LIVONIA, Mich. — The Byzantine Catholic parish in Livonia, Michigan, has recently become a pilgrimage site, aimed at helping pilgrims connect with the Early Church martyrs. Sacred Heart Parish inaugurated a new, unique shrine of many first-class relics, with a particular emphasis upon saints, representing the first five centuries of church history.
Six wood-and-glass cabinets, or ambries, were donated by individual parishioners, the Ladies of Sacred Heart and St. Nicholas Institute, to house the relics of the more than 30 individual saints. The relics are preserved in individual, smaller reliquaries. The ambries are located in the two side altars.
The purpose of the shrine was to “foster a greater love, familiarity and inspiration to be drawn from the lives and examples of these elder sisters and brothers of our faith,” said the pastor, Father Joseph Marquis, in an email to Horizons.
Most of the relics from the Early Church martyrs are from the personal collection of Father Marquis and his wife, Mary, and were acquired over an extended period of time. Father Marquis also shared the certificates of authentication for some of the relics with Horizons.
The pastor places the relics of a saint on the tetrapod for veneration on their respective feast days.
The relics are of saints, both Eastern and Western, and include: St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzus, St. Justin Marytr, Sts. Cosmas and Damian, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Sts. Peter and Paul, Sts. Polycarp and Ananias
, St. Andrew the Apostle, St. Nicholas of Myra, St. Anthony of the Desert, St. Clement of Rome, Sts. Constantine and Helen, St. Jerome, Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. George, St. Emilian, as well as a large relic of the True Cross, upon which Jesus was crucified, and a piece of the bloody cassock of St. John Paul II.
Father Marquis said the inclusion of a relic of St. John Paul II, the only contemporary saint, is due to his “profound love and concern for the traditions of the Eastern Church.”
Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, of Parma blessed ambries on his first pastoral visit to the parish Oct. 14, the feast of the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, held in 787 AD.
Since then, some Roman Catholic parishes in the area have made pilgrimages to Sacred Heart church to venerate the relics.
Caption 1: Relics of St. John Chrysostom housed in the shrine at Sacred Heart Parish. (Photo: Father Joseph Marquis)
Caption 2: Ambries in a side altar of Sacred Heart church houses relics of Early Church martyrs. (Photo: Marianne Nagrant)
As published in Horizons, Feb. 10, 2019. Sign up for Horizons’ digital newsletter.