It’s been a while coming, but the Saints this Week will now appear on the blog (although these are a bit out of date!).

Week beginning Sunday 6th September, 23rd Sunday of the Year

This week there are two Marian occasions – Our Lady’s Birthday on Tuesday 8th, and the optional memoria of her Holy Name on Saturday 12th.

Mary’s Birthday, like our own, is an occasion for thanksgiving and joy, and a celebration of ‘the hope of the entire world and the dawn of salvation’ as Pope Paul VI describes it in Marialis Cultus.

The Holy Name of Mary occurs mid-way between her Birthday and the memoria of Our Lady of Sorrows (on 15th).

On Wednesday 9th the Church commemorates St Peter Claver who became a Jesuit in 1601 and worked for 40 years at the West Indies’ central slave-mart, dedicating his life by a special vow to the service of the outcast Negroes of whom he baptised & cared for over 300,000. He is a patron of the Catholic missions.

Week beginning Sunday 13th September, 24th Sunday of the Year

Today (September 13th) is the Anniversary of the Consecration of our Parish Church (when completed and free from debt in 1951.

This week’s celebrations include the Triumph of the Holy Cross (Monday 14th) and Our Lady of Sorrows (Tuesday 15th) – twin aspects of the power of the Cross and those who are close to the Crucified Lord.

Ss Cornelius and Cyprian (Wednesday 16th), a Pope and a Bishop who died in 253 under persecution, having been effective in championing the Faith.

St Robert Bellarmine (Thursday 17th), a theological adviser to the Popes at the time of the counter-reformation.

St Edith (Friday 18th), a Benedictine nun of royal descent who, rather than accept the throne, or event the government of three abbeys, remained in prayer.

St Theodore of Canterbury (Saturday 19th) did much to establish the Catholic Faith in our land after St Augustine’s mission.