Diocese hosts relics, hoping to bring Catholics home

In life, the cloistered French Roman Catholic nun Margaret Mary Alacoque inspired those who knew her - by her devotion to Jesus in silent prayer, and the suffering she bore while stricken and paralyzed as a teen in the 17th century.

Today, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque continues to inspire the Catholic faithful, who point to the miracles that helped lead to her canonization in 1920. Officials at the Diocese of Rockville Centre are hoping to inspire those who have fallen out of faith as well, with a special one-week exhibit of some of the relics of her body at religious sites on Long Island.

The Church hopes the sight of small fragments of bone from Alacoque's hip and shoulder, displayed in a glass box - along with her life story - will inspire nonpracticing Catholics.

"It's a time to bring all Catholics to their knees and say, 'Come on, pray that we can bring back those who have fallen away,' " said John Palmer, the diocese's main organizer of the visit, who also serves as the diocese's coordinator of renewal apostolate.

The relics are to arrive Sunday afternoon and will be accompanied by two overseers of the basilica in France where Alacoque's remains are kept. The relics will be displayed and venerated starting Monday. The tour will end Aug. 23.

Lee Paolino, a parishioner from Port Washington, said she has been urging the diocese to bring the relics here for the past five years, ever since she visited France and saw them herself. She said she hopes the tour will attract not only Catholics but people of other faiths as well who may be inspired by Alacoque, who is credited with the miraculous cure of at least two people as she herself had been cured from paralysis as a teen.

When Alacoque's tomb was canonically opened in July 1830, two instantaneous cures were recorded to have taken place.

The tour will also include a Vatican exhibit on 40 miracles by other saints that have been validated by the Church, said Palmer, who added that Bishop William Murphy was a main backer of the visit.

After Alacoque became a nun, she "had a vision of the Sacred Heart and the Lord instructed her to spread the love of his heart and that he would reveal his graces through her," the diocese said in a statement.

She founded the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which calls for a regular prayer hour each month. The Sacred Heart is a representation of Jesus' heart, which symbolizes his love for humanity.

Since her canonization, the basilica in France that is home to her remains is a popular pilgrimage site.