ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
St. Augustine is collecting Household good and Perishable food at the front lobby of Church. Donation can be given after mass until March 28, 2025.
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
Religious Education going on now
at (SB) Dominique Akpore dakpore@stbenedictdayton.org
at (QM) Marty Phillips mphillips@qmdayton.org
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
New Prayer Line
A new prayer line for St Augustine has been established. Please send all prayer requests to: prayerlinesta@gmail.com
There is a prayer request for an 11-year-old boy Jaxsen who died on Thursday February 6 when he was hit by a car in a driveway. May he rest in peace and God give the family peace.
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
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.
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
While traveling and you wish to find Catholic Services near your visiting area go to this website.
http://CatholicMassTime.org
Saint of the Week
March 16, 2025
Saint Patrick, Bishop c. 387–c. 460 or 493 (Actual dates are uncertain)
Feast Day March 17: Patron Saint of Ireland
Invoked against snake bites
Patrick was born in Roman-ruled Britain to loving parents, perhaps as an only child. His father was a senator and a deacon, and his grandfather was a married priest. Despite his Christian upbringing, Patrick struggled with his faith. When Patrick was sixteen, Gaelic slave traders arrived by ship and raided Patrick’s village. Patrick was captured and “was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people.”
At that time, Irish religious beliefs were a mixture of polytheism, belief in multiple gods, and animism, in which the natural world was believed to contain spirits who could be communicated with. The druids (priests) engaged in demonic spells, incantations, curses, and dark magic.
Patrick was made a swineherd for one of the clans and spent much of his time in the forests, enduring snow, ice, and rain. His time experiencing the suffering and loneliness of captivity, greatly benefited his soul. Within six years, he was praying a hundred prayers every day and a hundred prayers every night. He testified that “the Spirit was burning in me at that time.”
Heeding a voice in a dream, Patrick escaped, traveling nearly 200 miles to a ship where he convinced the captain to let him board. Within a month, he was back in Britain and reunited with his parents.
Heeding a voice in a dream, Patrick escaped, traveling nearly 200 miles to a ship where he convinced the captain to let him board. Within a month, he was back in Britain and reunited with his parents.
Once home, Patrick continued to pray, study Scripture, and learn the Catholic faith. He had a vision in which he heard the voice of the Irish say to him, “We beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and shall walk again among us.” Patrick knew that he had to return, not as a slave, but as a missionary. Despite opposition from his family, Patrick was determined to answer God’s call.
Since Patrick had learned much about Irish culture and language, he was an ideal candidate for missionary work. After years of study, probably in France, he was ordained a bishop and sent by the Church back to Ireland to convert the pagans, his captors, to Christ. By the courageous witness of his character, aided perhaps by miraculous signs and unwavering faith, one of the kings converted. After success in one kingdom, Bishop Patrick moved to another, converting the local king and chiefs first. Once they were open to the Gospel, the people followed.
During the fewer than thirty years that Patrick evangelized the people of Ireland, he endured many hardships, including another short captivity, the constant danger of being killed, and staunch opposition from the druids. He also converted countless pagans, baptized and confirmed “so many thousands,” built churches, established religious life, ordained native clergy, and changed Ireland into one of the greatest Catholic nations on earth.
Saint Patrick has many legends attributed to him, indicative of his transformative influence on Ireland. In the centuries that followed, Irish converts went to the ends of the earth, bringing the Gospel to others that Patrick had preached to them.
Saint Patrick, your captivity changed your heart and drew you to God. Once converted, you became Christ’s holy slave, bringing His saving message to a hostile and pagan land. Please pray for me, that I may imitate your conversion and place myself at the service of the will of God. Saint Patrick, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.
Saint of the Week
February 16, 2025
Saint Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church 1007–1072
Feast Day February 21:
Peter was the youngest child born into a poor but noble family in Ravenna, Italy. After Peter’s parents died, the young boy lived with one of his older brothers who mistreated him and forced him to labor as a swineherd. Eventually, another brother, a priest from Ravenna named Father Damian, took Peter in and provided him with an excellent education. Peter was so grateful to his priest brother that he added his brother’s name to his own, making him Peter Damian.
Upon the completion of his education, Peter Damian became a successful teacher. Disenchanted with university life, he withdrew to a monastery in Fonte-Avellana for a forty-day retreat where he discerned a call to monastic life and received the habit.
As a monk, Peter Damian lived a secluded life of prayer and extreme penance. He was eventually asked to teach his fellow monks and then did so in neighboring monasteries. He also began to write, penning a biography of Saint Romuald, a recently deceased monk from his monastery known for his exceptional holiness.
In 1043, at the age of thirty-five, Brother Peter Damian was named the prior of his monastery. He led the brothers with zeal and fidelity to their rule while founding new hermitages in the surrounding villages.
In 1045, Gregory VI replaced the scandalous Benedict IX as pope. Overjoyed at the change, Brother Peter Damian wrote to the new pope, encouraging him to tackle corruption and scandal within the Church. In the years that followed, succeeding popes called on Brother Peter Damian to help accomplish that very goal. He wrote many letters in an attempt to bring about reforms of the clergy, fought against simony (the selling of Church offices and spiritual favors), addressed sexual abuses, challenged the bishops, reformed monasteries, and gave a spectacular personal witness of holiness.
In 1057, the pope named Brother Damian the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia.. As a new cardinal, he quickly challenged his brother cardinals and tried to weed out corruption. He would eventually return to his hermitage and resume his life of prayer, but his fervor in fighting against the evils of the time continued. Pope after pope called on him for help, even while other Church leaders opposed him.
In 1072, at the age of sixty-five after battling one corruption after another, Cardinal Peter Damian fell ill. After a week of illness in a monastery near his hometown, the cardinal died while the monks chanted around his bed.
Saint Peter Damian, from a life of solitude, prayer, and penance, God sent you forth to reform His wounded Church. You answered the call with courage and zeal. Please pray for me, that I will never shy away from reforming my own life and that I will always answer the call to be an instrument of that reformation wherever I am sent. Saint Peter Damian, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.
Saint of the Week
February 2, 2025
St. Blaise
Feast Day February 3rd
You may be familiar with the annual “blessing of throats” that many parishes in the United States use to commemorate the beloved bishop and martyr. St. Blaise lived in the fourth century in Turkey and Armenia. Due to religious persecution, he was forced to flee and hide in a cave in the back country in order to save his life.
History has it that one day a group of hunters stumbled upon where St. Blaise was living. They found the bishop kneeling in prayer, surrounded by wolves, lions, and bears that he had tamed. The legend has it that as the hunters dragged Blaise off to prison, a mother came with her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat. At Blaise’s command, the child was able to cough up the bone and thus lived.
Today we remember the saint on his feast day by taking two candles, crossing them against the throat, and saying the following prayer: Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from ailments of the throat and from every other evil. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. ©LPi
For More Saint of the Week
https://www.catholicsmart.com/saint-of-the-week/
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.
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
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
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
