On Mission with the Sacred Heart

July 17, 2026

The major relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque travel the United States for public veneration as the nation marks its 250th anniversary

By Cecilia Engbert

July 17, 2026

Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori incenses the major relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. — Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori incenses the major relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque during a Mass celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore on July 5. (Photo by Matthew Barrick)

Knights of Columbus and their families were among hundreds of pilgrims who visited the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore on July 5-6 to venerate the major relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Coinciding with celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the relics were present during a special Mass at the basilica on July 5.

Often called the “Apostle of the Sacred Heart,” St. Margaret Mary was a 17th-century French religious sister who experienced multiple visions of Jesus during which he stressed his divine love for humanity and revealed devotion to his Sacred Heart. At Jesus’ instruction — and with the assistance of her spiritual director, the Jesuit priest St. Claude de la Colombière — St. Margaret Mary introduced a series of devotional practices that continue to be observed 350 years later. She was canonized in 1920.

“Welcoming the relics of St. Margaret Mary to Baltimore was a profound honor for the Maryland State Council,” said State Deputy John Winfrey. “St. Margaret Mary’s mission was very much around service to community and service to the Church, and that aligns well with our mission as Knights. Her witness to the Sacred Heart reminds us that true devotion is lived through charity, unity, fraternity and service to others.”

Sister Doretta D’Albero of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus venerates the major relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. — Sister Doretta D’Albero of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus venerates the major relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque while visiting the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven, Conn., on July 15.

Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori, the principal celebrant and homilist at the July 5 Mass, invited the congregation to reflect on the witness of America’s first Catholics, who recognized that all hope is founded in Christ.

“The men and women who built the foundations of the faith here understood that Christianity is not primarily about winning arguments or securing influence,” the supreme chaplain said. “It is about belonging to Christ. It is about taking his yoke upon ourselves and learning from him.”

The Baltimore Basilica, known as America’s First Cathedral, was constructed between 1806 and 1821 under the leadership of John Carroll, the first bishop — and later archbishop — of the United States. Blessed Michael McGivney was ordained to the priesthood there in December 1877, five years before founding the Knights of Columbus.

Archbishop Lori emphasized the legacy of the Maryland Catholics, including Bishop Carroll — cousin to Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signatory of the Declaration of Independence — who withstood great opposition to establish the first Catholic communities in the country.

“As America enters its 250th year, perhaps the Church’s mission today is not unlike that of those first Maryland Catholics: to remind our fellow citizens that freedom without truth becomes confusion, power without virtue becomes dangerous, and prosperity without God leaves the human heart restless,” he said. “The future of our nation will not be secured merely by economic strength or political success. It will be secured by men and women who allow the Spirit of God to dwell within them and who hear anew the invitation of Christ: ‘Come to me.’”

The relics of St. Margaret Mary first arrived in Orlando, Florida, on June 11 for the U.S. bishops’ consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The ornate, 150-pound reliquary, which holds the saint’s clavicles, two ribs and a small piece of her brain, was escorted from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paray-le-Monial in France to the United States by Arnaud Bouthéon, territorial deputy of France, and a delegation of French Knights.

Under the care of the Knights of Columbus, the relics then traveled to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and the Baltimore Basilica before arriving at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven, Connecticut, in mid-July.

Husband, wife and young son venerate relics of St. Mary Margaret Alacoque in a Church. — Javier and Melanie Carreno and their son, Uziel, venerate the major relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque at St. James Cathedral in Orlando, Fla., on June 12. (Photo by Paul Haring)

At each stop, state and local Knights hosted the relics, providing Fourth Degree honor guards and inviting their families and friends to pray with the saint.

The relics arrived at the Baltimore Basilica only five days after State Deputy Winfrey took office at the beginning of the fraternal year on July 1 — what he calls “perfect timing.”

“When you look at what we’re trying to do as a state council this year, under the motto ‘United in Service,’ it really was an interesting way to start the year off, to begin our year with the presence of [St. Margaret Mary’s] relics,” he said. “When I knelt before her relics, my prayer was for her to guide the state council to continue the mission that she had and that we have put out in front of us.”

In his homily at the June 11 consecration Mass in Orlando, Archbishop Lori described the event as an act of hope in God’s providential care for the country.

“The future belongs to God, and so we place into his heart, not only ourselves, but generations yet unborn, all those who will inherit the Church and the nation we leave behind,” he said. “In a culture that prizes independence and self-reliance, we gather publicly to acknowledge that our deepest identity and our truest hope come, not from ourselves, but from the Lord.”

The relics remain available for public veneration at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven until July 27 and will be present in Denver for the Knights of Columbus 144th Supreme Convention in August before returning to France.

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CECILIA ENGBERT is a content producer for the Knights of Columbus communications department.