The Saints

Tuesday, April 13 – Optional Memorial of St. Martin I, Pope and Martyr.
Martin was a seventh-century pope who stood fast against a heresy that said Christ had only one will, a divine will.  Martin’s synod denouncing this belief aroused the deep displeasure of the Byzantine Emperor, who sent invaders to Rome to seize the sickly pontiff.  The ailing Martin was brought to Constantinople and placed on trial.  He laughed at the false witnesses who swore to fabricated tales of his disloyalty to God.  The emperor prevailed, and sentenced Martin to public scourging and execution.  A powerful churchman convinced the monarch to send Pope Martin away.  Martin perished from harsh conditions in a Crimean prison.  His steadfast opposition to false teaching won him the martyr’s crown and sainthood.  Martin I’s statue stands on the colonnade of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

April 11 – DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY.
The Second Sunday of Easter also is Divine Mercy Sunday. This devotion was revealed by Our Lord Jesus Christ to Polish Mercy Sister Faustina Kowalska, now a saint, in visitations during the 1930s. Here are the words of Jesus to Saint Faustina: “My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.” We recall the familiar Divine Mercy image of Jesus with white and red rays representing blood and water radiating from His sacred heart. A Divine Mercy portrait hung in the Cathedral during the 2015-2016 Year of Mercy, along with the Holy Door erected at the entrance to the middle aisle. Divine Mercy Sunday began with a Congregation of Divine Worship decree in 2000 with the first observance in 2001. Saint Pope John Paul II celebrated the first Divine Mercy Sunday, and died on the feast day eve in 2005. We are encouraged to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet to mark the feast, especially at the hour of mercy, 3:00 p.m. The National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA will broadcast the chaplet and other devotions and features this Sunday. You can also pray the Divine Mercy Novena before the feast day, beginning on Good Friday. Some people are displaying Divine Mercy picture during the coronavirus epidemic.  Divine Mercy devotions at the Cathedral begin at 3:00 p.m. in the upstairs church, with Eucharistic Adoration, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Confessions, and Benediction.

The Octave of Easter.
This period of eight days begins Easter Sunday and ends the Second Sunday of Easter, which is also Divine Mercy Sunday. Every day of the Octave is a Solemnity, the Church’s highest feast day. We light the  decorated Pascal candle. We sing the Gloria, hear a special Easter Alleluia, and may recite the Easter Sequence before the Gospel. The priest uses an Easter preface. We also repeat “Alleluia” after we say the final “Thanks be to God” at the end of Mass. The priest’s vestments are white or gold, for both the Octave and the Easter season.  We hear beloved accounts from the Acts of the Apostles and familiar Gospel stories – Mary Magdalene finding Jesus at the tomb, the disciples meeting Christ on the road to Emmaus, and Jesus appearing to the apostle and others.

April 4 - EASTER SUNDAY – Paschaltide, Eastertime.
On this Easter morning, we hear only words of joy at Christ’s resurrection.  After the shame and grief of denying his Savior three times, our first reading finds St. Peter proclaiming the rising of Our Lord.  “This man God raised on the third day.”  In response to Psalm 118, we sing, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!” The Psalm declares, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Our Gospel from St. John describes the miraculous scene early Sunday morning: “the cloth that had covered His head rolled up, … in a separate place.”  Now we look forward to weeks of celebration during the fifty-day Easter season, which ends at Pentecost.  Bishop Coyne will celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at the Cathedral at 10:00 a.m.

April 3 - EASTER VIGIL.
The wait is over!  At this long, solemn, joyful, and majestic Mass, we rekindle the light of Christ, answer the call to exult, review our salvation history, receive newly consecrated hosts, and welcome converts into the Church.  The Pascal candle is marked and lit, and we spread light and joyful triumph through our church, during the dark hours of the night.  The church is banked with flowers, and resounds with Easter hymns.  Our priest wears white vestments.  We hear the Gloria and the Alleluia.  The Vigil Mass begins at the Cathedral of St. Joseph at 8:00 p.m., with Bishop Coyne celebrating and preaching.  Rejoice, for the Lord has risen indeed!

April 3 - Holy Saturday.
                First Saturday.
Today the Church mourns and waits at the Savior’s tomb, where He lies still bearing the wounds of His Passion.  The apostles gather in secret; the Blessed Mother guards her heart with joyful anticipation.   All is quiet: no Mass is celebrated today until this evening; the altar and church are bare of decoration; images may be shrouded.  The faithful prepare, decorating eggs, cooking for an Easter feast, choosing Easter finery.  No morning Mass or morning or afternoon Confessions today at the Cathedral.


April 2 - Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion.
                First Friday.

No Mass is celebrated today:  our services resume from the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, with Holy Communion distributed from hosts consecrated yesterday. The altar is bare, the service begins in silence. Today, we recall Our Lord’s Passion and Death.  We hear the lament of Psalm 31, “Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit,” and read the Passion Gospel according to St. John.  We venerate the Holy Cross and depart in silence.  The service at the Cathedral begins at 3:00 p.m. in the main church.  There is no 12:05 p.m. Mass or evening Stations of the Cross.

April 1 – 4, Thursday evening – Sunday evening – THE SACRED OR EASTER TRIDUUM.
Holy Thursday – also called Maundy Thursday, referring to the Latin word mandatum, commandment, quoted in the verse before the Gospel.  Today the only Mass celebrated at our parish is the Mass of the Last Supper at 7:00 p.m. upstairs in the main church.  We will collect food and money for our local food shelf in lieu of a regular collection.  We honor and adore the Blessed Sacrament, instituted at that Passover feast by Christ Himself, who also inaugurates the priesthood.  The feet of twelve faithful may be washed, replicating Christ’s humble service to His apostles at the Last Supper.  We hear the Gloria and bells, which cease until the Easter Vigil.  The Mass does not end but closes in silence without a final blessing.  The altar is stripped.  The Blessed Sacrament is transferred solemnly to an altar of repose where we may keep vigil, as Our Lord did in the garden of Gethsemane, in the first agony of His passion.


April - Month of the Holy Eucharist.
We devote special prayer and adoration to the Blessed Sacrament this month, as we continue the Easter season.  We may pray before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in a monstrance in Eucharistic Adoration or before a tabernacle when our church is open for private prayer, services, and devotions.  The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic faith.  To be admitted to the Supper of the Lord we repent, confess our sins and receive absolution, amend our lives, and present ourselves for Holy Communion in a state of grace.  Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to eat His Body and drink His Blood, to come closer to Him and to be saved, joining Him someday in Heaven for all eternity.


March 31 – Wednesday of Holy Week.


This last weekday before the Easter Triduum is also known as Spy Wednesday, when Judas Iscariot bargained for Christ’s arrest.






March 30 – Tuesday of Holy Week.
At Mass, the prophet Isaiah trumpets himself as the strong, fine-edged servant of God, a weapon in the hands of his Lord.  In the Gospel, Jesus reclines at table at the Last Supper, “deeply troubled,” offering Judas a chance to turn away from evil, hearing Peter avow his undying loyalty.  Our diocese celebrates the annual Chrism Mass today, at 11:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, in the upstairs church.  Please contact the diocese to reserve a seat:  vermontcatholic.org/events.  There is no 12:05 p.m. daily Mass.  Our parish priests will renew their ordination vows and receive holy oils for their parishes.


March 29 - Monday of Holy Week.
In the Gospel at Mass, Mary of Bethany pours costly oil over Our Lord, and weeping with remorse for her sins, wipes His feet with her hair.  Jesus speaks of her great love which merits great mercy.








Sunday, March 28 – PALM SUNDAY.   
Today we mark Christ’s humble but triumphant entry into Jerusalem, riding a lowly donkey, as followers spread palm branches and garments to pave His way.  We may walk in procession at the start of Mass, holding blessed palms and singing a hymn, our priest vested in red.  Later in the Mass, we hear the Passion Gospel of Mark, beginning with the scene of great love and forgiveness as the penitent woman anoints Jesus with costly oil and wipes His feet with her hair.  Soon after this tale, we are at the Last Supper, where Judas steals away to carry out his treachery.  Then we bear Christ’s sufferings – His scourging, His judgement, His cross and crucifixion.  Now we will enter Holy Week, days of hush, waiting, preparing, hoping, as the great Easter feast approaches. 

Thursday, March 25 – Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord.
Today we mark the magnificent entry of God into human life and time, the conception of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the lowly Virgin Mary.  Conceived without sin, Mary bowed her head to the will of God, and accepted the sword of suffering, and the joys and glory that awaited her as Mother of Our Lord.  We are told of important parallels with Eve and her yielding to temptation by the fallen angel Lucifer in the garden of Eden.  There, some accounts say, a woman spoke with an angel and erred.  Today, another woman spoke with an angel and pronounced the great saving, “Yes,” to God’s will, countering Eve’s terrible “No,” to obeying God. 

Tuesday, March 23 – Optional Memorial of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, bishop.
St. Turibius was the first male saint of the New World.  A brilliant law scholar in late sixteenth-century Spain, Turibius’s carefully formed legal arguments against his appointment to an archbishopric in Peru failed, and he was ordained and sent to South America.  He labored there for several decades, defending the native peoples and settlers.  He also reformed the Church there, rooting out abuses by clergy, returning religious life to holiness and purity.  St. Turibius ministered to St. Rose of Lima, and was assisted in his work by St. Francis Solano.  He founded the first seminary of the Americas in Lima. 

Sunday, March 21 - FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT.
In today’s Gospel, Greeks arrive seeking Jesus.  Jesus speaks to His disciples, telling them the parable of the grain of wheat that must die, a veiled foretelling of His coming death and resurrection, which will save mankind from their sins.  Jesus goes on to ruminate, saying He is troubled, resolving to choose His Father’s will and not His own, and asking his Father in Heaven to do His glorious will.  From on high, the Father reassures His Son.



Friday, March 19 – Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In this month and year of St. Joseph, today we celebrate the silent saint’s feast day.  No words of Joseph are recorded in the Bible, but his life speaks volumes of holiness.  Church scholars  have mined great insights from the little information we have on Christ’s earthly father.  This simple carpenter bore his cross as he took his wife, the Blessed Mother into his home, and protected her and the Divine Son through the journey to Bethlehem, the flight to Egypt, the return to Nazareth, and the rearing of Jesus in the humble home there.  St. Joseph is patron and protector of the Universal Church, patron of the dying, of workers, and of our cathedral.  Masses at the Cathedral of St. Joseph are at 12:05 p.m. in the upstairs main church, and at 7:00 p.m., also upstairs, preceded by recitation of the Most Holy Rosary at 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 18 – Optional Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, bishop, confessor,                                          and Doctor of the Church.

Rrom his childhood, fourth-century St. Cyril studied the Scriptures intently.  He became a deacon, then a priest in the Holy Land, when the Arian heresy sprouted, spread, and came to power. This false teaching said that Christ was not divine.  St. Cyril now was bishop of Jerusalem, and in his relentless opposition to the dominant Arians, was three times driven into exile.  Cyril lived long enough to see the heresy condemned by the Council of Constantinople.  His great scholarly and solidly faithful Scripture work produced treatises instructing catechumens, who during Lent study the faith as they prepare to join the Church at Easter.                                                             Most of these priceless ancient texts have survived.

Wednesday, March 17 – Optional Memorial of St. Patrick, bishop and confessor.
St. Patrick’s famed story is the history of a man who returned to his place of bondage to spread the faith, his love of God overcoming his justified aversion to that scene of suffering.   Born in the British Isles in the fifth century, the boy Patrick was kidnapped and sold into slavery by Irish raiders.  He escaped back to his home and family in Britain, where he became a priest and was ordained a bishop.  Patrick sailed back to the Emerald Isle, bringing his most precious gift, Christianity.  He converted many of the pagan Irish, founding monasteries and building churches throughout the land.  St. Patrick handed down to us his Breastplate prayer and his autobiography, Confessions.  After the fall of the Roman Empire, Ireland heroically preserved Western texts and culture, bridging the time of barbaric rule and the Middle Ages, when Western culture again flourished.  The illustration at left is The Landing of St. Patrick in Ireland, by nineteenth and twentieth century British artist Frederick Cayley Robinson.

Sunday, March 14 – FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT – LAETARE OR REJOICE SUNDAY.
We are joyful this day because Easter draws near.  Our priest may wear rose-colored vestments instead of purple or violet.  It’s a good time to add to our joy by going to Confession, preparing for receiving Our Lord at Easter.  Church flowers and more music are allowed today before we return to a penitential mode.   The Gospel from St. John recounts Jesus’s famous assurance that He came to save the world.


Tuesday, March 9 – Optional Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, religious.
Following the path of other saintly, wealthy noblewomen, St. Frances gave generously to the poor.  Growing up in fifteenth-century Rome, she had set her heart on joining a religious order, but obeyed her father’s wish and married.  Many years later, Frances’s husband died and she relinquished her riches for the poverty of religious life.  St. Frances of Rome is said to have had lifelong contact with her guardian angel and other angels.




Monday, March 8 – Optional Memorial of St. John of God, religious.
This sixteenth-century Spanish saint spent many years ministering to the patients in a mental hospital where he was a resident.  John was committed there because of the astounding fervor of his faith conversion, inspired by St. John of Avila (or St. John of the Cross).   St. John of God turned his attention to his fellow patients who suffered greatly from the time’s cruel treatments.  A story tells how John heroically rescued patients, and then their belongings, from a terrible fire at the institution, obeying the prompts of the Holy Spirit to act quickly without little regard for his own safety.  After St. John died, followers formed the Hospitaller Brothers of St. John (of God), approved by Pope St. Pius V.

Sunday, March 7 – THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT.
Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover, and drives the moneychangers and sellers out of the temple.  He tells the Jewish leaders that He will raise up a new temple in three days, the temple of His Body after His resurrection.  Many people come to believe in Him, but Our Lord thought their faith was weak.




Saturday, March 6 – First Saturday.

Friday, March 5 – First Friday.

Thursday, March 4 - Optional Memorial of St. Casimir of Poland.
Casimir was a fifteenth century prince, son of Poland’s king.  From his youth, Casimir denied himself comforts, exacted stiff penances on himself, and spent a great deal of time in prayer and devotions.  He refused to wage an unjust war, returning to his piety, and died in his mid-twenties.






Wednesday, March 3 – Optional Memorial of St. Katharine Drexel, virgin. (USA)
Born to wealth and a high social position in Philadelphia in the mid-nineteenth century, Katharine gave up her luxurious life to help Native and African Americans.  She went West and founded schools with her teaching order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored.  An array of mission centers followed.  St. Katharine and her followers suffered persecution, but persevered.  She established Xavier University in New Orleans.  St. Katharine spent her last 20 years in retirement, devoting her time to prayer.  She died in 1955.




March – Month of St. Joseph.
During this year of St. Joseph, the entire month of March celebrates this powerful saint, and marks his Solemnity March 19.  There is so much to say about St. Joseph, even though we never hear him speak in the Bible. Husband and protector of the Blessed Virgin and of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, St. Joseph also was a working man, a carpenter, who taught his skills to his divine foster son.  Joseph obeyed God’s commands to take Mary into his home as his wife, and to flee to Egypt with the Baby Jesus to escape King Herod.  Joseph was there when Mary brought forth her firstborn in the Bethlehem stable after the arduous journey from their Nazareth home.  He saw the shepherds, angels, and magi adore the Holy Infant.  He is called “a just man.”  St. Joseph is patron of the universal Church, of a happy death, and of workers.  We also will honor him on May 1 under the title, “St. Joseph the Worker.”  Our Cathedral is named for him and holds fine statues of the patron saint.

Sunday, February 28 – SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT.
Jesus appears in His glory on Mount Tabor, and the voice of God the Father is heard.








Saturday, February 27 - Optional Memorial St. Gregory of Narek, abbot & Doctor of                                               the Church.
Pope Francis recently added this brilliant Armenian monk, poet, and mystic to the Roman calendar of saints.  St. Gregory composed his vast compendium of works from monasteries in his home country.









Tuesday, February 23 – Optional Memorial of St. Polycarp, bishop and martyr.
Our saint today was a great leader in the second century Church, bridging the time between the apostles and the next generation, or what are known as the Church fathers.  He followed the apostle St. John the Evangelist and is grouped with Church fathers St. Ignatius of Antioch and Clement of Rome.  Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna in present-day Turkey.  A majestic figure, he vigorously defended the faith against heresy and preached orthodoxy.  St. Polycarp was burned at the stake in Rome, refusing to renounce his faith.



Monday, February 22 – Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Apostle.
Today’s feast honors the chair that St. Peter used when celebrating his first service in Rome, and the unity that proceeds from the Holy See.  It also venerates St. Peter’s role as apostle and teacher, passed down to the Universal Church in an unbroken line.  Our pope instructs the faithful, using the deposit of teaching, the Magisterium, and his own declarations. 



Sunday, February 21 – FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT.
   Jesus is tempted by the devil.     











Wednesday, February 17 – Ash Wednesday.  Lent begins.
Today we begin our penitential journey to the Church’s greatest Solemnity, Easter Sunday.  The word Lent derives from a German word for spring. This day, we fast and abstain from meat following Church guidelines.  Our priest wears purple vestments, we no longer pray the Gloria or sing the Alleluia, and church decorations are spare.  Some writers describe this paring down and reducing as reflections of the penitent’s losing, casting off the encumbrances that bar our salvation.  "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation!" said St. Paul.  Ashes, a sign of humility, penance, and mortality, will be distributed at the Cathedral of St. Joseph at Masses at 12:05 and 7:00 p.m.  Stations of the Cross will be held in the upstairs main church every Friday in Lent at 7:00 p.m., beginning February 19.

Saturday, February 13 – Optional Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.








Thursday, February 11 – Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes.
The Church recognizes the apparitions at this shrine, and the healing miracles that have astounded the world since 1858.  On this day in that year, young Marie Bernade Soubirous encountered a beautiful, white gowned lady speaking to her from a cave in a wild, rural place.  The ethereal woman, a blue sash around her waist and a golden rose on each foot, told Bernadette, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”  The Church had proclaimed that dogma four years earlier, in 1854.  The Lady also instructed the girl to drink from a spring that burst forth from the ground.  That spring flows today, and pilgrims flock to the great shrine and its basilica seeking healing of body and soul.  A statue of Our Lady of Lourdes graces our Burlington cathedral.

Wednesday, February 10 – Memorial of St. Scholastica, virgin.
St. Scholastica was the sister of St. Benedict, the father of Western monasticism and a great and powerful saint in his own right.  These twins lived in the fifth century.  St. Benedict founded the magnificent monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy. St. Scholastica was a member of a women’s order at a neighboring abbey.  The pair was close, and visited each other once a year.  It’s said that when Scholastica died, St. Benedict saw his sister’s soul fly to heaven as a dove.


Monday, February 8 - Optional Memorials of St. Jerome Emiliani, priest; St. Josephine Bakhita, virgin.
St. Jerome began his life as a carefree and careless solider for the sixteenth century Italian city-state Venice.  Captured in battle, Jerome pondered his future while in jail, and turned to the Lord.  He escaped his prison, and reformed, tending to family duties and seeking priestly ordination.  His religious life led him to work among the poor and sick, as famine and disease swept the land.  St. Jerome cared for orphans, abandoned children, and all those who were ill or destitute, and died serving them.

St. Josephine Bakhita, born 1869, was a Sudanese child when she was kidnapped and sold into slavery, suffering under cruel masters and mistresses who beat and disfigured her.  Her life improved under an Italian owner, and when his wife traveled for a visit to another country, St. Josephine stayed behind to live with the Canossian Sisters of Charity.  Through these religious, she learned her precious faith and eventually won her freedom.  She joined the sisters, doing convent housekeeping but also mothering school children.  St. Josephine endured terrible physical torments during her final illness and died calling on Our Lady.

Saturday, February 6 - Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, martyrs.
First Saturday.
This revered group of sixteenth century martyrs is said to have gone joyfully to their deaths.  Twenty-six martyrs were canonized for their sacrifice on the Holy Mountain in Nagasaki, Japan.  Paul Miki was a Japanese Jesuit seminarian.  He and 25 lay and religious Japanese and foreigners were tied to crosses and pierced with spears.  The persecution drove Japanese Catholics to worship in secret until           missionaries again preached openly in the 1800s.



Friday, February 5 - Memorial of St. Agatha, virgin and martyr.
First Friday.
Agatha was a third century Christian and one of the most beloved early virgin martyrs.  She fell into disfavor with a local official, whose marriage proposal she refused, telling her suitor she was dedicated to Christ alone.  Stories of Agatha recount her terrible sufferings at this authority’s hands to force her to renounce her faith.  She held fast, one story saying she was healed by St. Peter himself.  She died a young martyr.



Wednesday, February 3 – Optional Memorial of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr; St. Ansgar, bishop.
St. Blaise lived in the third and fourth centuries, and was an Armenian bishop and doctor.  He also is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. We often receive a throat blessing on this day in memory of St. Blaise’s healings of people and animals.  Today’s blessings grew from his saving a choking child.  Persecuting pagans arrested, tortured and beheaded St. Blaise for his faith.  Father Harlow will bless throats right after the 12:05 p.m. Mass in the lower chapel.





St. Ansgar is the Apostle to the North, or Scandinavia.  Born in the ninth century, he spent his early life in France and Germany, ordained as a priest, and sent to Denmark and Sweden to convert the northern people.  His efforts won few Christians but he returned in later years and brought many more northern folk to Christianity.  Pagan invasions undid some of St. Ansgar’s work, but his self-denying life, his miracles, his holiness, and his great eloquence continued to gain converts.  Paganism again covered those lands after the saint’s death, until Christian missionaries renewed the faith in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

Tuesday, February 2 – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas). 
This feast of light takes place 40 days after Christmas, when the Blessed Mother obeyed Jewish law to present herself at the temple for purification.  As she held the Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph saw an old devout man approach, Simeon, who foretold Our Lady’s long and deep sufferings as if a sword pierced her heart, and the coming Messiah in the infant in her arms.  “Now thou dost dismiss they servant … Because my eyes have seen,” said Simeon in the first words of his canticle.  The prophetess Anna also came forward to see the Holy Face.  She and Simeon exemplify the precious value of prayer and contemplation.  Processions and blessings with candles, symbols of Jesus as light to the nations, often take place on Candlemas, which used to be the end of the Christmas cycle.



February: Month of the Holy Family
This month, with the Christmas festivities over, we turn our undivided attention to the Holy Family. In February, we can learn about and meditate on the example of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in their humble Nazareth household.  We might imagine, based on our reading and praying, how the simple, intimate life among these three holy people reveals itself in Jesus’s three years of ministry as an adult man.  Our reflections are pleasant, enriching, and absorbing as we picture the Holy Family at work, at table, at rest, and at worship.  Like them, we strive for a home built on love: chastity; bearing with each other’s faults; self-sacrifice; going above and beyond for the sake of each member.

Saturday, January 30 - Optional Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.









Thursday, January 28 – Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and Doctor of the Church.
The Angelic Doctor, the illustrious Dominican who lived and died in the glorious thirteenth century, is one of the greatest theologians, philosphers, and writers of all time.  His Summa Theologica is unsurpassed.  We remember St. Thomas also for his beautiful hymns, among them “Panis Angelicus” (“Bread of Angels”), “Tantum Ergo” (“Down in Adoration Falling”), “Adoro Te Devote” (“Humbly We Adore Thee”) and “O Salutaris Hostia” (“O Saving Victim, Open Wide”). An innocent and mild mannered soul, the heavyset St. Thomas was jokingly called “Dumb Ox” by his Paris university classmates.  His faith writings, however, showed his vast intellect, and belied that derisive nickname. 

Wednesday, January 27 – Optional Memorial of St. Angela Merici, virgin.
This inspiring woman was born in Italy in the late fifteenth century.  She was a deeply devout young woman, dedicated to Our Lord’s service.  In her home, she taught girls and later started the Order of St. Ursula or the Ursulines, a religious order for teaching girls.  Angela traveled to the Holy Land as a pilgrim, both losing and regaining her eyesight during that journey. She returned to Italy to continue her work and died a natural death in the mid-sixteenth century.

Tuesday, January 26 – Memorial of Sts. Timothy and Titus, bishops.
These two saints were close companions of St. Paul.  They traveled with the great Apostle to the Gentiles and received their episcopates from him.  Timothy was bishop of the large city of Ephesus in today’s Turkey.  He was stoned to death for denouncing pagan worship.  Titus’s see was Crete.  Both men showed the zeal, compassion, and steadfast faith that Paul prized and rewarded with his affection and admiration.  St. Paul wrote two New Testament letters to Timothy and one to Titus. 

Monday, January 25 – Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle.
Saul, a zealous Pharisee Jew and Roman citizen, “breathing threats of slaughter,” as the Bible tells it, was on his way to Damascus (Syria) to arrest Christians when the Lord cast him down and blinded him, asking, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  Saul submitted to his conversion, as “there fell from his eyes something like scales,” an expression we use today for dramatic reversals of opinion.  Saul, renamed Paul, became the great Apostle to the Gentiles, traversing the Middle East, Asia Minor, and parts of Europe, writing the famous letters or epistles that we read throughout the year at Mass.  Paul was beheaded in in 66 A.D.

Saturday, January 23 - Optional Memorials of St. Vincent of Saragossa, deacon & martyr; St. Marianne Cope.
Another Spanish saint, St. Vincent labored for the Church in the area of Saragossa in the third century, when many Catholic martyrs met their ends at the hands of the Roman Emperors.  Vincent is hailed as one of the three greatest deacons of the Church, along with Stephen and Lawrence.  He suffered great torture but refused to renounce his faith.

We celebrate St. Marianne Cope for her quiet, heroic service to the Hawaiian lepers.  St. Marianne came to this country from Germany, joining the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, NY, where she founded the state’s first Catholic hospitals.  Then came the call from Hawaii, to which Mother Marianne answered, “I am hungry for the work … I am not afraid of any disease, hence it would be my greatest delight to minister to the abandoned …”  She and six sisters from her order traveled to the Pacific to nurse the poor, and the outcast leprosy patients in the Hawaiian Islands.  Folllowing in the footsteps of St. Damian DeVeuster, whose labors continued during her time, St. Marianne and her religious sisters cared for the destitute sick and for leprosy victims, including lepers on Molokai.  She and her sisters never contracted the disease. 

Friday, January 22 – Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.
Today we are invited and urged to do penance through prayer for helpless, silent unborn people.  January 22, 1973 was the day that the U.S. Supreme Court decided that abortion was legal in all states.  The annual Vermont Rally for Life, which includes a short parade of supporters, will take place in Montpelier Saturday, January 23, begainning at 9:30 a.m. with Mass at St. Augustine’s Church and a service at Lighthouse Christian Church.  The national March for Life is online only this year, on Friday, January 29.

Thursday, January 21 – Memorial of St. Agnes, virgin and martyr.
St. Agnes is one of the renowned fourth centuries martyrs who died under Roman persecution.  We read the accounts of her heroic conduct in the midst of her final sufferings.  She is called the lamb and the pure one, her life ending when she was in her early teenaged years.



Wednesday, January 20 – Optional Memorials of St. Fabian, pope and martyr; St. Sebastian, martyr.
Pope St. Fabian reigned for 14 years in the mid third century.  The Church enjoyed freedom to practice the faith during the first part of his pontificate, when St. Fabian organized the Roman church into seven diaconates to better serve the poor, beautified churches and cemeteries, and improved Church management.  This tranquil flourishing ended under Roman Emperor Decius, who persecuted Christians and imprisoned the Holy Father, who died in captivity.

St. Sebastian, who also lived in the third century, usually is pictured with St. Fabian.  Sebastian was a Roman solider who became a Christian and fell under the Emperor Diocletian’s horrific persecution.  He was shot with many arrows but survived to endure a second execution attempt which killed the courageous military officer.  St. Sebastian won great veneration during the Middle Ages.  He is the patron saint of archers, and of athletes for his great endurance.


Saturday, January 16 – Optional Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.










Wednesday, January 13 – Optional Memorial of St. Hilary of Poitiers, bishop and Doctor of the Church.  Affluent and well-educated, Hilary was born in present day France in 310 A.D.  While the Church at that time was free of state persecution, another enemy assailed it:  the heresy of Arianism, which denied Christ’s divinity.  St. Hilary, appointed bishop, fought the powerful untruth, and was exiled.  He returned to continue his combat against the widespread heresy.  St. Hilary is remembered for his 12-volume work on the Holy Trinity, affirming Jesus as Second Person.  His invigorating quotes include: “Servants of the trust ought speak the truth”.

Ordinary Time: Monday, January 11 – Today, we return to numbered Ordinary Time.  Our priest wears green vestments unless we are marking martyrs’ memorials or special feast days.  The nativity scene and most Christmas decorations are gone from the church.  It is time to practice our Christmas lessons in this young new liturgical year.  Our next big change comes February 17, Ash Wednesday, when we begin Lent.


Sunday, January 10 – Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
This Sunday marks the end of this year’s Christmas season.  Some celebrations go on until the Feast of the Presentation February 2, but we now return to Ordinary or numbered time until Lent begins mext month.  Today we hear the Gospel relate John the Baptist’s baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, the remarkable appearance of the Holy Spirit, and the voice of God the Father.  It is Christ’s third revealing of His divinity and identity as Redeemer, following last week’s Solemnity of Epiphany and the Nativity. 




Thursday, January 7 – Optional Memorial of St. Raymond of Penafort, priest.
St. Raymond was a Spanish born Dominican, renowned as a canon law expert, superbly interpreting and defending the Church’s decrees.  His writing on the Sacrament of Penance still stands today as a great work.  St. Raymond set a fine example of modesty and piety and concern for the poor.  He helped found and championed the order requested by Our Lady to ransom Christian captives held by Muslims.  A miracle story affirms that the saint sailed more than a hundred miles back home to Barcelona from the island of Majorca by riding over the sea on his spread cloak. St. Raymond lived to 100 years old.

Wednesday, January 6 – Optional Memorial of St. André Bessette, religious.  Christmas weekday.
We consider André Bessette our local saint, because he lived, worked, and fashioned his holy life in nearby Quebec.  In fact, some Vermonters can claim kinship with him.  He also was greatly devoted to our Cathderal’s patron saint, St. Joseph, whose title “Patron of the Universal Church” was new when André was a young man.  Overcoming his orphan state, poor health and lack of education, André brought his great faith to religious life as a brother with Congregation of the Holy Cross in Montréal.  For 40 years, Brother André was doorkeeper at the Collège de Notre Dame, receiving visitors, becoming good friends with many of them, and praying for them.  Grateful devotees credited him with their healing miracles, although he attributed these events to St. Joseph.  He also helped found and became caretaker of  St. Joseph’s Oratory.  St. André’s life was humble and pious, just as Our Lord asked.

Christmas: Tuesday, January 5 – Memorial of St. John Neumann, bishop.
St. John was born in Bohemia, (now in the Czech Republic) in 1811, and learned Catholic piety from his mother.  Fulfilling his ardent wish to be a missionary priest in America, John sailed to the new United States, and was ordained there.  He launched his life of fervent service in Buffalo, setting up schools and building churches.  In the middle of the century, John became a U.S. citizen, joined the Redemptorist order, and was ordained bishop of Philadelphia.  Fluent in several languages, St. John gathered souls in the young country, and helped institute the parochial school system.  He counted himself privileged in 1854 to attend in Rome the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.  He died when he was 48 years old, unexpectedly collapsing in the street, worn out from his work for the Catholic faith.


Christmas: Monday, January 4 – Memorial of Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious.
Wife and mother of five children, Elizabeth Ann Seton converted to Catholicism in 1805 from her Episcopal upbringing after her husband died from illness.  Her long-standing concern for the poor blossomed first in Baltimore, MD where she was invited to found a girls’ school, and later, received approval for herself and her assistants to establish a religious order based on St. Vincent de Paul’s Daughters of Charity. As head of the American Sisters of Charity, St. Elizabeth helped open Catholic schools around the country, ministered to the poor, and founded orphanages.  Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American born saint, canonized in 1975. 

The Christmas Season - December 25, 2020 – January 10, 2021

The Church’s official Christmas season begins on Christmas Day and lasts through the Sunday on which we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. This year, that feast falls on January 10.

Both men were friends and fourth century bishops, Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Constantinople. Basil is honored as the father of eastern monasticism. He fought courageously against the Arian heresy. Gregory is one of the Church’s greatest speakers. He led both an active and a contemplative faith life. Both saints are Doctors of the Church.

Today we honor our Blessed Mother as Mother of God, Our Savior. Mass today is at 10:00 a.m. in the main church.

This year, the January 3 feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is not celebrated because it coincides with Epiphany Sunday, which takes precedence over the Holy Name celebration. Throughout the month, however, we revere the all-powerful name given to our Savior at His birth, and before which every knee should bend. We pray to His name, receive blessings from Him, and atone for offenses to the name of Jesus.