The remains of Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers, have been temporarily relocated to a funeral home in Waterford following demolition of a chapel at Mount Sion last Friday.
An International Heritage Centre, reputed to cost more than €6 million, is being developed on the site of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at Mount Sion School on the city's Barrack Street.
Edmund Rice was beatified in 1996 and his remains, which have been in a casket at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel for more than 25 years, have been temporarily relocated to John Thompson's Funeral Home, also on Barrack Street.
They are expected to remain there until November when it is hoped the new centre will be ready to open.
Born at Callan, Co Kilkenny, in 1762, Edmund Rice married Mary Elliott when she was 24 but was widowed three years later and left to care for their disabled daughter.
Edmund Rice subsequently became successful in business before dedicating his life to religious and charitable works.
He established Mount Sion School on Barrack Street in Waterford in 1802.
The Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers have jointly marked Mount Sion as one of four sacred Irish sites for development projects. Other sites are O'Connell Schools in Dublin; his birthplace at Callan; and the Presentation Brothers Heritage Centre at Mardyke in Cork.
Barry O'Brien, chief executive with the Edmund Rice International Heritage Centres Ltd, has said he is satisfied with the remains being placed in "the funeral parlour next door".
He said that the new design and the development project would "allow Mount Sion to cater better for faith visitors from Ireland and overseas".