REVISION:
The new hours are: Friday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. & 7-8:00 p.m.
Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (with prayer service at 11:00 a.m.) and 7-8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Pilgrimage of Relics in commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Conventual Franciscan Friar, St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv.
In 1941, St. Maximilian demonstrated heroic charity by offering up his life in place of fellow prisoner, a husband & father, who was one of ten men chosen to suffer death by starvation, in the Auschwitz (Poland) WWII concentration camp as consequence for a prisoner’s successful escape. Canonized October 10, 1982, St. Maximilian Kolbe was declared the “Patron Saint of our difficult century,” and a Martyr of Charity, by Pope Saint John Paul II. Our Province is in the beginning stages of a 2016 pilgrimage of a relic to most of our ministry locations in the U.S.A. and Canada.  The reliquary pictured here is one of four that was created in 1971 to hold a portion of his beard. Upon his return to Poland, under the National Socialism, the beard that once earned him the respect of the people he served as a missionary in Japan, instead provoked not only his own persecution but the persecution of his fellow friars, “Beards provoke the enemy who rapidly is approaching our friary. Our Franciscan habits also will provoke him. I can part with my beard. I can’t sacrifice my habit.” In 1938, after having shaved Maximilian’s beard, one of the friars placed it in a pouch. The reliquary also contains symbols from the life of St. Maximilian: the base is in the shape of his birthplace of Poland, covered in the “thorns” of occupation by the Third Reich. Out of those thorns, however, burst forth a lily of purity and a tulip of martyrdom – symbols of love triumphing over hate. The strands of our saint’s beard are hosed in a class case entwined with our Franciscan knotted cord representing his vocation to our Order and our vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

NORTH CAROLINA TOUR STOPS
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Burlington  ~  February 27-29
Holy Cross Catholic Church, Durham ~ March 4-6
Newman Catholic Student Center Parish, UNC at Chapel Hill  ~  March 7
Iglesia Catolica de St. Julia (Catholic Church), Siler City  ~  March 11-13
Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church, Winston-Salem  ~  March 15-18

The tour is currently headed to North Carolina where there will be several opportunities to venerate the relics. After spending February 27th-29th at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, in Burlington, Holy Cross Church is hosting the relics (March 5th-6th). All are invited to take advantage of this unique opportunity for prayer and veneration. Holy Cross Pastor and Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Andy Santomauro, OFM Conv., will lead an 11:00 a.m. prayer service Saturday, March 5th, in the parish sanctuary.  The relic will also be available for veneration following the 10:00 a.m. Mass on Sunday, March 6th. Fr. Andy will also reflect on St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, OFM Conv. during his homily.