At 6:00 pm, September 26th everything began. Some 20 priests, about 50 religious women and more than 500 lay people participated in the Eucharist that was celebrated by Bishop Stanislav Zvolenský, archbishop of Diocese of Bratislava. It was powerful experience and there is no doubt that people have been touched by the charism of St. Vincent. This celebration was transmitted through TV LUX, radio Lumen and Radio Mária … this provided the infirm and people confined to their homes with the opportunity to participate in this event.

In Bratislava the relics were able to be venerated for three days. Afterwards the relics were transported to Trnava (2 days), Špačince, Ružindol, Šurany, Močenok, Levice, Bánovce nad Bebravou, Topoľčany, Bošany, Nitra (3 days) and Nitrianske Pravno. In every place the relics were received by priests, women religious and countless lay people. When the relics were in Trnava, they were also venerated by prisoners in Hrnčiarovce nad Parnou (individuals who were also touched by the story of Vincent’s life). One of the prisoners, with tears in his eyes said: “Thank you for being able to encounter and venerate these relics … the relics of one who, during the seventeenth century, ministered on behalf of prisoners”.

In every place parishioners (members of Vincentian family in Slovakia) prepared some program to prepare people for the arrival of these relics. People prayed novenas, litanies, rosaries… They spoke about the life of St. Vincent and/or viewed a film about his life. In Ružindol, people also spoke about Ján Havlík, a seminarist of Congregation of the Mission, who died a martyr in 1965 (at the age of 37) in communist labor camp. Here the members of the JMV actively participated and gave a most touching presentation.

In Bratislava and Trnava, the Eucharist was celebrated for the school children … more than 700 children who will never forget this event.

Most of these celebrations were led by a member of the Congregation of the Mission who spoke about various events in Vincent’s life, his dedication to poor people and his willingness to engage in the struggle for justice. These presentation opened the eyes of many people who began to understand the relevance of the Vincentian charism in this present era.

During the time of the pilgrimage we placed quotations from St. Vincent in prominent places and people were able to follow the pilgrimage at www.vincentini.sk, FB: www.fb.com/putovanierelikvii and Instagram: www.instagram.com/putovanierelikvii. There were more than 1,000 people that have liked our FB page. Many of the posts were viewed by more than 10,000 people. We sent articles to the press and every week spoke on Radio Maria about Vincent´s life and about the pilgrimage. Members of the Vincentian Family all spoke on television and other radio stations.

Hundreds of people are also praying for new vocations to the Vincentian Family, mainly to the Congregation of the Mission and Daughters of Charity.

We believe, that this pilgrimage of relics of St. Vincent de Paul will result in many blessings and graces. We also believe that this pilgrimage will lead to a spiritual and religious rebirth of the Slovak and Czech republic.

We would like to thank the Congregation of the Mission for providing us the opportunity to organize this pilgrimage.

With sincere greetings
Juraj Švec,
media team of peregrination of relics