JUPITER | A first-class relic of St. John Paul II was installed during the Saturday vigil Mass Dec. 6, 2025, at St. Peter Parish in Jupiter after it was carried several thousand miles from Poland by the leader of an order of women religious who serve in the Diocese of Palm Beach.
Father Don Finney, St. Peter’s pastor, thanked the Sisters of the Most Holy Soul of Christ for their help in transporting the relic. Mother Weronika Bednarska, mother general of the community based in Poland, carried the relic with her while traveling to visit her sisters in the United States. Two of her community members, Sisters Martina Bednarz and Anita Gabarczyk, work as teaching assistants at St. Joseph School in Stuart, and another, Sister Jadwiga Drapala, serves in the diocesan Office of Vocations and as episcopal delegate for religious.
Father Finney explained that he had requested a relic of the former pope from Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, St. John Paul’s personal secretary and now archbishop emeritus of Krakow, Poland.
“He’s the one that we wrote to and asked for the relic, and the relic is a drop of blood,” Father Finney said. “During John Paul’s life, we know that he had an attempted assassination and lost a lot of blood that way. They actually preserved his blood and kept a supply of it when he traveled or when he was in Rome. After his death, the pints of blood that they had in case something happened again to him were preserved, and that’s what is given out as first-class relics.”
There are three classes of saints’ relics. First class is part of the saint’s body, such as blood, a piece of bone or other tissue. Second class is something the saint wore as clothing or a personal belonging. Third class is an item that has touched a first-class relic. Father Finney, who met St. John Paul II a few times from 1987 to 2002, jokes that he himself is a third-class relic since he shook hands with the Holy Father.
Besides the blood, which is contained in a gold reliquary, the parish received one of St. John Paul II’s zucchettos (white hat), which is a second-class relic.
Powerful intercessor
Contained in the main altar of St. Peter Church, Father Finney said, is a relic of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio), who had met and heard the confession of the future John Paul II. “Maybe they never thought they would be in Jupiter, Florida, but that’s where they’re meeting up once again,” he said.
The parish created a small shrine in the church for the new relics to be displayed and allow people to pray and seek St. John Paul’s powerful assistance before God. At the end of the Mass, before leading a procession with the relics around the church and installing them in the shrine, Father Finney prayed:
“Lord Jesus, we give you thanks for the life and the ministry and papacy of St. John Paul II, that as he boldly proclaimed your Gospel message to the ends of the earth, may we always have that same courage and zeal to proclaim and to live the Gospel in our own lives. Through his intercession, may he lead us closer to you, Lord Jesus. May he lead us to deeper love of your Blessed Mother, and there may we too be counted among the saints at the end of our own earthly pilgrimages. We pray this all in your name, Christ our Lord. Amen.”
God’s providence
Mother Bednarska, who brought the relics with her from Poland accompanied by one of her counselors, Sister Miriam Siemieniec, said she wishes that everyone who will pray for the intercession of St. John Paul II using the relics “will experience his presence, because he was always close to every person he met. He was always very close to the people, and especially the person in front of him. So, now he’s even closer because he is in the Father’s home.”
Through an interpreter, she explained her happiness at being able to assist in bringing the relics to Jupiter, especially since it was not part of her original plans. “It was really from God’s providence because someone else was supposed to bring the relic. The relic was stuck in Krakow, and then they found out that the mother general was coming,” Mother Bednarska said.
In addition to the relics, the Sisters of the Most Holy Soul of Christ gifted a painting to the parish depicting the soul of Christ that was officially presented at the 9:30 a.m. Dec. 7 liturgy. The artwork will be on permanent display in the church, Father Finney said. A video detailing the sisters’ work in Cameroon, central Africa, the United States and Poland was shown prior to the Masses.
Mother Bednarska, who has been a religious nearly 30 years, spoke about the spirituality of St. John Paul II and how he continues to impact the faithful. Traveling with the relics, she felt him watching over them, ensuring their safe arrival.
Biggest Christmas gift
As a bishop in Krakow, St. John Paul “was very close to our community,” she said. The future pope was appointed to preside at the May 1963 funeral Mass for their community’s foundress, Mother Paula Sofia Tajber, whom he knew well. And as pope in 1981, John Paul II gave papal approval to the Sisters of the Most Holy Soul of Christ. “That was the best and biggest gift for our community because that was the 25th of December and Christmas,” she said.
“John Paul II’s pontificate was really very special for everyone, especially for Polish people,” said Mother Bednarska, adding that “his life and his vocation and his ministry as a priest and bishop was also very difficult. A lot of suffering in it. Just observing him, we could see how holiness was growing in him, through prayer, through suffering and openness to fulfill God’s will.”
For more information on St. Peter Parish, visit www.stpeterjupiter.com and connect through Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. To learn more about the Sisters of the Most Holy Soul of Christ, go to www.sistersofthemostholysoulofchrist.com.
