{"id":671742,"date":"2026-11-01T12:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T12:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/671742\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T12:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T12:26:09","slug":"veneration-of-thousands-of-relics-at-kilkenny-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/671742\/","title":{"rendered":"Veneration of thousands of relics at Kilkenny church"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rare public veneration featuring more than 3,000 first-class relics of martyrs and saints is set to take place in Kilkenny city.<\/p>\n

The solemn exposition will take place during and after 11.30am mass in St Canice’s Church to coincide with the Feast of All Saints.<\/p>\n

In Catholic tradition, a ‘first-class relic’ refers to the physical remains of a saint or martyr – such as a fragment of bone, hair, or flesh.<\/p>\n

They are distinguished from second-class relics (items owned or used by a saint) or third-class relics (objects touched to a first-class relic).<\/p>\n

St Canice’s Parish said that displaying thousands of such sacred items in a single location is an exceptional occurrence.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Curator of the relics and parish priest, Fr Willie Purcell, said locals and visitors alike will have a unique opportunity to connect with centuries of Christian history and spirituality.<\/p>\n

He said: “We encourage everyone to join us for this prayerful occasion, to venerate these sacred relics, and to draw spiritual strength from the extraordinary lives these saints led.<\/p>\n

“Whether you have a deep devotion to a specific patron saint or simply wish to draw closer to the mysteries of faith, this event provides a profound physical link to the history of the Church”.<\/p>\n

The Feast of All Saints is celebrated annually on 1 November, honouring all the saints of the Catholic Church, both known and unknown.<\/p>\n

The practice of venerating relics dates back to the early centuries of Christianity, when believers gathered at the tombs of martyrs to pray and seek their intercession.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rare public veneration featuring more than 3,000 first-class relics of martyrs and saints is set to take…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-671742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}