Veneration of the relics of Bl. Alphonse Marie

It is an ancient custom of the Church to hold in great honour the bodily remains of the saints, called relics, and also to make pilgrimage to the tombs or to the places where the relics of the saints are kept, and there to pray and ask the intercession of these glorified members of the Church. So it is also with the relics of Bl. Alphonse Marie Eppinger.

The principal reliquary of Blessed Alphonse Marie Eppinger is kept in the side chapel called the Oratory in the convent church at Oberbronn. The grave in which the bodily remains of Mother Alphonse Marie lay from her burial until the beginning of the beatification process was, and is still preserved, in the cemetery at Niederbronn, which is the private cemetery of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Saviour. Pilgrimages to the relics of Blessed Alphonse Marie at Oberbronn may be made individually or as a group. A pilgrimage to the relics of Bl. Alphonse Marie is very welcome and, once announced to the sisters at Oberbronn, it can be arranged.

How does one request a relic of Bl. Alphonse Marie for a church or chapel? Just as the principal reliquary of Bl. Alphonse Marie is kept at Oberbronn for public veneration in the Church, so it is possible to request a small first-class relic (ex ossibus) solely for a church or chapel, for the purpose of exposing or placing the relic for public veneration by the faithful. Relics are not given to private persons. A letter or request for a relic, stating the place of the church or chapel where the relic will be placed for public veneration and signed by the responsible person (parish priest, parish administrator, rector, superior of a religious community, and so on), should be sent by post to: Postulation of Bl. Alphonse Marie, Nám. SNP 470/11, 811 06 Bratislava, Slovakia.

How to place a relic and how to venerate it fittingly and reverently

„The various forms of popular devotion towards the relics of the saints – such as kissing the relic, decorating it with lights and flowers, imparting a blessing with the relic, carrying the relic in procession, and not excluding the custom of bringing it to the sick (by the superior or a sister appointed for this in a religious house, or by the parish priest in a parish) to strengthen them and to reinforce the plea for healing – are to be carried out with great dignity and from a pure motive of faith. In every case, the placing of the relics of the saints on the table of the altar is to be avoided: this is reserved for the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.“ (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments: Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, 2002, no. 236).

If a relic is to be exposed in a church or chapel for public veneration, it may be placed beside the altar or in another suitable place. It may be incensed, kissed, or used to impart a blessing. With the relic of Blessed Alphonse Marie it is recommended that the text of the prayer for her canonization be placed alongside it.

Compiled by Sr Katarína Krištofová, SDR
Postulator of the cause of canonization
Bratislava, 17 May 2019