St. John Bosco's Relics now in Honduras

The following comes from the Zenit site:

Now in Honduras, soon to be in El Salvador, the relics of St. John Bosco are being taken to communities throughout Central America.

The year 2015 will mark the 200th anniversary of John Bosco's birth, and his relics have been on tour since June as part of the celebration. St. John Bosco is the founder of the Salesians and well-known for his work with youth.

A glass urn with a life-size statue of the saint contains the relics: bones from his right hand and forearm. The statue is a model of the one in the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians in Turin, Italy, where the remains of the saint rest.

Salesian Father Tadeusz Rozmus reflected that the right hand of this saint is significant because with it he "blessed, wrote the [Salesian] constitutions, the Catholic letters and absolved sins."

The saint's relics are in Honduras until Wednesday, when they will travel to El Salvador.

The urn was already in Costa Rica and was also taken to Nicaragua. There, President Daniel Ortega and Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo, retired archbishop of Managua, participated in a ceremony with the relics.

The relics will be in Mexico from Aug. 4 to Sept. 11, and from there go to the United States. In Mexico, the relics will be taken to 30 cities.

Don Bosco's relics were blessed on April 25 in Turin by the Salesian superior-general, Mexican Father Pascual Chávez Villanueva. During their five-year pilgrimage, they will be taken to some 130 countries.

Don Bosco's Relic arrives in Costa Rica

The following comes from the Salesian News Agency:

Early in the afternoon of 20 July, Don Bosco’s casket arrived at the “Tobías Bolaños” aeroport in San José, Costa Rica; waiting for it was a large crowd of students, in the uniforms of the Salesian institutes and many people waving welcoming banners.

A long procession of vehicles then accompanied to casket to the “La Sabana” Park, where Don Bosco was officially welcomed by the Minister of Education, Dr. Leonardo Garnier, who underlined the importance of Don Bosco, as the patron of technical education and the model for every kind of formation.

Then the casket was taken to the Mary Help of Christians Sixth Form College of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians where the arrival was greeted with great joy and the sports hall was not big enough to accommodate all the youngsters who wanted to be near the saint. The FMA were the first to have the privilege of approaching the casket and venerating Don Bosco.

Then the crowd filed past and all wanted to touch the casket with a handerchief or some other object to receive a blessing. Not even the rain was able to dampen the youthful enthusiasm and silence the songs and prayers to Don Bosco which were the dominant notes of the festive occasion.

At 18.30 the casket was taken to the Institute of the “Colegio Don Bosco”, in the “El Zapote” district. Here inside the school chapel Mass was said by Bishop Guillermo Loría Garita of San Isidro de El General.

During the night there was a prayer vigil in the Salesian Institute led by the young people and which featured their prayers, hymns, joy and enthusiasm all in honour of Don Bosco.