DeSales Media works with U.S. Customs to facilitate the transportation of overseas relics so they can be venerated by American Catholics. An example of this is a relic of the Italian Millennial, Saint Carlo Acutis. Accompanied by priests and nuns from the Diocese of Assisi, where Acutis’ tomb is located, this relic has been brought into the United States several times during the past few years, including for a tour of dioceses in New York City and on Long Island, and for a multi-city tour that ended at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. Why are all of these preparations necessary? 

Essentially, bringing a foreign, first-class relic to the United States involves a piece of a person who is no longer living being transported from one country to another by a person who has no family relation to the deceased. Though it happens more frequently than one might assume, it isn’t something that can be easily explained to a TSA agent or someone at a booth in Customs. To facilitate and even enable something like this to happen, high-level individuals working in Customs, the TSA, and even the airlines must be made aware and become involved in the process.