When the relics of St. Maria Goretti arrive in Chicago Oct. 12, “it’s going to be huge,” said Father Joshua Caswell, a Canon Regular of St. John Cantius.

St. John Cantius Church, 825 N. Carpenter St., is expecting at least 8,000 and maybe as many as 20,000 visitors during the 24 hours that the relics of the saint will be on display for viewing and veneration, based on inquiries it has received and notifications of buses coming from a half dozen states, Caswell said.

The visit also falls on Columbus Day, a school holiday, and a day many Italian-American organizations will be gathering in the city for the Columbus Day parade.

It’s the first of three days that Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago will have the opportunity to visit and venerate the major relics of St. Maria Goretti, which will move from St. John Cantius to St. John Vianney Church, Northlake, on Oct. 13 and St. Francis of Assisi Church, Orland Park, on Oct. 14.

The relics, which include most of the Italian child saint’s skeleton, are encased in a wax statue that is enclosed in a glass casket. They are coming to the United States as part of an eightweek “Pilgrimage of Mercy” made possible by the Congregation of the Causes of Saints, Treasures of the Church and St. Maria Goretti’s basilica shrine.

Each exposition will include information on the life and virtues of St. Maria Goretti to provide the catechetical and spiritual basis for the veneration of her remains that follows, according to a statement from Treasures of the Church.

Pilgrims who venerate the relics also can receive a plenary indulgence, Caswell said.

The youngest canonized saint, the 11-year-old Maria Goretti died July 6, 1902, after being stabbed numerous times in an attempted rape. Her last words were of mercy towards her 20-year-old attacker: “I forgive Alessandro Serenelli … and I want him with me in heaven forever,” the statement said.

The unrepentant Serenelli famously reported receiving an apparition of his victim within his prison cell, some six years into his 30-year sentence. That occasion began his dramatic transformation from a violent and ruthless brute to that of a gentle and renewed soul intent on spreading devotion to God and his saintly victim. In his words, “Maria’s forgiveness saved me.”

In a statement, Treasures of the Church advised that nearly her entire skeleton is encased in the casket.

“To be clear, St. Maria’s body is not incorrupt, and none of the sacred remains are visible. Nevertheless, the skeleton is complete, save for small amounts of bone that have been placed in reliquaries, and her right arm which was donated by her mother to the Church of St. Nicholas (now known as the Sanctuary of St. Maria Goretti) in her birth town of Corinaldo,” the statement said.

“It was with her right arm that Maria defended her purity and prevented Alessandro Serenelli from raping her.”

The remains will be accompanied by Father Carlos Martins, CC, a “custos reliquiarum,” or ecclesiastically appointed curate of relics and director of Treasures of the Church.

“God never disappoints,” but always “shows up” at an exposition, he said when he announced the tour. “There are healings at each one. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, have been reported to me. Spectacular ones. Attendees have reported cancer, heart disease, tumors, osteoporosis, physical deformities, etc., disappear immediately and completely.”

Though there have been many reported physical healings, Martins said that the most spectacular is the healing of faith where a new and deeper relationship with God and his saints are formed in the faithful.

“It is a most wonderful thing to see a parish, school or prison renewed after an exposition. That is the basis for this ministry’s existence, and I cannot wait to see where St. Maria will take it,” he said.

Catholics tend to connect with relics of the saints because they provide a physical connection to someone who is now with God, Caswell said. “It’s evidence that this person, who committed this act of forgiveness, was here.”

The tour includes stops in 25 Catholic dioceses spanning 16 states, including the archdioceses of New York, Boston, Newark, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, and Oklahoma City, as well as Chicago. The relics will be venerated in parishes, schools, and prisons. Following its stops in the Archdiocese of Chicago, it will move to St. Mary Immaculate Church in Plainfield, Illinois.

At St. John Vianney Parish in Northlake, school children from the parish school and nearby St. Maria Goretti School in Schiller Park will gather for a prayer service at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 13.

St. John Vianney pastor Father Thomas Refermat said Treasures of the Church contacted him about hosting St. Maria’s relics because the parish hosted a group of relics from Treasures of the Church a few years ago. He’s been very pleased at the response, he said.

“We had a planning meeting and 60 to 80 people showed up,” he said. “A lot of people here have a devotion to St. Maria Goretti. This is bringing the parish together.”

Caswell said he expects the visit to the Chicago area to have a huge impact logistically and emotionally as well as spiritually.

The saint’s remains will be driven from Detroit to Chicago in the overnight hours, with an escort from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, he said. They will be met at the Illinois-Indiana border by a Chicago Police Department motorcycle escort and proceed to the church, where they will be brought inside under the eyes of a Chicago Police Department honor guard.

“It’s wonderful seeing the respect for her,” Caswell said.

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry will celebrate a Tridentine Mass at 7:30 p.m., Caswell said, and the church will remain open all night.

“I know the Mass is going to be crowded,” Caswell said.

Caswell has already seen people emotionally affected by the radical forgiveness that was offered by an 11-year-old girl as the parish has distributed posters about the visit through the neighborhood.

“A lot of people who don’t know her story are moved to tears,” he said. “There’s something about it being an 11-yearold girl.”

That story will almost definitely aid in the ongoing conversion of many Catholics and maybe bring more people to the faith, he said.

“You get people coming in because they’re curious, maybe even for the wrong reasons, because maybe they think it’s a little macabre,” he said. “Then they encounter her compelling story, and that’s what leads to conversion.”

To learn more about the visit of the relics to St. John Cantius, watch the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=la1bBYMRMX0, or visit cantius.org.