Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Santiago de Chile (Fides Service) -"Saint Teresa, disciple of Jesus " is the slogan of the 14th annual Youth Pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Teresa de los Andes, 70 km north of Santiago (Chile), organised for 23 October by the Vicariate of Young Hope of the archdiocese of Santiago. The pilgrimage will start from Chacabuco at 7am to walk 27 km along which there are 12 Stations of the Cross. The young pilgrims will sing and prayer on their way and are expected to arrive at 2pm. Later in the afternoon after a picnic lunch there will be an artistic display followed by Mass presided by Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, archbishop of Santiago de Chile and President della of the Chilean Bishops Conference and of the Council of the Latin American Bishops’ Conferences (CELAM). The pilgrimage organisers told Fides that about 90,000 young people from Santiago and other dioceses all over Chile are on their way to take part. This annual event is deeply felt by young Catholics in Chile.
Teresa de los Andes (1900-1920) Chile’s first saint and the third Latin American women to be canonised the other two are St Rosa di Lima, (Peru) and Marianita of Jesus from (Ecuador). Teresa was a Carmelite she was born in Santiago 13 July 1900 and die of typhoid on 12 April 1920, before her 20th birthday. On 6 October Pope John Paul II blessed a new statue of Saint Teresa, which has been set in one of the niches in the outside walls of St Peter’s Basilica. Among those present for the occasion Chilean foreign minister, Ignacio Walker, other government representatives and Cardinal Javier Errázuriz. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 22/10/2004 - Righe 20; Parole 282)
