Hermenejilda Torres kneeled at the altar of St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church with the fingers of her hands interlaced. She closed her eyes and prayed. 

Tears welled in Torres’ eyes as she silently prayed for her family, her children and her own mother. 

Fort Worth-area Catholics like Torres gathered inside the White Settlement chapel for Wednesday evening mass Sept. 18 — and to celebrate the church becoming home to a famous relic of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina. 

“Now that it’s here, I’m able to get a little bit closer to God and see a piece of him here. It’s incredible to see it here,” Torres said.

The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth partnered with the Saint Pio Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to promoting the teachings of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, an Italian priest noted for his charity and devotion to God. 

In the Catholic Church, relics are physical objects associated with a saint, such as a part of the body or a personal possession, according to the Saint Pio Foundation. Relics are not worshiped but treated with religious respect. Touching the object or praying in its presence is seen to help the faithful focus on the saint’s life and virtues and be drawn closer to God. 

The foundation presented a first-class relic, consisting of a bandage stained with blood from the wound on Saint Pio’s side, to the parish’s newly dedicated Chapel of Saint Pio Sept. 18. A first-class relic is a body part of a saint, or fragments of the body, according to the Catholic Diocese of Nebraska. 

Celebrating the relic was an all-day event. About 650 people attended the mass earlier in the day while nearly 400 visited the chapel throughout the afternoon to pray in front of the relic, according to the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth. About 850 parishioners attended Wednesday’s evening mass in person, while 406 tuned into the livestream. 

The partnership between the foundation and the diocese is part of a national effort to dedicate chapels to the saint in north, south, east, west and central U.S. locations, creating a cross-shaped network of chapels where first-class relics of Saint Pio will be permanently housed. 

The parish’s Chapel of Saint Pio in Fort Worth is the southern end of the cross, serving as the second chapel in the U.S. to receive a relic from the foundation.

Each chapel dedicated to Saint Pio will contain a relic, a photo gallery and a screening of the foundation’s docudrama, “Saint Pio of Pietrelcina: Man of Hope and Healing.” 

“My hope is that the presence of these relics of Saint Pio will draw more attention to the life and legacy of the beloved saint,” said Luciano Lamonarca, founder and CEO of the Saint Pio Foundation. “Most importantly, may all who make a pilgrimage to these chapels and venerate Saint Pio’s relics, grow in their faith and experience that spiritual healing as Saint Pio would have wished.”

The Rev. Alexander Ambrose, priest for the parish, said he hopes more people will come back to church now that Fort Worth is home to a chapel dedicated to the saint and a first-class relic. 

“Everyone has a special love towards the saint, Padre Pio, and I have a special love towards him,” Ambrose said. “Looking at the celebration today, I feel, I pray people’s faith is going to grow and more and more people are going to come back to church, come back to God.” 

Carla Mendez, Torres’ 20-year-old daughter, drove 30 minutes to the parish to be with her mother and 8-year-old brother. She sat in the pews, still wearing blue scrubs required for her dental assistant classes at Tarrant County College. 

She remembers being a third grader at All Saints Catholic School in Fort Worth’s Northside when she read a chapter about Saint Pio. At the time, Mendez remembers it being challenging to connect with someone of her faith who died decades ago. 

But seeing the relic in person made it feel so much more real, she said. 

“Sometimes when you read it, you don’t believe it until you see it,” Mendez said. “I think every human is like that … and knowing that it’s here is just so crazy.” 

After mass, Torres and her children gathered inside the parish’s gymnasium to watch a screening of the foundation’s docudrama “Saint Pio of Pietrelcina: Man of Hope and Healing,” which will be available for streaming Sept. 23 — on Saint Pio’s feast day.

The Chapel of Saint Pio will be open regularly for visitation, allowing parishioners to view the relic in its new Fort Worth home.

Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org or on Twitter @marissaygreene. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.