Knights of St. Columba National Relic Tour 2025

The sun shone on Monday 29th September 2025, as the chaplaincy team walked to St Mary and St Joseph Catholic Church.

The Knights of Columba had brought the relics of St Margaret of Scotland, St Columba of Iona and St Andrew, the apostle to the church as part of their tour.

We had been invited to see the relics and participate in the mass with Bishop Paul McAleenan.

Bishop Paul was joined by Father David and Father Dennis along with Callum and several altar servers.

The relics were kept inside a gold reliquary. This was inside a glass container to protect it.

The relics were at the front of the altar for us all to see and pray to. It felt a very special occasion.

The altar servers waved incense over the relics and the Bible. Bishop Paul even kissed the Bible after the Gospel. Bishop Paul spoke to us in a lovely manner during his homily. He looked at us and it felt like he was talking just to us.

The bishop was very kind and friendly. We even had a photo with him afterwards! When the bishop was not wearing his mitre (hat) or holding his crozier (shepherd’s hook), the altar servers held them. Out of respect, they did not touch them but held them with a white cloth.

Bishop Paul explained that today was the feast of the archangels and that their names were Gabriel, Michael and Raphael. He asked us what we knew about Gabriel and Jack answered that this angel told Mary that she was going to have a son called Jesus. We learnt that all their names end in ‘el’ which means God. This shows us that they were close to God.

Next, Bishop Paul told us that God created everything visible and invisible. The archangels were part of the invisible group whereas the saints were visible as they had been alive. The saints we were venerating today were a queen, a hermit and a fisherman. This showed us that saints were not just limited to one group of people. Everyone has the chance to be a saint.

As we prayed and focused on the relics, we hoped that we too could be like the saints: a good person, a close friend of Jesus and without deceit in our hearts.

It was an honour to join JFK, the Dom Squad from St Roses and the parishioners in worship. Overall, it was truly an amazing experience to be part of.

We encourage you, if you get the opportunity, to visit relics so that you too may feel this special bond and closeness to God, Jesus and the saints.

The Chaplaincy Team and Mrs Poyner