Tour Draws Immigrants to Honor Their Saint

A special mass celebrated the life and work of a priest who became the patron saint of immigrants. - - Donna Poisl

By GRACE RUBENSTEIN

Last Friday night, the faithful and the curious lined up for a special mass at St. Anthony Parish in Oakland. On a pedestal up front stood the object of their affection: a 4-foot-5 statue of a blue-eyed Mexican priest.

That priest is Toribio Romo, the patron saint of immigrants who cross the Mexican border.

Some 200 worshipers snapped cellphone photos of St. Toribio and reached up to touch a small glass pane embedded in his chest. Behind the glass was a shard of brown bone, a piece of the saint’s left ankle.
Click on the headline above to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.