FEASTS OF THE WEEK
Friday 15th August : Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Assumption of Mary honours the fullness of blessedness that was her destiny, the glorification of her immaculate soul and virginal body that completely conformed her for the risen Christ. This is a celebration that offers to the Church and to all humanity an exemplar and a consoling message, teaching us the fulfilment of our highest hopes. Their own future glorification is happily in store for all those whom Christ has made his own brothers and sisters by taking on their flesh and blood.
Saturday 16th August : St. Stephen of Hungary (975-1038
First King of Hungary and its patron saint, worked for the conversion of his people to Christianity.
Sunday 17th August : 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Christ promises his followers the same cross as he himself bore. They must meet rejection, ridicule, ostracism from family and society, and martyrdom. The saints who have gone before us encourage us to leave all for the Gospel's sake.
Tuesday 19th August : St. John Eudes (1601-1680)
From Normandy, France, he spent a fruitful twenty years with the French Oratory, then left to found a congregation to improve the standards of the clergy through seminaries. He founded also the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge. He was a powerful preacher and among the first to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Wednesday 20th August : St. Bernard (1090-1153)
He became a Cistercian monk at Citeaux in 1113 and was chosen abbot of Clairvaux in 1115. His writings reveal a solid grasp of biblical studies, spiritual theology and philosophy. Patron of Gibraltar and beekeepers.
Thursday 21st August : St. Pius X (1835-1914)
Born Guiseppe Melchiorre Sarto in northern Italy in 1835. He became Pope in 1903. At that time, royalty and influential laity had a say in the election of a Pope. Cardinal Rampolla received the most votes however the Archbishop of Krakow used the veto vote of Austria's Emperor which resulted in Cardinal Sarto being elected Pope. The year after his election Pope Pius X abolished that rule and since then only Cardinals vote on the election of a Pope. In his 11 year pontificate, he carried out key reforms in the Church. He encouraged pastoral liturgy and sacramental practice, especially of frequent communion, to which he admitted young children reversing the then practice of someone receiving Confirmation before Communion. He developed a reputation as being very friendly with children. During papal audiences, he would gather children around him and talk to them about things that interested them. His weekly catechism lessons in the courtyard of San Damaso in the Vatican always included a special place for children. Some say he died of grief - just three weeks after World War I started; he died on the night of 20th August 1914. Papal physicians had been in the habit of removing organs to aid the embalming process. Pius X expressly prohibited this, and none of his successors have allowed the practice to be reinstituted. He was the 257th Pope; beatified in 1951 and canonised in 1954 by Pope Pius XII.
The only motto attributed to him is the one for which he is best remembered: instaurare omnia in Christo (to restore all thing in Christ); these words were the last he spoke before he died.
Friday 22nd August : The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
During the Middle Ages Mary was venerated as queen of the angels and saints. Pope Pius XII prescribed the feast for the universal Church at the close of Marian Year of 1955. It is placed on this date to stress the connection of Mary's queenship with the Assumption.
Saturday 23rd August : St. Eugene (Eoghan)
He lived in the sixth century and was said to have been taken by pirates to Britain. On obtaining his freedom he went to study at Candida Casa. Returning to Ireland he made a foundation at Kinamanagh in the Wicklow hills, but his principal foundation was at Ardstraw (Ard Sratha), Co. Tyrone.
(Candida Casa was the name given to the church established by St. Ninian in Whithorn, Galloway, southern Scotland, int he mid fifth century AD.)