The Piarist Fathers Pastor Rev. David Powers Sch.P. Parochial Vicars Rev. Andrew Berinyuy, Sch.P. Rev. Luis Alberto Cruz, Sch.P. Very Rev. Fernando Negro, Sch.P. Rev. Richard Wyzykiewicz Sch.P. Parish Staff Parish Secretary Mrs. Rosemarie Ortiz Business Manager Anne Kathy Rice Facilities Manager Lillian Nazario saint Music Director Mr. Daniel Ambe Musicians Mr. Jim Donaldson Helena Mr. Alex Henriquez parish October—November Bronx, NY 2019 Mass Schedule (Horario de Misas) St. Helena’s School (718) 892-3234 http://www.sthelenaelementary.org Early Childhood (Pre-K for All) Elementary School (Grades K-8) Principal: Mr. Richard Meller 2050 Benedict Avenue Bronx, New York 10462 High School: Monsignor Scanlan H.S. (718) 430-0100 Arrangements must be http://www.scanlanhs.edu/ made at the Rectory for Baptismal Principal: Mr. Kris Keelin Class. Bring a copy of the child’s Birth 915 Hutchinson River Parkway Certificate and Godparent documents. Bronx, New York 10465 Arrangements for weddings should be made as soon as St. Helena Rectory: possible at the Rectory. 1315 Olmstead Avenue Bronx, N.Y. 10462 All Catholics Phone: (718) 892-3232 who live within the parish boundaries should fill out a registration card at the Fax: (718) 892-7713 Rectory. www.churchofsthelena.com Email: [email protected] Alumni: [email protected] Alumni: [email protected] ST. L BRONX, The Catholic Origin of Halloween much candy and many goodies as possible. Every year, Catholic parents debate whether So where on earth did “trick or treat” come in? “Treat or treat” is or not to allow their children to go out on perhaps the oddest and most American addition to Halloween and Halloween for fear they will be honoring a is the unwilling contribution of English Catholics. During the penal pagan tradition. But, Halloween’s origins are, period of the 1500s to the 1700s in England, Catholics had no in fact, very Christian. In fact, Halloween falls legal rights. They could not hold office and were subject to fines, on October 31 because of a Pope, and its jail and heavy taxes. It was a capital offense to say Mass, and observances are the result of medieval hundreds of priests were martyred. Occasionally, some English Catholic piety. Catholics resisted, sometimes foolishly. One of the most foolish We’ve all heard the allegations: Halloween is acts of resistance was a plot to blow up the Protestant King James a pagan rite dating back to a pre-Christian I and his Parliament with gunpowder. This was supposed to trigger festival that was celebrated by the Celtic a Catholic uprising against the oppressors. The ill-conceived Druids who escaped church suppression. Gunpowder Plot was foiled on November 5, 1605, when the man Even today, modern pagans and witches guarding the gunpowder, a reckless convert named Guy Fawkes, continue to celebrate this ancient festival. If you let your kids go was captured and arrested. He was hanged, and the plot fizzled. trick-or-treating, they will be worshiping the devil and pagan November 5, Guy Fawkes Day, became a great celebration in gods. Nothing could be further from the truth. The origins of England, and so it remains. During the penal periods, bands of Halloween are, in fact, very Christian and rather American. revelers would put on masks and visit local Catholics in the dead While it is true that the ancient Celts of Ireland and Britain did of night, demanding beer and cakes for their celebration: trick or celebrate Samhain, a minor festival on October 31–as they did on treat! Guy Fawkes Day arrived in the American colonies with the the last day of most other months of the year, Halloween falls on first English settlers. But by the time of the American Revolution, the last day of October because of the Solemnity of All Saints, or old King James and Guy Fawkes had pretty much been forgotten. “All Hallows,” which falls on November 1. The feast in honor of all Trick or treat, though, was too much fun to give up, so eventually it the saints in heaven used to be celebrated on May 13, but Pope moved to October 31, the day of the Irish-French masquerade. Gregory III (d. 741) moved it to November 1, the dedication day of And in America, trick or treat wasn’t limited to Catholics. The All Saints Chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica at Rome. Later, in the mixture of various immigrant traditions we know as Halloween had 840s, Pope Gregory IV commanded that All Saints be observed become a fixture in the United States by the early 1800s. To this everywhere. And so the holy day spread to Ireland. The day day, it remains largely unknown in Europe, even in the countries before was the feast’s evening vigil, “All Hallows Even,” or as we from which some of the customs originated. now say “Hallowe’en.” It is important to note that in those days But what about witches? Well, they are one of the last additions. Halloween didn’t have any special significance either for Christians The greeting card industry added them in the late 1800s because or for long-dead Celtic pagans. Halloween was already “ghoulish,” so why not give witches a place In 998, St. Odilo, the abbot of the powerful monastery of Cluny in on greeting cards? The Halloween card failed (although it has southern France, added an additional celebration on November 2. seen a recent resurgence in popularity), but the witches stayed. This was a day of prayer for the souls of all the faithful departed. So too, in the late 1800s, ill-informed folklorists introduced the jack This feast called All Souls Day quickly spread from France to the -o’-lantern. They thought that Halloween was Druidic and pagan in rest of Europe. So now the Church had feasts for all those in origin. Lamps made from turnips (not pumpkins) had been part of heaven and all those in purgatory. What about those in the other ancient Celtic harvest festivals, so they were translated to the place? It seems Irish Catholic peasants wondered about the American Halloween celebration. unfortunate souls in hell. After all, if the souls in hell are left out So, can a Catholic celebrate something that emphasizes evil and when we celebrate those in heaven and purgatory, they might be darkness? Yes! St. Paul in Col. 1:13, reminds us, For he has unhappy enough to cause trouble. So it became customary to rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into bang pots and pans on All Hallows Even to let the damned know the Kingdom of his dear Son, ... so that they may turn from they were not forgotten. Thus, in Ireland at least, all the dead darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they came to be remembered–even if the clergy were not terribly may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sympathetic to Halloween and never allowed All Damned Day into sanctified by faith in Me.' Darkness is the domain of Satan, but the church calendar. light is the domain of God. During these days, we are often But that still isn’t our celebration of Halloween. Our traditions on reminded of how Jesus brought us OUT of darkness as is often this holiday center on dressing up in fanciful costumes, which isn’t represented by Halloween night and INTO his kingdom of light as Irish at all. Rather, this custom arose in France during the 14th represented by All Saints Day and All Souls Day. In fact, what IS and 15th centuries. Late medieval Europe was hit by repeated most important is that if you celebrate Halloween, you are all the outbreaks of the bubonic plague–the Black Death–and it lost about more compelled to enter the kingdom of light and celebrate All half its population. So, it is not surprising that Catholics became Saints Day and All Souls Day. So, the next time someone claims more concerned about the afterlife. that Halloween is a cruel trick to lure your children into devil worship, I suggest you tell them the real origin of All Hallows Eve More Masses were said on All Souls Day, and various artistic and invite them to discover its Christian significance, along with representations were devised to remind everyone of their own the two greater and more important Catholic festivals that follow it, mortality. We now know these representations as the “danse because all three TOGETHER make up Allhallowtide. macabre”, or “dance of death,” which was commonly painted on the walls of cemeteries and shows the devil leading a daisy chain Allhallowtide Mass Schedule of people–popes, kings, ladies, knights, monks, peasants, lepers, All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation etc.–into the tomb. Sometimes the dance was presented on All Souls Day itself as a living tableau with people dressed up in the Thursday, October 31 (All Hallow's Eve) garb of various states of life. 6:50AM Daily Mass But the French dressed up on All Souls, not Halloween; and the 8:30AM Daily Mass Irish, who had Halloween, did not dress up. So how the two 9AM-12PM Adoration became mingled probably happened first in the British colonies of 12:15PM Daily Mass North America during the 1700s, when Irish and French Catholics 7:00 Prayer and Rosary in Spanish began to intermarry. The Irish focus on Hell gave the French 7:30PM Spanish Mass for All Saints Day masquerades an even more macabre twist. But as every young 2 ghoul knows, dressing up isn't the point.