THE ANCIENT remains of three saints have been discovered this week during the £1 0 0,0 0 0 renovation of Shrewsbury Cathedral, completely surprising and delighting Church officials.
Relics of Sts Winefride, Francis and Viviano were found in a tiny metal box, which had been deposited in the old altar of the Blessed Sacrament chapel.
The box was finally opened on Tuesday by Canon John Roper, the Cathedral Administrator, who found inside a small packet and a piece of parchment which said that Edmund Knight, Bishop of Shrewsbury, deposited the relics there on May 21, 1891.
Canon Roper told the Catholic Herald that the remains of SI Winefride are probably a small part of her finger, which was saved when her body was thrown in the river during the Reformation. He did not know where the relics of St Francis or St Viviana had come from.