St. Thérèse of Lisieux relics tour the United States beginning on her October 1st feast day, will be in multiple dioceses until early December
Her relics will tour the US" https://stthereseusa2025.com/
October 1-8, 2025: The tour kicked off at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, Michigan.
Her relics visit the United States October 1 - December 8, 2025
the 100th anniversary of her Canonization and the Jubilee Year
October 1-8, 2025: The tour kicked off at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, Michigan.
Her relics visit the United States October 1 - December 8, 2025
the 100th anniversary of her Canonization and the Jubilee Year
- Royal Oak, Michigan (October 1-8, 2025)
- Ten dioceses in California (October 10-30)
- San Antonio, TX; several Carmels in the South (October 31-November 14)
- Holy Hill, Wisconsin (November 15-18)
- Washington, DC and environs (November 19-30)
- Miami, Florida (December 1-8)
“I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach the Gospel,” St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote in her autobiography, Story of a Soul. Although she never left France, her hope and desire took shape as her relics began traveling around the world. Next stop for this saint of the “Little Way” and doctor of the Church is the United States.
St. Thérèse’s relics are coming to the U.S. for the second time beginning October 1, her feast day. Her relics will make 40 stops in 11 states, crisscrossing the country from coast to coast through Dec. 8. This tour is designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her canonization, plus the Jubilee Year.
The first stop in this national tour will be at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, Michigan, Oct. 1-8. The opening day falls on St. Thérèse’s feast day, and the visit also coincides with the shrine’s 100th anniversary as a parish.
“We wanted to honor and venerate the Little Flower because she is our patroness, but also because her spirituality unites all of God’s people,” Father John Bettin, the basilica rector, told the Register of this second visit of her relics. “In this Year of Hope, this is a blessed opportunity for all of us to venerate such an influential intercessor.”Relics of St. Therese of Lisieux.(Photo: Courtesy photo)
The shrine is planning for a massive turnout. During the 1999, tour, when the shrine hosted St. Thérèse’s relics for only a single day, more than 75,000 people arrived.
St. Thérèse’s relics are coming to the U.S. for the second time beginning October 1, her feast day. Her relics will make 40 stops in 11 states, crisscrossing the country from coast to coast through Dec. 8. This tour is designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her canonization, plus the Jubilee Year.
The first stop in this national tour will be at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, Michigan, Oct. 1-8. The opening day falls on St. Thérèse’s feast day, and the visit also coincides with the shrine’s 100th anniversary as a parish.
“We wanted to honor and venerate the Little Flower because she is our patroness, but also because her spirituality unites all of God’s people,” Father John Bettin, the basilica rector, told the Register of this second visit of her relics. “In this Year of Hope, this is a blessed opportunity for all of us to venerate such an influential intercessor.”Relics of St. Therese of Lisieux.(Photo: Courtesy photo)
The shrine is planning for a massive turnout. During the 1999, tour, when the shrine hosted St. Thérèse’s relics for only a single day, more than 75,000 people arrived.
This time, the shrine will be offering a full week of Masses and veneration times.
When the reliquary came from France in 1999, and traveled through 25 states, more than 1,000,000 people came to venerate and pray to St. Thérèse. Now, 25 years later, it is a special blessing that the reliquary will be visiting the United States especially during this 100th anniversary year of her canonization and for the Jubilee Year of the Church, according to the tour’s national coordinator, Father Donald Kinney, a Discalced Carmelite priest at the Carmelite House of Prayer in California.
“There have been great crowds and great blessings everywhere,” Father Kinney said. “Such continued worldwide acclaim is unprecedented in the history of the Church. St. Thérèse continues to be loved as ‘the greatest saint of modern times.’”
Coast-to-Coast Stops
As this “Centenary Reliquary” travels the world for what is being called a “pilgrimage of hope,” the faithful can venerate at various locales, including dioceses and Carmels, shrines and churches in California, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland and Florida.
The large reliquary, designed in Baroque-style and resembling a building, was donated by Brazil and is made of tropical jacaranda tree hardwood from South America, trimmed in gilded silver.
For its protection, the reliquary is covered by a large plexiglass dome that people can touch as they pray before it.
Anticipating the first stop at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica, Father Bettin told the Register, “We are truly blessed to have the Little Flower with us, so that through her intercession, we might all reflect God’s great love in little ways in our daily lives.”
John LaCroix, a teacher at the Shrine Catholic Grade School in Royal Oas, on campus, is elated. 😇 He has been at the shrine for more than 40 years, and was involved in planning and hosting the 1999 relics stop.
Looking forward with excitement to this coming visit, he vividly recalls what people experienced 25 years ago. “The feeling inside the church, the spirit inside the church, was one of celebration. People were expecting all kinds of things to happen. And more happened than they ever thought would. … They felt cured. They felt like they had this great experience — [being] spiritually cleansed. They were just renewed in their faith.”
LaCroix remembered the reliquary and spiritual reaction. “It’s absolutely gorgeous, beautifully ornate. And there is a presence when you stand by it. You can feel a presence. You feel like she’s listening.”
He told the Register that, for this year's visit, the officials in Lisieux designated the time for the reliquary to remain in the United States, “but St. Thérèse is so popular that most places are ‘squeezing in’ as many stops as possible for the reliquary.”
He received calls “from bishops begging for a visit from St. Thérèse to their cathedral. For instance, in California, there are 19 stops in 20 days. Sadly, we have had to turn down many requests for a visit from places all over the country.” At the same time, he is learning that people will be traveling from all over the country to see the reliquary, with some even coming from Canada.
“What we most hope and pray for in this visit is that St. Thérèse will ‘fill hearts and fill churches,’” Father Kinney said, reflecting on the upcoming tour. “At this troubled time in our country, we need the gentle smile and encouragement that St. Thérèse is so well known for. The slogan for her visit is, ‘My way is all confidence and love.’ We want to help build up the Church.
Also, we want to be ‘love in the Heart of the Church.’
When the reliquary came from France in 1999, and traveled through 25 states, more than 1,000,000 people came to venerate and pray to St. Thérèse. Now, 25 years later, it is a special blessing that the reliquary will be visiting the United States especially during this 100th anniversary year of her canonization and for the Jubilee Year of the Church, according to the tour’s national coordinator, Father Donald Kinney, a Discalced Carmelite priest at the Carmelite House of Prayer in California.
“There have been great crowds and great blessings everywhere,” Father Kinney said. “Such continued worldwide acclaim is unprecedented in the history of the Church. St. Thérèse continues to be loved as ‘the greatest saint of modern times.’”
Coast-to-Coast Stops
As this “Centenary Reliquary” travels the world for what is being called a “pilgrimage of hope,” the faithful can venerate at various locales, including dioceses and Carmels, shrines and churches in California, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland and Florida.
The large reliquary, designed in Baroque-style and resembling a building, was donated by Brazil and is made of tropical jacaranda tree hardwood from South America, trimmed in gilded silver.
For its protection, the reliquary is covered by a large plexiglass dome that people can touch as they pray before it.
Anticipating the first stop at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica, Father Bettin told the Register, “We are truly blessed to have the Little Flower with us, so that through her intercession, we might all reflect God’s great love in little ways in our daily lives.”
John LaCroix, a teacher at the Shrine Catholic Grade School in Royal Oas, on campus, is elated. 😇 He has been at the shrine for more than 40 years, and was involved in planning and hosting the 1999 relics stop.
Looking forward with excitement to this coming visit, he vividly recalls what people experienced 25 years ago. “The feeling inside the church, the spirit inside the church, was one of celebration. People were expecting all kinds of things to happen. And more happened than they ever thought would. … They felt cured. They felt like they had this great experience — [being] spiritually cleansed. They were just renewed in their faith.”
LaCroix remembered the reliquary and spiritual reaction. “It’s absolutely gorgeous, beautifully ornate. And there is a presence when you stand by it. You can feel a presence. You feel like she’s listening.”
Expectations Then and Now: Father Kinney served as chairman of the organizing committee when St. Thérèse’s relics came to this country 25 years ago. Today, recalling his travels accompanying the reliquary on both the East and West Coasts, he emphasized, “It was one of the happiest experiences of my life!”
When the pastor of the basilica in Royal Oak, in Michigan, called him in 2023, to help bring the reliquary to the shrine for the upcoming 100th anniversary, Father Kinney was excited to assist with the planning again.He told the Register that, for this year's visit, the officials in Lisieux designated the time for the reliquary to remain in the United States, “but St. Thérèse is so popular that most places are ‘squeezing in’ as many stops as possible for the reliquary.”
He received calls “from bishops begging for a visit from St. Thérèse to their cathedral. For instance, in California, there are 19 stops in 20 days. Sadly, we have had to turn down many requests for a visit from places all over the country.” At the same time, he is learning that people will be traveling from all over the country to see the reliquary, with some even coming from Canada.
“What we most hope and pray for in this visit is that St. Thérèse will ‘fill hearts and fill churches,’” Father Kinney said, reflecting on the upcoming tour. “At this troubled time in our country, we need the gentle smile and encouragement that St. Thérèse is so well known for. The slogan for her visit is, ‘My way is all confidence and love.’ We want to help build up the Church.
Also, we want to be ‘love in the Heart of the Church.’
As St. Thérèse writes over and over, ‘I want to love Him and make Him much loved!’”
Father Bettin pointed out that at this critical time living in a culture that thinks in big terms — of people being in the spotlight — Thérèse’s Little Way will refresh people.
“Oftentimes, when we think of the saints, we think of ‘greatness,’ and we try to emulate them — and there’s nothing wrong with that,” he told the Register. “But it’s not necessarily about being prominent, but rather, to look at the gifts, talents and skills that God gave each one of us and using them not for ourselves but for others. We see this as well in the two recently canonized saints, St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, how each of them, in just their everyday life, offer themselves to Christ in their own way.
Every single one of us has gifts, talents and skills.”
Father Bettin shared a personal example of what he finds most beautiful in his priesthood: when there are children who wish, who desire, to enter the Church, and then they bring their parents and other adults into the Church through the OCIA process.
St. Thérèse “will bring people back to Church: She will bring conversions, healings and vocations,” observed Father Kinney. He pointed out two members of his Discalced Carmelite Friars California-Arizona Province had their first encounter with the Carmelite Order when St. Thérèse's relics visited in 1999.
He shared his reflection after the 1999-2000, visit.
There is “indeed something else inside the reliquary of St. Thérèse: the merciful love of God, the peace of Christ, and a little heaven on earth.”
Father Bettin pointed out that at this critical time living in a culture that thinks in big terms — of people being in the spotlight — Thérèse’s Little Way will refresh people.
“Oftentimes, when we think of the saints, we think of ‘greatness,’ and we try to emulate them — and there’s nothing wrong with that,” he told the Register. “But it’s not necessarily about being prominent, but rather, to look at the gifts, talents and skills that God gave each one of us and using them not for ourselves but for others. We see this as well in the two recently canonized saints, St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, how each of them, in just their everyday life, offer themselves to Christ in their own way.
Every single one of us has gifts, talents and skills.”
Father Bettin shared a personal example of what he finds most beautiful in his priesthood: when there are children who wish, who desire, to enter the Church, and then they bring their parents and other adults into the Church through the OCIA process.
St. Thérèse “will bring people back to Church: She will bring conversions, healings and vocations,” observed Father Kinney. He pointed out two members of his Discalced Carmelite Friars California-Arizona Province had their first encounter with the Carmelite Order when St. Thérèse's relics visited in 1999.
He shared his reflection after the 1999-2000, visit.
There is “indeed something else inside the reliquary of St. Thérèse: the merciful love of God, the peace of Christ, and a little heaven on earth.”
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| Saint Thérèse relics |
He encouraged doubters then to do what holds true today: to “pray for a few moments before the reliquary itself,” touching their hand to the plexiglass cover. “Something mysterious and wonderful happens to people in these moments: They come prayerful and hopeful, and they leave consoled, happy and at peace. There is an amazing atmosphere of charity and prayer where the reliquary is present.”
Catherine Sandoval is already looking forward to St. Thérèse’s relics coming to Little Flower Church in Coral Gables, Florida, on Dec. 2. The parish, established in the spring of 1926, is also celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Sandoval said St. Thérèse is her patron saint as well as confirmation saint. “I definitely have a devotion to her. She’s someone so special to me.”
During the first tour, 25 years ago, Sandoval said, “When the relics came to California, I was living in California, and I got to visit her relics then. But back then, I really didn’t understand what that meant. Now that I feel like I’m really living my faith and my vocation as a teacher and as an adult, I really appreciate the relic visit. I feel like it’s a complete full circle, really coming home to my faith.”
In fact, Sandoval teaches religion at the parish’s St. Theresa School. (In the early years, after the Little Flower’s canonization, many places Anglicized the spelling of her name, using “a.”) “I’m not surprised that I ended up here at the school where she’s a patroness because I have such a devotion to her. And, right now, I’m on my journey to being a Third Order Carmelite.”
It is just such blessings that Father Bettin hopes for — “that people walk away with a deeper appreciation of what we are called to by Jesus Christ himself, and that is to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in the world today — in all of its darkness, in all of its evil that surrounds us,” he said. “The light of Christ shines in and through us. And what a wonderful model St. Thérèse is, that she learned that it’s not about self-centeredness. It’s not about ‘me’ or the ‘I,’ but, rather, it’s about others, and giving of ourselves in service to God and service to others.”
Author: Joseph Pronechen is staff writer with the National Catholic Register since 2005, and before that, a regular correspondent for the paper. His articles appeared in a number of national publications including Columbia magazine, Soul, Faith and Family, Catholic Digest, Catholic Exchange, and Marian Helper. His religion features appeared in Fairfield County Catholic and in major newspapers. He is the author of Fruits of Fatima — Century of Signs and Wonders. He holds a graduate degree and formerly taught English and courses in film study that he developed at a Catholic high school in Connecticut. Joseph and his wife Mary reside on the East Coast.
Catherine Sandoval is already looking forward to St. Thérèse’s relics coming to Little Flower Church in Coral Gables, Florida, on Dec. 2. The parish, established in the spring of 1926, is also celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Sandoval said St. Thérèse is her patron saint as well as confirmation saint. “I definitely have a devotion to her. She’s someone so special to me.”
During the first tour, 25 years ago, Sandoval said, “When the relics came to California, I was living in California, and I got to visit her relics then. But back then, I really didn’t understand what that meant. Now that I feel like I’m really living my faith and my vocation as a teacher and as an adult, I really appreciate the relic visit. I feel like it’s a complete full circle, really coming home to my faith.”
In fact, Sandoval teaches religion at the parish’s St. Theresa School. (In the early years, after the Little Flower’s canonization, many places Anglicized the spelling of her name, using “a.”) “I’m not surprised that I ended up here at the school where she’s a patroness because I have such a devotion to her. And, right now, I’m on my journey to being a Third Order Carmelite.”
It is just such blessings that Father Bettin hopes for — “that people walk away with a deeper appreciation of what we are called to by Jesus Christ himself, and that is to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in the world today — in all of its darkness, in all of its evil that surrounds us,” he said. “The light of Christ shines in and through us. And what a wonderful model St. Thérèse is, that she learned that it’s not about self-centeredness. It’s not about ‘me’ or the ‘I,’ but, rather, it’s about others, and giving of ourselves in service to God and service to others.”
Author: Joseph Pronechen is staff writer with the National Catholic Register since 2005, and before that, a regular correspondent for the paper. His articles appeared in a number of national publications including Columbia magazine, Soul, Faith and Family, Catholic Digest, Catholic Exchange, and Marian Helper. His religion features appeared in Fairfield County Catholic and in major newspapers. He is the author of Fruits of Fatima — Century of Signs and Wonders. He holds a graduate degree and formerly taught English and courses in film study that he developed at a Catholic high school in Connecticut. Joseph and his wife Mary reside on the East Coast.
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