Relic of St. Vincent de Paul on pilgrimage in Mexico
Fr. Alfredo Becerra Vázquez, CM, offers us background and reflections.
The Vincentian Family is living this Jubilee Year with much enthusiasm as we commemorate the 400th anniversary of the origin of our charism. This Jubilee Year is a time of grace, a time of blessing and a time of renewal.
The Congregation of the Mission has developed a series of proposals for this year: Eucharistic celebrations, meetings with the various branches of the Vincentian Family, youth encounters, conferences, rosaries, Holy Hours, promoting Vincentian vocations, development of Vincentian material, etc.
A committee was formed in Mexico to plan activities on a local level. The committee presented a series of initiatives to celebrate this Jubilee Year.
Among their proposals, I highlight here that of organizing a pilgrimage of the relics of Saint Vincent de Paul … a pilgrimage to the various places where the Vincent Family is ministering. We requested relics from the General Curia and they immediately sent relics to Mexico (relics of the first degree … a bone from one of Vincent’s fingers).
At the same time, we had an image made of Saint Vincent, using as a model the remains of Vincent as seen in the Motherhouse in Paris. The relic that was sent to us by the General Curia was then placed on the chest of the image of Vincent.
The Jubilee Year began on January 25th and at that time the relics began their pilgrimage. The scheduled visits include the following sites: Ciudad de México, Estado de México, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Durango, Chihuahua, Baja California Norte, Jalisco, Querétaro, Ciudad de México, Morelos, Puebla, Veracruz, Chiapas, Yucatán, Campeche, Veracruz, Estado de México, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Ciudad de México, Hidalgo and Ciudad de México.
In each place the Eucharist (presided by the local bishop) is celebrated in the cathedral. There are also presentations on the Vincentian charism, Holy Hours, the recitation of the rosary, publicity on the various means of communication, etc. This is an opportunity to make known to the all the people of the community the richness of the Vincentian charism.
In the places where the relic has already traveled, the people have experienced an extraordinary joy and understand that this pilgrimage of the relics of Saint Vincent is intended to strengthen them in their commitment to serve their sisters and brothers who are poor.
It should be mentioned here that this pilgrimage of the relics is taking place as a result of the collaboration among the various branches of the Vincentian Family. The conclusion of the Jubilee Year will take place at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 16, 2017). You can follow the pilgrimage at: www.facebook.com/reliquiasvicentemexico.
Translated: Charles T. Plock, CM
