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Relic of Pope John Paul II on Display at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine
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Please follow this link for the official article on the Diocesan webpage.
The following is a brief excerpt:
The Diocese of St. Augustine’s Cathedral Basilica will host an official relic of Blessed Pope John Paul II on Monday, Nov. 11. The relic contains a vial of blood from the late pontiff who will be canonized by Pope Francis April 27, 2014.
The relic contains a small amount of blood that was drawn from Pope John Paul II in the days prior to his death in April 2005 in case a transfusion was necessary. In 2012, the Vatican Press Office announced that the vials had been saved by an administrator at one of Rome’s hospitals because he considered the late pope a holy man. The vials were, in turn, given to John Paul’s personal secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz. Since then, the Holy See’s Office of Liturgical Celebrations has placed the vials in various reliquaries (vessels used to contain and expose relics) for veneration by the faithful.
The relic that the Cathedral will receive for the visitation is encased in a white and gold cloth surrounding the Book of the Gospels.