A sacred relic is coming to a Victoria church this weekend – in the form of a 465-year-old severed arm encased in glass.

The relic of St. Francis Xavier is making the pilgrimage from Rome across North America, with a stop at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Victoria this Saturday.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Victoria says it's a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for the curious and the faithful to see the incorrupt hand and arm of a saint up close.

According to the diocese, saints are considered incorrupt when their body does not experience natural decay.

St. Francis Xavier was a Roman-Catholic missionary who spent much of his life in China and India, said to have baptized more than 100,000 people.

"This is an extraordinary relic," said Angele Regnier, co-founder of Catholic Christian Outreach. "Most are the size of a fingernail, they're just finny fragments. But to have a relic that is an identifiable body part that has not seen normal decay, that is the hand that has baptized so many people, it's really profound."

The relic hasn't been to North America since 1963 and the pilgrimage is being organized by the Archdiocese of Ottawa.

It will visit 15 Canadian cities from Newfoundland to British Columbia, ending with Ottawa on Feb. 2, before it is brought back to the Jesuit mother church in Rome.

Public venerations will take place at St. Andrew's Cathedral from 1 to 4:30 p.m. and 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday.