ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
St. Augustine Parish are being asked to donate to a local food bank. The food Bank is asking for donation of complete Pancake mix. Please bring donation to the church after Sunday mass or other church services.
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
The Next Combined Family Masses will be the Sunday before Thanksgiving, November 24, 2024, 10:00 am at Our Lady of Mercy Church.
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ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
Note: The Radiate Christ program at St. Augustine will change from Monday night December 9th to Tuesday night December 10th. This is due to Monday, December 9th being a Holy Day of Obligation (Feast of the Immaculate Conception).
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
Relevant Radio is a national Catholic radio station promoting the Faith here in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas. Listen on 105.9 FM, on their #1 FREE Catholic app or at http://relevantradio.com.
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Holy Spirit Family of Parishes Newsletter
It’s time for our Summer Holy Spirit Family of Parishes Quarterly Newsletter. Please send articles for submission to Liz Gadola:
gadola@ourladyofgrace.org
SAINT AUGUSTINE PRAYER CHAIN
If you would like to be a part of the St. Augustine Prayer Chain, please contact Marie Klotz at saintapraysingtown@gmail.com
SAINT AUGUSTINE ONE CALL
To be added to the St. Augustine one-call, please contact Fran Delegato at delegatof@outlook.com
Sonshine in a Bag
St. AUGUSTINE PARISH participated and supported “SONSHINE IN A BAG” food program. The Sonshine in a Bag program provides bags of food to refer students who they feel could benefit from receiving food from this program.
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While traveling and you wish to find Catholic Services near your visiting area go to this website.
http://CatholicMassTime.org
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Sunday October 1st. St. Augustine presented the (The Top 3 Reasons That I Became Catholic… and Always Will Be. The Dr. John Bergsma, a former Protestant Pastor’s story) was shown immediately after the 8:30 am Mass. Please fill free to view this presentation.
To View click below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06F4i4TtS1c
Saint of the Week
November 17, 2024
Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul
November 18: Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
After Emperor Constantine the Great legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire in 313, he constructed churches, including four Roman basilicas: Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter’s on Vatican Hill, Holy Cross of Jerusalem, and Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Today, the Church celebrates the dedication of Saint Peter’s on Vatican Hill and Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
In 64, a great fire destroyed much of Rome. Many historians believe Emperor Nero set the fires himself to have an excuse to rebuild portions of the city. Blaming the fire on the Christians, Nero implemented the first organized persecution of Christians in the empire. Among the many arrested and martyred were Saints Peter and Paul. The two basilicas mark their places of execution.
Peter, Prince of the Apostles and Bishop of Rome, is believed to have been crucified upside-down in the Circus of Nero near the ancient Egyptian obelisk that now stands in the center of Saint Peter’s Square. Buried on Vatican Hill, his grave became a place of pilgrimage. After Constantine legalized Christianity, he constructed Old Saint Peter’s Basilica to foster devotion and encourage pilgrimages. Dedicated by Pope Sylvester around 324 or 326, it remained for more than a millennium.
Until 1305, popes lived at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. After the Avignon Papacy ended and Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377, the Lateran Palace was in disrepair from two fires. The pope built a new papal palace next to Old Saint Peter’s on Vatican Hill, where every subsequent pope has resided. By the early sixteenth century, Old Saint Peter’s was in serious disrepair, so Pope Julius II ordered its demolition and began a reconstruction that was completed 120 years later. In 1626, Pope Urban VII dedicated today’s Basilica of Saint Peter at the Vatican.
Saint Paul, the Church’s tireless evangelist and preeminent theologian, founded and nourished many Christian communities. Arrested in Jerusalem, Paul appealed to the Roman emperor as a Roman citizen and was transported to Rome for trial two years later. He was beheaded on or around the same day that Saint Peter was crucified. His beheading and burial occurred just outside the city walls.
Emperor Constantine built the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls over Saint Paul’s grave. Over the next 1,500 years, successive popes added on to the basilica, renovated it, and decorated it. In 1823, a fire destroyed almost the entire basilica. Over the next thirty years, the church was redesigned and reconstructed. Pope Pius IX completed and dedicated it in 1854.
As their graves are foundations for these two churches, Peter’s and Paul’s lives and ministries are the Church’s foundation. Saint Peter, the first pope, received the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Of him, Jesus said, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Saint Paul, the great evangelist to the Gentiles, symbolizes the Church’s missionary life and theological articulation of the faith. His writings make up most of the New Testament. Though centered and unified by Saint Peter, we must go to the ends of the earth, sharing the Gospel like Saint Paul. Every bishop throughout the world is obliged to make an “ad limina apostolorum” visit to Rome once every five years to report to the pope about his diocese and visit the two apostles’ tombs.
Saints Peter and Paul, God used you in powerful ways that have had a profound impact upon the lives of God’s people. Please pray that I will become a foundation upon which God continues to build His Church and from which the message of salvation goes forth. Saints Peter and Paul, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.
Saint of the Week
November 3, 2024
Saint Charles Borromeo
November 4: Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop—1538–1584
Patron Saint of apple orchards, bishops, catechism writers, catechists, catechumens, seminarians, starch makers, and spiritual directors Invoked against abdominal pain, colic, stomach diseases, and ulcers Canonized by Pope Paul V on November 1, 1610
Charles Borromeo was born to a noble Italian family in the Castle of Arona in the Duchy of Milan. Charles’ father was the Count of Arona, and his mother was from the powerful Medici family. As the second son, Charles was expected to pursue a career within the Church. He received the tonsure at age twelve and was granted the honorary title of titular Abbot of Sts. Gratinian and Felinus at Arona, endowing him with a steady income. At the University of Pavia, he studied Church and civil law.
On Christmas Day, 1559, Charles’ uncle, Cardinal John Angelo Medici was elected pope after Pope Paul IV’s death. The new Pope Pius IV called his twenty-one-year-old nephew Charles to Rome and made him a cardinal, even though he was not a priest. As a cardinal, he would help elect the next pope, assist with Church governance, and advise his uncle. Soon after, the pope appointed Cardinal Borromeo to a number of high Church positions, including Papal Protector and Legate.
Over four years, Cardinal Borromeo exercised his new responsibilities and enjoyed a good income. He encouraged his uncle to conclude the Council of Trent. In early 1562, the Council’s eighteenth session was held, and seven more would follow, concluding with the promulgation of the decrees on January 26, 1564. Since he was not an ordained bishop, Cardinal Borromeo could not participate in the council as other bishops did, but he was involved behind the scenes in formulating the decrees.
During the final period of the Council of Trent, Cardinal Borromeo’s older brother suddenly died childless. Because Charles was the only living male in the Borromeo family, his relatives urged him to abandon his Church career, become the Count of Arona, marry, and have an heir. This was a turning point for Charles. Deciding to pursue his vocation, he secretly arranged to be ordained a priest. After ordination, Charles celebrated his first Mass on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Mother of God at the tomb of Saints Peter and Paul. Three months later, he was ordained a bishop in the Sistine Chapel and was soon appointed Archbishop of Milan at age twenty-five.
Following the Council’s conclusion, Charles dedicated himself to enforcing its decisions. He helped develop the Roman Catechism, as well as various liturgical documents and hymns. He executed the Council’s decrees and reforms within Rome, including the ban on selling indulgences and church positions, reforming monasteries, training clergy, enforcing clerical celibacy, returning reverence to liturgical ceremonies, and strengthening the laity’s faith and morals.
In Milan, Cardinal Borromeo devoted nineteen years to enforcing the Council’s decrees, igniting a Catholic reawakening within his archdiocese that resonated throughout the Church. In addition to the reforms he had pursued in Rome, he instituted the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine to educate the young and old. While he had basked in his noble heritage and wealth as a young man, as a priest, he adopted a simpler lifestyle, fasted, prayed, donated most of his wealth to the needy, and made pastoral journeys across his archdiocese. His fervor grew steadily, setting his ministry aflame.
Saint Charles Borromeo, once ordained, you fervently followed Christ and became a holy shepherd of God’s people. Please pray that I will follow your example by applying your reforming fervor to my own soul and family. May all I do be for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Saint Charles Borromeo, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.
Saint of the Week
October 20, 2024
Saint Anthony Mary Claret
October 24: Saint Anthony Claret, Bishop— (1807–1870)
Patron Saint of the Catholic press, textile merchants, and weavers
Canonized by Pope Pius XII on May 7, 1950
Anthony Adjutor John Claret. Clara was born in Sallent, in the Province of Barcelona, Spain, one of five surviving children of devout Catholic parents. When only five, he would lie down at night and ponder eternity. Filled with holy sorrow for those who were miserable in life, he desired to help as many as possible get to heaven. He memorized the catechism, visited the parish church in the evening, and prayed the rosary every day. He felt a growing desire to be a priest.
As a teenager, Anthony worked in his father’s thread and cloth factory and studied manufacturing techniques in Barcelona. Invited with his father to open a factory there, he declined, knowing that something else awaited him. His spiritual director convinced him to study philosophy in the diocesan seminary in Vich, twenty-five miles from his family home. Refocused on his prayer life, Anthony realized that the diocesan priesthood was God’s will. He was ordained a priest on June 13, 1835. Assigned to his hometown, he spent the next four years continuing his theological studies.
Returning to Vich in 1849, Father Anthony founded the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, later known as the Claretian Missionaries, or Claretians. The new congregation’s goal was to train priests for preaching missions, evangelizing, and saving souls. Just after founding the congregation, he was appointed as Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba. He then added “Mary” to his name: Archbishop Anthony Mary Claret. After his episcopal ordination, he arrived in Cuba in February 1851 and spent the next six years reforming the clergy, creating new parishes, making multiple pastoral visits on foot to every parish, and renewing the people’s faith. He co-founded an order of sisters, preached against slavery, and established facilities to help the poor.
In 1857, Queen Isabel II called Bishop Claret back to Spain to serve as her confessor and spiritual director. For the next ten years, he accompanied the queen on her travels, preaching missions in each town while continuing to write and publish. In 1868, due to a revolution in Spain, the queen and her court fled to France. After advocating for papal infallibility at Vatican I, Bishop Claret returned to France, taking refuge in the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide, where he died several months later.
Saint Anthony Mary Claret, God set your heart on fire with a deep love for Him that overflowed into the hearts of sinners. Please pray that I will grow deeper in my love of God and will love all those whom I encounter. Saint Anthony, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.
For More Saint of the Week
https://www.catholicsmart.com/saint-of-the-week/
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