Tissue and bone from Don Bosco's hand coming to Mumbai

This August, Mumbai will bear witness to a relic of Don Bosco as part of the plans to observe his 200th birth anniversary in 2015.

The relic — tissue and bone from his right hand — is embedded in a life-size wax replica of the saint’s body. “It will be displayed between August 12 and 16 at Don Bosco’s Borivli centre and later at the Matunga headquarters,” said Father Michael Fernandes, head of the Mumbai province of the Salesian Society that runs the Don Bosco group of institutions.

Father Louis Kumpiluvelil, Delhi-based secretary of the Salesian Provincial Conference of South Asia said, “Don Bosco is well known and popular, especially with young people. We want people to come into contact with the saint, read about him and know more about him.”

The relic, which is kept in a glass and metal casket, arrived in India on May 1 and will be here till the end of November. It was displayed in Dimapur in Nagaland before moving to Guwahati. The relic will travel to Kolkata and Delhi before coming to Mumbai.

The casket in which the relic is enclosed weighs over 800 kg and is transported by air and in a custom-built truck. “The relic left Rome a year ago to first travel to Latin America. It will be back in Rome for the anniversary on August 16, 2015,” said Fr Kumpiluvelil.