is the first time that the saint’s body has traveled to the U.S. and only the second time that it has left Italy.
The relics can be venerated at Good Shepherd Church, Marine Park, on Thursday, Oct. 1. Public veneration begins immediately following the 7 a.m. Mass. Mass also will be celebrated at 7 p.m.by Auxiliary Bishop Witold Mroziewski. Public veneration ends at 11:30 p.m.
The relics will then be brought to St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral, Prospect Heights, on Friday, Oct. 2.
The public may venerate the relics from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mass will be celebrated at 7 p.m.
While St. Maria is universally known as the patroness of purity, her greatest virtue was her unyielding forgiveness of her attacker even in the midst of horrendous physical suffering – a forgiveness that would completely convert him and set him on a path to personal holiness.
This visit of the major relics of St. Maria Goretti is an effort by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and Treasures of the Church (www.TreasuresOfTheChurch.com) to prepare and catechize the U.S. for the Year of Mercy that begins Dec. 8. More information can be found online at: