18th Sunday of Ordinary Time August 5, 2018 New Column Inside: Heroes of God; Feast Days of the Saints Our Lady of Snows 2 ! ! From the Gusset The old Roman explanation for why it was so hot during the month of August was that our planet was warmed not only by our Sun during the day, but also our planet was heated by the bright star in Canis Major at night. The brightest star in the Northern hemisphere’s night sky is Sirius, α-Canis Major . At the end of the month of July, as the Sun was setting in the West, Sirius was rising in the East. This star would be visible the whole night long, and so would keep the nighttime temperature from dropping. Canis Major is the name of the constellation – it means ‘the Big Dog.’ That is why the Romans referred to these days as the ‘dog days of Summer!’ It was an extremely hot August in the year of 352, when Pope Liberius went to bed on the night of August 4 th . Barely able to sleep, because of the heat, the Pope was visited in a dream by the Blessed Virgin Mary . She told the Holy Father that she wanted a Church built in her honor on the site where the snow would fall that night. Waking the next morning, the Pope chuckled to himself: “at least this heat will prevent me from having to build a new Basilica.” Suddenly a Deacon burst into his quarters to tell him snow had fallen on the Esquiline hill! The Pope went up to this spot on the highest of the 7 fabled hills of Rome, and drew the outline of the Church in the snow. Ever since then, the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows w as introduced to the Church calendar, so that every 5 th of August the whole Catholic Church should celebrate. I find it difficult to believe the Tradition that May and October are the only Marian months. I challenge you to find one of the twelve months in the year that does not have a Marian Feast, and here in the month of August we will wind up celebrating 3 great Feasts to the honor of her, who is full of grace : the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows, the Assumption, and the Queenship of Mary . Because my Grandfather died of heat prostration on August 5 th – the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows has always been special to my family. We always celebrate a memorial Mass for Grampa’s repose during which we ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for Grampa a nd to put her cool hand onto his sweaty brow and awaken him to life everlasting. I always marvel at how the Catholic Church so easily takes an event of great sorrow, and transforms it into an occasion of happiness and joy . ! ! Yours on the Path Fr. Randy ! ! 3 ! Feast of St. Mary of the Assumption Of course August 15 th is a Holy Day of Obligation , and we will celebrate Mass at each of our Churches; but we will also celebrate West Brooklyn’s Patroness the following weekend, August 18 th and 19 th . All Masses on that weekend will be in West Brooklyn. Saturday, August 18 th 4:00 pm Mass Sunday, August 19 th 8:00 am Mass Sunday, August 19 th 10:30 am Mass (at Left) Check out St. Denis holding his head; no wonder he is the patron Saint of those with headaches! (Below) Church of the Fourteen Holy Helpers in Bavaria The month of August brings a new bulletin column entitled: Heroes of God; Feast Days of the Saints . Remember, we just finished a two -year column: How to Speak Catholic in which we defined 240 Catholic vocabulary words. The Catholic Church speaks such a unique language, and because the Catholic language is now over 2000 years old; there were a good deal more words we could have defined, but I have been influenced by Fr. James Martin and his book: My Life with the Saints . We used Fr. Martin’s book for RCIA last year, and the Saints of heaven are such interesting personalities (far more fascinating than anyone in Hollywood) that I will introduce you to the Saints and their Feast Days . I hope you enjoy this column. ! 4 ! Heroes of God; The Feast Days of the Saints The Fourteen Holy Helpers are a group of Saints, who were venerated in the 14 th century in Germany during the bubonic plague . One medical practice of combating notoriously vicious diseases (like cancer) is called the cocktail effect . A combination of pharmaceutical medicines is used to treat the various symptoms, because there is no drug by itself, which will defeat the disease. In much the same way, these 14 Saints were invoked against the plague, each of the individual Saints giving relief to a different symptom. The Fourteen Holy Helpers and the malady they treated are listed below: 1. St. Agathius against headaches 2. St. Barbara against fever 3. St. Blaise against illness of the throat 4. St. Catherine of Alexandria against sudden death 5. St. Christopher dangers of contracting illness while traveling 6. St. Cyriacus against temptation to sin while sick 7. St. Denis against headaches 8. St. Erasmus against intestinal ailments 9. St. Eustace against family discord while sick 10. St. George for the health of the family pet 11. St. Giles to help make a good confession when sick 12. St. Margaret of Antioch for safe delivery of a child while sick 13. St. Pantaleon for a Doctor’s safety while treating the sick 14. St. Vitus freedom from seizures Isn’t it interesting that St. George the Dragon slayer is invoked, because then like now, the family pet is so psychologically important to us. St. Eustace was thrown into the cocktail; because if one person is sick in the family, don’t we all suffer? While each of these Saints has their own particular Feast day, August 8 th is the day a Church in Bavaria was consecrated in the name of all Fourteen. One extra pop culture effect of the Fourteen Holy Helpers is the poem in Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, ‘Hansel and Gretel.’ The children sing a prayer and refer to the Saints as the “Fourteen Angels.” The prayer goes like this: When at night I go to sleep, Fourteen angels watch do keep, Two my head are guarding, Two my feet are guiding, Two upon my right hand, Two upon my left hand. Two who warmly cover Two who over me hover, Two to whom ‘tis given To guide my steps to heaven. ! Saturday, August 4th 5 ! 4:00 pm, OLPH (+) Faye Leffelman/ Gene Leffelman & (+) Dorothy Schuhler & James Walker/ Joan Walker 5:30 pm, SMA Pro Populo & (+) Joseph Schauer/ Fr. Randy Sunday, August 5th 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Our Lady of Snows 8:00 am, St. Patrick (+) Doug Blaine/ Ed Murphy & (+) Robert Kellen/ Mr. & Mrs. Tom Mead 10:30 am, OLPH (+) Charles Henkel/ Mr. & Mrs. Roger Truckenbrod Tuesday, August 7th St. Sixtus II 7:30 am, SMA (+) Lorraine Henkel/ Charlotte Bresson Wednesday, August 8th The 14 Holy Helpers & St. Dominic 8:00 am, OLPH (+) Donna Vaessen/ Marilyn Bonnell 10:30 am, Lutheran Home (+) Janet Hornung & Peter Ceres/Fr. Randy Thursday, August 9th 7:30 am, SMA (+) Janet Hornung/ Mr. & Mrs. Jeff Leader 8:30 am, OLPH (+) Joanne Montavon/ Elaine Henkel Friday, August 10th St. Lawrence 8:00 am, St. Patrick (+) Joan (Myers) Dinges/ Mr. & Mrs. Clarence Blaine & (+) Fr. Edward Hughes/ Anonymous 10:45 am, Stonecroft Richard Zinke, (+) Casper Wilhelm & Donald Henkel/ Fr. Randy Saturday, August 11th 4:00 pm, OLPH Pro Populo/ Fr. 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