BELMONT— Last night a St. Bernadette reliquary came to Belmont Abbey on its 2026 “Journey for Grace Tour,” during which she will stop at Belmont Abbey, Saint Bernadette Church in Linville, and St. Pius X Church in Greensboro for veneration, healing, and hope.
The 130-pound reliquary filled with first-class relics of bone, muscle and hair was displayed in the Basilica Mary Help of Christians. Benedictine monk Abbot Placid Solari, seminarians from St. Joseph Seminary in Mount Holly, the Daughters of the Virgin Mother, the Order of Malta, and guests anticipated her arrival by saying a rosary, fittingly, in front of the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto on campus.
From there, the group processed through the campus by candlelight into the Basilica where the monks led vespers. The Abbot blessed attendees with healing water from Lourdes, which has been credited with more than 7,000 miracles.
“The water is a sign of God’s light, healing and peace,” Abbot Solari said.
Attendees then venerated the saint by dipping their hands in the Lourdes water, touching the rocks from Our Lady of Lourdes’ grotto in France, and praying in front of the relics.
“The veneration of the bodies of the saints has been within the tradition of the Church since the earliest days,” Abbot Solari said. “It is through the concrete circumstances of their lives that the saints became holy references to Christ. Plus, it is a divine sense of encouragement to the living, to imitate the saints' love of Christ and to seek their constant intercession.”
A Belmont Abbey College alumni couple, who got married at the Abbey last December, came to visit. Now expecting, father-to-be Daniel Lee dipped his fingers in the Lourdes water and made the sign of the cross on his wife’s stomach.
“It is so special to have such an important and such a famous saint’s relic on campus,” Kate Lee said. “The Abbey is like home, so it is like having a friend coming home to visit. It is such a privilege to be able to see and venerate the relics right here.”
The couple has not been to Lourdes but despite the oceanic divide still hold a deep connection to Saint Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes.
“I spent a lot of time as a student by the grotto praying, talking to God, talking to Mary, - I even proposed at the grotto,” he said, “and to see Saint Bernadette’s relics here at the Abbey is just very special.”
The couple encouraged the public to come to Belmont Abbey while Saint Bernadette is in town today and tomorrow before heading to Linville.
“Come to see the beauty of this campus and this community meeting paired with the communion of saints and the intercession of Our Lady,” Daniel Lee said. “Miraculous cures happen through the veneration of relics, and the Lourdes water is known for its miraculous properties. Come pray, be healed and experience God.”
— Lisa M. Geraci. Photos by Troy C. Hull
Find the full schedule and learn more here.
