ROME— The Pontificio Collegio Filippino on Friday received a first-class relic of St. John XXIII, renewing its spiritual and historical link to the pope who blessed and inaugurated its chapel 65 years ago.
The relic — a piece of cloth bearing the saint’s blood — was formally received, venerated and enshrined in the college chapel he consecrated in 1961.
Monsignor Giulio Albani, rector of the Santuario San Giovanni XXIII in Sotto il Monte, the pope’s birthplace, personally delivered and presented the reliquary.
The college described the moment as a symbolic homecoming, bringing the “Good Pope” into the daily prayer life of Filipino priestly formation.
The gift followed a recent pilgrimage of 44 student-priests, together with Dominican sisters and lay collaborators, who marked the college’s 65th anniversary in Sotto il Monte.
During that visit, the group celebrated Mass at the Bergamo sanctuary, strengthening the bond between the Roman seminary and the pope’s Italian hometown.
The reception rite in Rome was simple and prayerful, centered on Scripture, with no homily given, allowing silence to frame the liturgical moment.
After the rite, clergy, religious sisters and lay staff approached the reliquary individually for veneration and personal prayer.
The relic, enclosed in a gilded frame bearing the saint’s name, has been placed in a permanent position of honor within the chapel.
