THE relics of one of the Christian church’s best-known saints are to be put on show at a Roman Catholic cathedral.

Two relics of St Anthony of Padua will be venerated at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough.

St Anthony, who died in 1231, was a Portuguese priest and patron saint of the lost.

The two relics are in the form of a bust which holds fragments of the saint’s skin and a fragment of his floating rib.

They will arrive at the cathedral at 11am on Monday (June 20) and the Bishop of Middlesbrough Terence Patrick Drainey will celebrate Mass at noon.

This will be followed at 1pm by a sermon by Father Mario Conti, who is accompanying the relics from Padua.

There will be a period of silent veneration from 1.30pm, choral vespers at 4.30pm and Mass at 6.30pm, before the relics leave the cathedral for the next leg of their journey.

Vicar General Monsignor Gerard Robinson said: “It’s a great privilege for the diocese to welcome these relics to Middlesbrough.

“I think at some point in our lives, most Catholics and many Christians of other denominations will have prayed to St Anthony.

“We hope as many people as possible will be able to visit the cathedral and pray and reflect in unity and celebration.”