Sacred relic’s tour stop in Victoria draws crowd
A steady stream of Victoria’s Catholic community poured into St. Andrew’s Cathedral Saturday for a rare glimpse of a sacred relic.
They came to see, to venerate, touch and pray in front of the right forearm and hand of St. Francis Xavier, who died 465 years ago. It is believed to have baptized more than 100,000 people.
Hundreds sat in silence waiting for their chance to approach the hand and in some cases touch its plexiglass cabinet with their hands or prayer cards.
It was an emotional experience for some who left the altar with tears on their cheeks or clasping their hands over their hearts.
For many it was also a deeply personal moment, and few wanted to talk about what the experience meant to them, though some of the first people to approach the relic recounted how “real it made everything” and that it drove home for them that the saints and their faith is based on real people.
It’s a very real and personal experience for anyone, said Angèle Regnier, co-founder of Ottawabased Catholic Christian Outreach, the student evangelical organization that organized the St. Francis Xavier Canadian Relic Pilgrimmage tour.
“Peace is the most common reaction we see in people,” she said, adding they also prepare those who come to the churches to open their hearts. “This isn’t a museum, this is not about coming to see an artifact. This is an encounter with a saint, an opportunity for prayer that is rich and meaningful.
“In going to the places or seeing the saints in concrete ways, our spiritual senses are heightened.”
The relic, which is in the midst of a 14-city Canadian tour that started Jan. 3 and ends Feb. 2 in Ottawa, was to be on display through most of Saturday at St. Andrew’s. For most of the afternoon. there was a constant line through the church to the altar, and several people praying or sitting in quiet reflection both before and after approaching the relic.
Bishop Gary Gordon of Victoria, who led a near-full house in prayer when the relic was first brought to the altar in the early afternoon, said events like this have a way of strengthening and nourishing the faith of the Catholic community.
“They get this great gift of peace, it’s a confirmation, an affirmation of their faith,” he said, adding being physically close to something like “this person, St. Francis Xavier, who lived a life that was exemplary, well that does something for the heart.”
Gordon said when he looked out at a near-full church Saturday afternoon, he saw hope in a room of people with their hearts open.
“It makes my job easier in one way. People are being moved, faith is being stirred, commitment is deepening and love is growing,” he said, noting he hoped that as the hundreds left, walking through Victoria’s downtown area that “their eyes may be more open to the reality of these streets” and they may think they can do something to help.
“Faith stirs up a sense of wanting to make a difference, young and old,” he said. “It’s what happens — they go out and it transforms them to wanting to do something more. That’s what is exciting about having a church-full here.”
St. Francis Xavier is considered to be one of the great evangelists. Born to a wealthy family in what is now Spain in the spring of 1506, he would go on to help found the Jesuit movement and later became known for his missionary work in India, Japan, Borneo and China.
He died in 1552 on an island just off the coast of China at the age of 46.
His right arm and hand are usually kept in Rome — to where it was taken in the early 17th century — at the Jesuit mother church, the Church of the Gesu. The rest of St. Francis Xavier’s body is enshrined at the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, India.