Tuesday 13 October 2009

St Thérèse in prison

Yesterday the relics made one of their best-publicised stops: a visit to Wormwood Scrubs prison in West London. The visit to this prison has attracted a fair amount of attention in the national media, but Thérèse is no stranger to such institutions; it has often been the case that her relics, when on tour, visit one or more prisons.

The Archbishop of Westminster also visited the prison, celebrating Mass with a large group of prisoners. The relics are now at his Cathedral, where he will preside over some of the major liturgies over the next couple of days.

St Thérèse prayed for the conversion of criminals, most famously in the case of the murderer Pranzini, and so it seems very fitting that her relics called at Wormwood Scrubs. Many of the prisoners paused to venerate the relics before they moved on. It's worth taking a look at the full set of pictures from the prison, which can be found here.