The right forearm and hand of St. Francis Xavier was on display at St. Albert the Great Parish on Sunday and thousands of Calgarians attended the event to see the relic of one of the most famous missionary saints.
“For Catholics, it’s an opportunity to have a physical manifestation of a deeper spiritual reality, which is the fact that the saints are in heaven right now and continuing their ministry in praying for us here on earth, they’re like friends for us,” said D'Arcy Murphy, Guardian of the Relic.
The relic will be displayed in 15 cities over 30 days and Murphy says he’s impressed by the turnout.
“We’ve been surprised and amazed at how many people have come out,” said Murphy. “For the thousands that we’ve had today and that we’ve had at the number of stops we’ve made before, you really don’t know what that number looks like until you see it with your two eyes so It’s been exciting to see that.”
The Catholic Church says St. Francis is believed to have baptized close to 100,000 people and his forearm has not seen natural decay since his death 465 years ago.
“There are a number of saints in the Catholic Church who, like Francis, are considered incorrupt, which means their remains haven’t decayed at a natural rate and so in this case we have a completely intact right forearm and hand, there’s still flesh on the bones and you can quite clearly tell it’s a hand so this is special, this is considerable in the church,” said Murphy.
Murphy says the arm is contained in a simple, glass case and is typically housed in Rome at the Church of the Gesu.
“There’s no refrigeration techniques and there’s no preservation agents, that’s the arm as it is and it’s been kept that way for hundreds of years.”
The relic will be on display at St. Michael’s on Monday and will be brought to B.C. later in the week.
