Honduras: Don Bosco always present

The following comes from the Salesian News Agency:

On Monday 26 July coming from Managua, Nicaragua, Don Bosco’s casket arrived in Tegucigalpa. Landing at the International Airport of Toncontín, it was welcomed by a guard of honour from the Salesian schools and accompanied on its journey.

Religious, civil and military Authorities, Salesian pupils and past-pupils took part in the welcoming ceremony for the saint of youth. Placed on a mobile platform, the casket began its journey accompanied by Bishop Luis Alfonso Santos Villeda SDB bishop of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copan, by Fr Luis Corral, Provincial of Central America (CAM), and by the Provincial of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA) Sr Sandra Yela.

From the airport the casket went to the parish of Mary Help of Christians among the hills of Comayaguela, a twin city of Tegucigalpa, where Bishop Santos presided at Mass.

Next morning Tuesday 27 July, Don Bosco’s casket made its triumphal entry into the Saint Michael the Archangel Institute in Tegucigalpa, where it was welcomed by hundreds of pupils from various Salesian Institutes; here with hymns and songs the young people accompanied the Mass celebrated by the Salesian Archbishop Oscar Julio Vian Morales, of Los Altos Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán and concelebrated by Bishop Santos and various Salesian priests.

Early in the afternoon the casket was taken to the city Cathedral, filled with thousands of the faithful, are ready to stay in prayer close to Don Bosco. After being among them for three hours the casket was taken to the church of the “San Miguel” Institute where there was Mass for the local Salesian Family. During the Mass at which Archbishop Vian presided, three Salesians-Cooperators made their promise.

At the end of the Mass the young people expressed their joy and affection for Don Bosco and then there was a prayer vigil with hymns until mid-night.

Yesterday, 28 July, the relics of Don Bosco went to the Mary Help of Christians Institute and then to the Basilica of Our Lady of Supaya, Patron of the country, where Mass was said. The pilgrimage now passes to El Salvador.

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.