ASIA/KUWAIT - Five hundred parishioners, associations and community groups in Salmiya welcome Saint Aretha

Salmiya (Agenzia Fides) - "It was one of the most beautiful events in the Church of Salmiya, involving all faith communities," a parishioner of the Church of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, in the heart of the Indian community of Salmiya (Kuwait), told Fides. Alvira, as the name refers, is the celebration of the arrival in the parish of the relic of Saint Aretha, who was martyred along with other martyrs in the Arabian Peninsula in 523 AD.

"We are privileged to have the relics of St. Aretha with us and it is a moment of grace to be able to honor the Saint," explained the parish priest of St. Thérèse Parish, Savio D'Souza, who together with the parish priest of Our Lady of Arabia Parish in Ahmadi, Fr. Roswin Pires (ofmCap), and the event committee led by Fr. Johnson Nedumpurath, received the holy relic, which will remain on display in the church for veneration.

In the presence of five hundred parishioners and all the associations and groups of the parish, the ceremony was initiated with a procession led by the Rosary Girls, followed by the ministers and all the concelebrating priests.

"It was a particularly intense moment to see 45 children participating in the procession in honor of Saint Aretha. Father Savio carried the relic and placed it on the altar, where he said the prayer of welcome. With special intentions, the Rosary was prayed together, followed by the novena to Mary Help of Christians," said Alvira.

The relic of Saint Aretha was donated to the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia, to which the parish of Salmiya belongs, by the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew. On Sunday, December 10, 2023, the Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia, Bishop Aldo Berardi (O.SS.T), celebrated the feast of the inauguration of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Awali, Bahrain, in the presence of more than a thousand faithful (see Fides, 11/12/2023), with the delivery of the relics, including those of Saint Aretha's. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 19/6/2024)

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