“Liborius, the Gallo-Roman bishop from the 4th century, could never have imagined that a part of him would one day be in a continent called Terra Australis in a sphere-shaped world.” So begins the Paderborn video on Dr Henry Backhaus and the Diocese of Sandhurst.
What would St Liborius think, knowing that a piece of his body — perhaps a small fragment of bone — now rests within a tiny statue, kept in a brightly painted church that bears his name, in a far-off Diocese called Sandhurst? And what would he think of being known as a Patron Saint of peace and understanding among peoples?
St Liborius’ work as Bishop of Le Mans (France) for almost fifty years, in the latter half of the 4th century, focused on building up the Church in his Diocese. The region had long been Christian, but many locals were still influenced by pagan Druids, and roaming foreign tribes caused upsets. By building churches, training and ordaining hundreds of priests, and celebrating the Eucharist with reverence, St Liborius overcame these influences, creating a vibrant Church in Le Mans.
It was after his death, with the gifting of his relics by the Diocese of Le Mans to the Diocese of Paderborn in 836 AD, that St Liborius became known as an intercessor for peace and understanding between peoples.
His relics were brought from Le Mans to Paderborn with much fanfare in a four-week-long procession, accompanied by a peacock! The event established Paderborn as a major centre of pilgrimage, especially as healings and wonders had been reported along the procession.
At the time, relics of saints were closely guarded and venerated by the churches entrusted with them. The willingness of the Diocese of Le Mans to gift the relics to Paderborn, a Diocese with no saint of its own at the time, was a profound act of charity that forged the oldest existing city partnership in Europe. Even through centuries of political conflict between their kingdoms and nations, the dioceses of Le Mans and Paderborn prayed for and supported each other.
That friendship reached the Diocese of Sandhurst during the Dr Backhaus Centenary Celebrations in September 1982, when Archbishop Johannes Degenhardt of Paderborn presented relics of St Liborius to Bishop Noel Daly. The occasion was marked with ‘spectacular’ fanfare in the Borough of Eaglehawk, attended by the Mayor, civic dignitaries, Bishop Emeritus Bernard Stewart, Bishops De Campo, Thomas and Fox, along with clergy, religious, parishioners and townsfolk.
In 2023, the St Liborius community in Eaglehawk held a Libori Festival of their own, which included a procession with the relics of St Liborius encased securely in the small statue. The relics of St Liborius remain inside the small St Liborius statue in St Liborius Church, a source of consolation and strength for locals.