With all that’s taken place in Venezuela over the past week I decided to do some research to find out what saints might be good intercessors on behalf of the Venezuelan people, to help them with the very serious social and political challenges they face. A quick internet search told me that the main patroness of Venezuela is the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Our LadyContinue reading “Saints for Venezuela “
Category Archives: Blessed Mother
Living Rosary
Last Sunday we hosted a living rosary in our beautiful Marian Garden in anticipation of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (10/7). The living rosary devotion involves a group of at least 60 people (we had about 80), with each person representing one of the “beads” of the rosary. The group’s progression throughContinue reading “Living Rosary “
Bartolo Longo
Blessed Bartolo Longo had a very unusual path to sainthood. Born in 1841 into a devoutly Catholic family, as a young man he went to study law at the University of Naples. The 1860s was a time of great social-political turmoil on the Italian peninsula, with a rising nationalist movement led by General Giuseppe Garibaldi,Continue reading “Bartolo Longo “
The Popes and Our Mother
The papal conclave of 1914 resulted in the election of Pope Benedict XV, who would reign during the intensely difficult period from 1914-1922. When the First World War broke out less than two months before Benedict’s election, many believed it would be a short, decisive conflict. But by the end of 1914 the sides had settledContinue reading “The Popes and Our Mother “
Fairest of Them All
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” It’s the best-known line from one of America’s best-loved films, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which ushered in the golden age of Disney animation and is considered an all-time classic. In a few weeks the Disney Corporation plans to release a live-actionContinue reading “Fairest of Them All “
Our Lady
When Philippe Villeneuve was 16 years old, he made a model of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, a building that had captured his imagination since he was a boy. “Little did I know, when I was a kid, building the cathedral out of cardboard and paper, that one day I would be working on theContinue reading “Our Lady “
Mother of the Redeemer
We find ourselves in the second week of a new liturgical season – the 4-week season of Advent. With the change in liturgical season come changes in the liturgy itself. First, the priest begins to wear violet-colored vestments, whereas before he wore green. Second, we don’t sing the “Gloria” at the beginning of Mass untilContinue reading “Mother of the Redeemer “
Living Rosary
When I was a kid, anytime we would go on a trip in the car as a family, at some point my mother would blindside us with the announcement that it was time for the rosary. I rarely received the news well. “Ugh!” I’d think to myself, “It’s so long and repetitive and boring!” But,Continue reading “Living Rosary “
Our Lady’s Gift
When Fr. Myron Miller built the current Church of St. Cecilia in 1956, moving the parish to Newfield Ave. from its original location on Weed Hill, he made sure to bring some things with him to the new church. One thing he brought was the beautiful statue of St. Cecilia that had stood since 1926Continue reading “Our Lady’s Gift “
Eclipse
If you are reading this article, it means the world didn’t end last week. This, despite the occurrence of a torrential rainstorm, an earthquake, and a solar eclipse all happening within a fortnight of each other. Personally, I found the rain depressing, the earthquake unsettling, and the eclipse fascinating. I remember my first experience ofContinue reading “Eclipse “
The Parish of St. Cecilia-St. Gabriel 