These are no bones of contention. <\/p>\n
Various body parts of beloved St. Bernadette Soubirous \u2014 who at the age of 14 had 18 visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, France in 1858 \u2013 are on a 140-stop US tour.<\/p>\n
The Journey of Grace<\/a> features a 132-pound, 24-karat gold-plated reliquary containing fragments of her fifth and sixth ribs, kneecaps, strands of hair, muscle from her right femur and pieces of her skin.<\/p>\n While it might seem morbid to some, the Catholic tradition of venerating relics, or the remains of saints, dates back to 156 A.D.<\/p>\n Body parts of St. Bernadette housed in a 132-pound 24-karat gold-plated reliquary are on a nationwide tour. PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n Rev. Patrick Flanagan<\/a>, chair of St. John\u2019s University\u2019s theology department, explained to The Post why the body parts are significant to Catholics.<\/p>\n \u201cRoman Catholics believe in the sanctity of human life and concurrently value the body. The body is not merely a shell that contains the soul but an essential part of who the human person is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cA bone, a fragment of skin, or perhaps even a heart . . . It is essentially the saints\u2019 presence among us once again. It is comforting and encouraging to realize that heaven has come to Earth in the presence of these relics.\u201d<\/p>\n Flanagan debunked the notion that Catholics worship saints<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not. We venerate them as holy, virtuous, really remarkable people who served as intercessors for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The patron saint of illness in the Catholic Church<\/a>, the teenaged Bernadette had her series of famous visions of the Blessed Mother across several months in the small French town of only 4,000 inhabitants. She died in 1879 at the age of 35, partly due to tuberculosis.<\/p>\n St. Bernadette Soubirous was just 14 when she had her first vision of the Virgin Mary. Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images<\/p>\n The Catholic Church<\/a> has since recognized 72 miracles related to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes. The town is now the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world.<\/p>\n The American tour of St. Bernadette\u2019s reliquary, which will visit basilicas, shrines, cathedrals, parishes, hospitals and universities, kicked off in Washington, DC, on Sept. 18, and this weekend, it will be at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in West Harlem. On Oct. 19 it will be at The Shrine Church of St. Bernadette in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, and the next day at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral<\/a>.<\/p>\n The first time St. Bernadette\u2019s body was exhumed, 30 years after her passing, it was miraculously incorrupt. Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cHundreds of thousands of people visited the reliquary in the hope of experiencing the same grace, healing, and hope that so many visitors to Lourdes have experienced,\u201d Flanagan explained of its first US tour in 2002.<\/p>\n Bernadette\u2019s body was exhumed in 1909 and 1919 to prove the cause for her sainthood, and in 1925 pieces of her body were removed to be preserved as relics. The first time her body was exhumed, 30 years after her passing, it was miraculously incorrupt.<\/p>\n