January 26, 2005
Relics said to be from the time of Jesus Christ’s last days on earth will be displayed at only one East Valley church in February, contrary to what organizers had hoped.
The Arizona State Council of the Knights of Columbus has announced the "Relics of the Passion" tour, featuring sacred items, such as a piece of the Crown of Thorns and wood from the cross, will not make a Chandler stop. To compensate, the items will be displayed all night, Feb. 10-11, at St. Timothy’s Catholic Community in Mesa, said John Garcia of the council.
Efforts to open the fourday Arizona tour at Chandler’s St. Mary’s Church failed because of scheduling conflicts.
The first stop will be 8:30 a.m. Feb. 10 at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Phoenix.
Long lines are expected at the nine Arizona churches on the tour.
All items will be inside a single glass case, and people may pass by and briefly pause to pray, kiss or touch the case.
Visitors are encouraged to spend only a "few seconds," Garcia said.
The items are available through the Apostolate of Holy Relics, a Los Angelesbased nonprofit organization under the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The remnants, part of a collection of more than 1,200 sacred relics in its care, were originally brought in the 4th century from present-day Israel to Rome and were housed in a basilica.
The items to be displayed also contain wood said to be from the table or Upper Room where Christ served the Last Supper, as well a replica nail containing steel shavings from an original nail that held Christ on the cross, and a fragment of cloth, or sindonis, the exterior wrapping of the famed Shroud of Turin in which Christ’s body was wrapped.
"This stuff usually stays in the museum all the time, and this is only the second time that it is out," Garcia said. "It is probably the only time it will ever be in Phoenix."
For information, call (602) 525-4424 or visit
Relics tour
Feb. 10
• 8:30 a.m., Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 8620 N. Seventh St., Phoenix. Mass, followed by veneration until 4 p.m.
• 7 p.m. St. Timothy’s Catholic Community, 1730 W. Guadalupe Road, Mesa. Mass, followed by veneration until 6 a.m. Feb. 11.
Feb. 11
• 8:30 a.m., St. John Vianney Catholic Church, 539 La Pasada Blvd., Goodyear. Mass followed by veneration until 3:30 p.m.
• 5:30 p.m., Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral, 6351 N. 27th Ave., Phoenix. Mass with Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted. Veneration until 4 a.m. Feb. 12
Feb. 12
• 9 a.m., Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Nogales, Ariz. Mass followed by veneration until 1 p.m.
• 2 p.m., Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church, Green Valley. Veneration until 4 p.m.
• 5:30 p.m., St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Ave., Tucson. Mass with Bishop Gerald Kicanas. Veneration until 5 a.m. Feb. 13
Feb. 13
• 9 a.m. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 8650 N. Shannon Road, Tucson. Mass followed by veneration in until 5 p.m.
• 6 p.m. Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church, 1800 S. Kolb Road, Tucson. Mass. Veneration to follow
