Our Lady of Fatima to Host Padre Pio Relics

     The relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, affectionately known to Catholics as Padre Pio, are on tour in the United States and will make a stop in the Diocese of Lafayette. Padre Pio's relics will be at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Lafayette on Sunday, October 6, 2019.
     To begin the day-long event, Bishop Douglas Deshotel will celebrate Mass in honor of Saint Pio at 9 a.m inside the church. Veneration of the Relics will be from 10 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. in Knight Hall, right behind the church and to the right of Our Lady of Fatima School.  While Veneration is underway in Knight Hall, the 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Masses will be celebrated inside the church, as usual.  The relics of Saint Pio available for public veneration include Saint Pio’s glove, crusts of the wounds, cotton-gauze with his blood stains, a lock of his hair, Saint Pio’s mantle, and his handkerchief soaked with his sweat hours before he died.
     Each relic is encased in an elegant reliquary, which will be displayed for prayers and veneration. The faithful who visit will be allowed close enough to touch the reliquaries holding the saint’s effects.
      For information about the public veneration, please call 337-232-8945 or email secretary@fatimalafayette.org.