Gallery: Italian Festival Mass 2026

Bishop Earl K. Fernandes and Archbishop Auza, the Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union, blessed a reliquary containing the relics of St. Pius of Pietrelcina during the annual Columbus Italian Festival Mass. The ceremony took place at St. John the Baptist Church.

Bishop Fernandes joined Father Vince Nguyen, pastor of Sacred Heart and St. John the Baptist parishes, to concelebrate the Mass. The relics will be installed in the Padre Pio chapel at St. John the Baptist, which Bishop Fernandes recently designated as a diocesan shrine.