St. Therese of Lisieux relics make peace pilgrimage - World - Brief Article

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 20, 2002 by Gill Donovan

IRAQ: As the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux were about to be transferred from Lebanon to Iraq, Catholics in both countries prayed for the intercession of the "Little Flower" in preventing war in the region. Closing a 10-week pilgrimage of the relics throughout Lebanon Nov. 17, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic church, prayed that the relics would drive away "the specter of war from Iraq and the whole region."

The relics are being carried around Iraq in a pilgrimage that began Nov. 18 and will end Dec. 28, in response to an urgent request by Archbishop Jean Sleiman, head of the Latin-rite Baghdad archdiocese.

According to Vatican statistics, there are 281,000 Catholics in Iraq, about 1 percent of the population. Iraqi Catholics belong to the Latin, Chaldean, Syrian and Armenian rites and all are expected to participate in ceremonies surrounding the relics of the 19th-century saint.

St. Therese, a Carmelite nun, died of tuberculosis in 1897 at age 24. Pope John Paul II, citing the importance of her spiritual autobiography, Story of a Soul, officially designated her a doctor of the church in 1997.