LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It's certainly not something you see every day, but hundreds in Louisville are getting the chance. Relics are common in the Catholic faith, but one this well-preserved is rare. The heart of St. John Vianney is on a tour throughout the U.S. right now.
"We could not go to visit St. John Vianney, but he's able to stop by and visit us,” St. John Vianney pastor Father Anthony Ngo said. "This is one of the greatest events in our church history."
"It's a joy to be able to bring it,” Knights of Columbus Education, Outreach & Visitor Services Manager Peter Sonski said. "This is the incorrupt heart of a priest who died 150 years ago. He was renowned for holiness, for virtue. He was very simple, not very well-educated."
The Knights of Columbus got the relic in November 2018. It’ll go back to France this summer, but it’s on a tour around the country until then.
"I've traveled so far through or to 19 states with the relic,” Sonski said. "I'm on the road for three straight weeks, and I will be at one or two places every day during that entire time. It'll be 3,000 miles, and I have 26 stops to make."
Sonski brought it to Louisville Sunday night and said the response at St. John Vianney was incredible.
"At 9:00 on a Sunday night, there were more than 700 people here waiting for the relic to arrive, and they stayed all throughout the night,” Sonski said.
Vianney’s story started in a small French village called Ars in the 1800s. He worked hard to help the people there.
"He would read souls. He had the ability to look into someone's heart and to identify those faults, those sins, those imperfections, and help them to identify them as well and get rid of them,” Sonski said.
Long after his death, the church believes his heart continues his life's work.
"It's, if you will, a heart to heart talk with heaven,” Sonski said.
It’s something the church calls divine intervention.
"He died 150 years ago in a very poor farming village in remote, rural France. So, there weren't any opportunities to do the types of embalming or preservation that we would do in modern times,” Sonski said. "God can preserve people's bodies. He can work a miracle, and an incorrupt heart is indeed a miracle."
The rest of his body is still intact, too, and on display in France. Sonski said every mile traveled for this pilgrimage of prayer is well worth the opportunity it brings to so many faithful.
"They want to seek the spirit of the saint,” Sonski said. "It's just a quiet time for people to come and pray. The relic is a physical presence of a spiritual presence in heaven."
It comes at a time that is tough for the faith.
"The church is wounded now. The church is struggling. People have in some cases lost hope, become confounded, become angry, but they are still hopeful. They are still persevering in their faith, and they look for occasions like this as opportunities to express that hope,” Sonski said. "We're praying for the church for a renewal in holiness."
If you didn't get a chance to see the relic in Louisville, it's going to southern Indiana next. It'll be at St. Paul Church in Tell City on Tuesday afternoon at 3:00. You can also see it in Paducah at St. John the Evangelist Church on Wednesday from 10:00-8:00.
Click here for a full schedule.