Lea’s Fantine moved me to tears - By Dot Ramos Balasbas-Gancayco

In a place where men of war march and where iron eagles land, there now lies a holy place where the relics of St. Therese, the secondary patroness of France, will soon rest.

In honor of “The Little Flower,” the Philippine Air Force (PAF) formally opened a shrine for her within the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City yesterday.

Cardinal Ricardo Vidal and Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak officiated the high Mass that was followed by the blessing and dedication of the St. Therese Columbarium.

President Arroyo herself attended the activity along with PAF commanding general Lt. Gen. Horacio Tolentino and his wife Ellen.

Other high-ranking officials, like Philippine National Police chief General Oscar Calderon and Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., were also there to witness the event.

PAF public information office director Lt. Col. Epifanio Panzo Jr. said St. Therese is the patron saint of the Villamor Air Base.

Panzo said that the site for the National Shrine is on the very same spot where the St. Therese of the Child Jesus Church used to stand.

In 2000, relics of the “The Little Flower” from Lisieux, France visited the church. Some of St. Therese’s relics will be enshrined at the back of the main altar.

St. Therese, a nun who was canonized 28 years after her death, has a basilica in her honor at Lisieux that was opened and blessed by then Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli in 1936. Pacelli, as Pope Pius XII, declared her the secondary patroness of France in 1944.