Close to 400 volunteers and several organizations in Bacolod City have mobilized for the 2nd visit of the pilgrim relics of St. Therese that begins 1 p.m. tomorrow.

“The outpouring of help is overwhelming,” said Sergie Tan, liaison officer of the organizing group for the visit. “People just come forward to offer what they can,” he added.

Preparations for the visit, Tan said, has been primarily done by volunteers – from the secretariat to the education committee, down to the marshals and ushers.

The military has also been involved, considering that it was the military bishop of the Philippines, Msgr. Leopoldo Tumulak who brought the relics to the Philippines from Lisieux, France.

The Philippine National Police, the 6th Regional Mobile Group, the 303rd Brigade and the Air Force have already offered their services, Tan added.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus is also known as patroness of soldiers after cases of her intercession for soldiers in the battlefield during World War I were reported.

The saint was also known for her concern for prisoners and in this connection, her relics will be brought inside the city jail. Inmates at the Bacolod jail are now preparing for her visit together with the Prison Ministry led by Manggi Coscolluela.

The pilgrim relics will arrive at the BREDCO port 1 p.m. tomorrow. These will be brought to the San Sebastian Cathedral for the welcome rites and mass. A motorcade will bring the reliquary to the city jail, and from there to the Carmelite Monastery in Mandalagan, Bacolod City.

At 6, a mass welcoming the relics in Carmel will be celebrated by Fr. Bernard. Veneration will begin after the mass until 10 p.m. when the monastery will be closed.

Carmel will open at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5, for the regular mass. Veneration is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

On March 6, Thursday, the relics will be brought to the Diocese of Kabankalan after the 6:30 a.m. mass in Carmel. They will be brought back at 5 p.m. A mass will be celebrated by the clergy of the Diocese of San Carlos led by Bishop Jose Advincula. Veneration will resume after, until 10 p.m.

The relics will be sent off for its next stop, Malacañang, on March 7. There will be mass at 6:30 a.m. in Carmel. Departure for Silay is at 9:30 a.m. The send-off motorcade will pass by the San Diego Pro-Cathedral in Silay on its way to the airport from where it will take off at 11:30 a.m.*EFJT

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