FUQUAY-VARINA, N.C. — “Not everyone can make the pilgrimage to Lourdes. How blessed we are that St. Bernadette has made the pilgrimage to us,” said pastor Father Bill John Acosta Escobar at the start of Mass at St. Bernadette Catholic Church in Fuquay-Varina as the parish welcomed the relics of its patroness, St. Bernadette Soubirous, during the saint’s 2026 national relic tour. The relics also visit Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh Monday, November 9, 2026.
Throughout the weekend, St. Bernadette parishioners and visitors were invited to pray before the relics and learn more about the life of the humble French saint who witnessed the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes in 1858. There were many opportunities for veneration of the relics, distribution of holy water from Lourdes, and outdoor torchlight processions following the Saturday and Sunday evening Masses. The parish also created a series of “encounter” stations throughout the church, offering reflections on St. Bernadette’s life and spirituality and encouraging prayer and meditation.
The visit held special meaning for the parish, whose history is closely linked to its patroness. A circular stained-glass window at the highest point of the church depicts Mary visiting St. Bernadette at Lourdes. According to materials prepared for pilgrims, the community chose St. Bernadette as its patron to highlight the connection between the town’s historic identity as Fuquay Springs and the story of Lourdes, where a spring revealed to Bernadette became a place of pilgrimage and healing.
For Father Bill John, the connection to Lourdes is deeply personal. In 2022, he suffered multiple heart attacks and spent nearly a month in a coma. Following a lengthy recovery, he traveled to Lourdes in thanksgiving and to experience the shrine's healing waters. While there, he received word that he would become pastor of St. Bernadette Parish.
Servant of God Father Thomas Frederick Price (1860–1919), the first native-born North Carolinian ordained a Catholic priest and co-founder of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, also developed a profound spiritual devotion to St. Bernadette after visiting Lourdes in 1911. He prayed to Saint Bernadette to intercede throughout his priestly ministry. His devotion was so strong that, following his death, the Sisters of Charity in Nevers agreed to allow his heart to be entombed only a few feet away from the tomb of St. Bernadette.
Pilgrims visiting the relics also learned about the Church’s understanding of relics, which parish materials described as reminders of the saints’ human lives and witnesses to God's continuing action in the world. St. Bernadette's relics include fragments of bone and small portions of hair, skin, and muscle, preserved for veneration by the faithful. For parishioners, the relic tour offered a rare opportunity to honor the young saint whose faith and humility continue to inspire Catholics around the world and whose spiritual legacy remains at the heart of one of North Carolina’s fastest-growing Catholic communities.
