The bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia, Bishop Giuseppe Piemontese, wanted to transfer the saint's remains from San Valentino Basilica in Terni to a cathedral five kilometres away.

This was part of a Year of Mercy celebration of St Valentine's Day on February 14 and the remains would have been returned to the basilica within days.

Bishop Piemontese was reported to have paid out of his own pocket for a specially modified car to transport the remains

But dozens of angry church-goers positioning chairs around a glass coffin containing the remains and held hands to form a human barrier against their removal.

The shouts of the protesters grew louder as Bishop Piemontese tried to explain himself.

His increasingly desperate calls for silence went unheard.

Parishioners said their town has been abandoned in recent years, falling into a state of decay.

One resident, heading to the church to protest, said they "had lost everything" and would not allow a much-loved piece of their history, as well as an important tourist attraction, to be taken from them.

"We are staying here together with our patron saint," another protester told local Italian media.

"No-one is going to take him away.

"If they really want to do it, they're going to have to get past us, because we're not moving even one step backwards."

On February 14, the remains were still at the San Valentino Basilica, in the town of St Valentine's birth.

The remains have been at the basilica since the 17th century.

During his homily on Sunday morning, Bishop Piemontese accused protesting parishioners of behaving in an "intolerant, arrogant and disrespectful manner".

The bishop implied there may have been other motives behind the protest, although he did not specify what these were.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Image: Villa in Umbria

An association, which has the support of several of the saint's descendants, want her body to be returned from a chapel in Nevers in Burgundy.

The association argues that the number of Sisters of Charity of Nevers is dwindling, and soon only lay people will run the chapel where St Bernadette's remains lie.

But opponents say Bernadette made it clear she did not want to return to Lourdes after leaving in 1866, because she was attracting too much attention from pilgrims and the media.

She died in Nevers in 1879.

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Earlier this year, skeletal remains found beneath a car park in Leicester were confirmed as King Richard's. But since the find, a disagreement has surfaced about whether he should be buried in Leicester or York.

Dr John Ashdown-Hill says the king was "a very religious man" and would have wanted a Catholic burial.

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