Saint’s right arm comes to Montreal as part of cross-country tour
MONTREAL — The right forearm of a 16th-century Jesuit missionary will arrive in Montreal today on the latest stop on a cross-country tour.
Montreal Archbishop Christian Lepine says the relic of St. Francis Xavier will arrive on a flight from Vancouver on Sunday afternoon, just in time for an evening mass.
The relic, which normally rests in Rome, has been criss-crossing the country as part of a tour to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday.
Christians in cities from Halifax to Vancouver have had a chance to venerate the relic, which never fully decomposed after the Spanish-born saint died in 1552.