ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
A Letter from the Archbishop
letter from Archbishop
Sunday January 24, 2025
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
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.
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH NEWS
While traveling and you wish to find Catholic Services near your visiting area go to this website.
http://CatholicMassTime.org
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
Saint of the Week
January 6, 2025
Saint John Neumann, Bishop 1811–1860
Feast Day January 5th
Saint John Neumann is the patron saint of educators, immigrants, and, due to the miracles that secured his canonization, sick children. This is a fitting patronage as he was a lover of education and learning from a very young age. In fact, when he was a child, his mother called him “my little bibliomaniac” due to his preoccupation with reading. due to his preoccupation with reading. Born in 1811 Bohemia, in what is now the Czech Republic, he attended the university in Prague preparing for ordination. However, his local bishops were not ordaining new priests at the time because Bohemia was overstocked with priests. He inquired about ordination all over Europe but received the same answer everywhere. Not one to be deterred, John then applied to several United States dioceses. receiving no immediate responses, the saint took a leap of faith and decided to just immigrate to the United States in 1836, during his 25th year, with only $40 in his pocket. This risk paid off when he was ordained in New York a month later.
Early in his priesthood he worked primarily as a missionary to German immigrants in Buffalo. His missionary work also created an opportunity for him to spend time in Maryland, Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio. When he was 29, he joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), a congregation of priests and brothers dedicated to helping the poor and most abandoned. He was their first member to profess vows in the United States.
In 1852, at the age of 41, Neumann became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. During this time, he organized the individual parochial schools in his region into a diocesan system. This change allowed Catholic schools to quickly increase the number of pupils enrolled by almost twentyfold. Over the course of his ministry, St. John expanded the number of Catholic schools in his diocese from 2 to 100! His passion for education extended to immigrants, like himself, and his love for learning languages made it possible for him to hear confessions in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, and Gaelic!
A man of the people, he could often be found outside the church walls visiting people who were sick, staying in taverns and public houses to teach, and celebrating Mass in people’s homes at their kitchen tables. He was canonized on June 19, 1977, following three miracles, two of which regarded the healing of youth from grave illnesses. St. John Neumann was the first American man to be canonized a saint.
Saint of the Week
December 29, 2024
St. Basil the Great (329 – January 1, 379)
Feast day January 2 Saints Basil the Great
Patron Saint of monks, hospital administrators, reformers, and Russia
St. Basil was born at Caesarea of Cappadocia, to a family already deeply rooted in Christianity, going back to the time of widespread persecution in the 1st and 2nd centuries. Following in the footsteps of his father, Basil studied in Caesarea as well as Constantinople and Athens, training in the law and rhetoric. He became a popular teacher. However, his sister persuaded him to give up academia for monastic life. Before inviting St. Gregory to start an order with him, St. Basil traveled through Egypt, Palestine and Syria visiting monasteries, learning everything he could and formulating his own ideas about monastic rule. His rule is still followed today, and he is known as the Father of Eastern Monasticism.
His time in the monastery was relatively short, it was only five years before he was called to play a greater role in the Church. Ordained as a priest, by around 370 he was made bishop of Caesaria. It was in this role that he fought against the heresy of Arianism which denied the divinity of Christ, even defying an emperor! He also fought against other early Trinitarian heresies. But these important doctrinal stands were not what defined Basil. He was passionate about caring for the poor and sick, pastoral care, and fighting against institutionalized prostitution. He would preach twice a day to large crowds, and opened a complex with a hospital, orphanage, and shelter for the poor. In addition to influential monastic rules, sermons, and doctrinal treatises, more than 300 of his letters still exist. St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory, pray for us! © LPi
Saint of the Week
December 22, 2024
Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist
Feast Day December 27
Saint John was one of the Twelve, part of Jesus’ inner circle, among the few that witnessed the Transfiguration, the raising of Jarius’ Daughter, and the Agony in the garden at Gethsemane. He and his brother James ere the sons of Zebedee and Salome. When Jesus called them, they left their father mending nets and followed him. Jesus called the brothers “Boanerges,” meaning “sons of thunder” — they were passionate in their faith and Jesus had to rebuke them for their fiery zeal on more than one occasion. John, the younger brother, possibly the youngest disciple, was the only one present at Jesus’ death. Saint John the Apostle is traditionally thought to be the author of the fourth Gospel, the three Epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation. However, there has been some debate among scholars from antiquity to the present. Tradition also gives him the title Beloved Disciple and John’s Gospel sees him seated next to Jesus at the last supper and the one to whom Jesus gives the care of Mary at the crucifixion. Although Church tradition says that John survived the other disciples, living a long life, much of it is steeped in myth and legend. Some say he retired to Ephesus after the crucifixion with Mary and remained there until he died. But in other traditions he is more active. For a time he remained in Jerusalem with the other disciples, then founded churches in Asia Minor. In a legend of his persecution, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, John is taken to Rome and thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil but preserved from death. He is then exiled to the island of Patmos where the Book of Revelation was written. Most accounts agree that after his exile and the Assumption of Mary he returned to Ephesus where he died sometime after 98, during the reign of the Emperor Trajan.
Saint of the Week
December 1, 2024
December 12: Our Lady of Guadalupe
When Mary appeared to Juan Diego as Our Lady of Guadalupe, she had encouraging words for him. “Am I not here, I who am your mother?” In the image on Juan Diego’s tilma (tunic), Mary identifies herself with the Aztec people. She has their hair and features, their symbolic maternity dress. She incorporated their important symbols of the sun, moon, and stars. Today’s Mass includes two Gospel options. Both are familiar passages from the Gospel of Luke – the Annunciation and the Visitation. Both are equally relevant to today’s feast because Mary’s yes to Christ isn’t only to care for him but to come to us. Our Lady of Guadalupe is pregnant. The image bears witness to Mary’s yes to conceive the Savior of the World. But even in her pregnancy, she goes to care for Elizabeth. Now Mother to all the world, Mary comes to the aid of her children, reminding them of her presence among them.
For More Saint of the Week
https://www.catholicsmart.com/saint-of-the-week/
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