Saints and Feasts
September

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- Sept 25-Oct 1, 2022
  
  The most recently canonized of this week’s saints is Pope Saint Paul VI, who shepherded the church through the Second Vatican Council, through the 1960’s most of the 1970’s. Our other memorials recall saints of varied centuries: Jerome, the biblical doctor, of the 4^th and 5^th centuries; Vincent de Paul, 17^thcentury servant of the poor; Therese of Lisieux, young 19^th century Carmelite whose Little Way made her a doctor of the church. To these earthly guides we add the special feast of the angelic hosts, celebrating Michael and all angels. When Therese famously said she desired to “spend her heaven showering good on earth,” we believe she took a verse from the continuous song of all of these heavenly patrons, and we pray for their continued help.
  
  Portsmouth Ordo, Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
  
  Sunday, September 25: Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
  
  Monday, September 26: Feria (Mass: Paul VI, pope)
  
  Tuesday, September 27: Vincent de Paul, priest
  
  Wednesday, September 28: Feria
  
  Thursday, September 29: Michael and All Angels
  
  Friday, September 30: Jerome, priest and doctor
  
  Saturday, October 1: Therese of the Child Jesus, virgin and doctor
- The tabernacle
  illuminated at sunset
- September 18-24, 2022
  
  This week leads us to Korea and the hundreds and thousands of martyrs of Korea, most from the 19^th century persecutions of the faith. The first Korean priest, Andrew Kim, stands at the head of this long line. We also commemorate the author of our first gospel, the apostle Matthew. The Capuchin Padre Pio, canonized twenty years ago, known for the intensity of his prayer, his faith, and his charity provides us with a more recent life of sanctity, a witness of the twentieth century. And the feria of Saturday provides opportunity for us to again honor the mother of our Lord.
  
  The Portsmouth Abbey Ordo,
  
  September 18-24, 2022
  
  Sunday, September 18: Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
  
  Monday, September 19: Feria
  
  Tuesday, September 20: Andrew Kim & companions, martyrs
  
  Wednesday, September 21: Matthew, apostle & evangelist
  
  Thursday, September 22: Feria
  
  Friday, September 23: Pius of Pietrelcina, priest
  
  Saturday, September 24: Feria (Mass: Blessed Virgin Mary)
  
  Last week’s honoring of Mary’s nativity (September 8)
- September 11-17, 2022
  
  We find this week that our days are packed with special commemorations. While situated in the depths of Ordinary Time, our memorials and feasts proliferate. The School year opens with a special votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. Soon after we have the great feast exalting the Holy Cross. Paired with this Christological feast of our Lord’s suffering, we commemorate Our Lady of Sorrows. We commemorate several shepherds of the church in the third-century's Cornelius of Rome and his North African colleague Cyprian, and the fourth century’s Antiochene preacher, John Chrysostom. We also remember the medieval Benedictine doctor of the church, Hildegaard. The week thus provides hearty spiritual fare for the faithful, sending us into the busy days of the new School year with confidence and heavenly guidance.
  
  The Portsmouth Abbey Ordo,
  
  September 11-17, 2022
  
  Sunday, September 11: Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
  
  Monday, September 12: Feria (Opening of School Mass)
  
  Tuesday, September 13: John Chrysostom, bishop
  
  Wednesday, September 14: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
  
  Thursday, September 15: Our Lady of Sorrows
  
  Friday, September 16: Cornelius, pope & Cyprian, bishop; martyrs
  
  Saturday, September 17: Feria (Mass: Hildegard, virgin & doctor)
- September 4-10, 2022
  
  The Portsmouth Ordo, Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
  
  Sunday, September 4: Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
  
  Monday, September 5: Teresa of Kolcata, virgin
  
  Tuesday, September 6: Feria
  
  Wednesday, September 7: Feria
  
  Thursday, September 8: The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  
  Friday, September 9: Peter Claver, priest
  
  Saturday, September 10: Feria (Mass: Blessed Virgin Mary)
  
  We return to our weekly publication amidst a week of the extraordinary hidden in the Ordinary. Quietly, as the week progresses, we remember the birth of the child of Joachim and Anne. We mark a birth that would seem even more lost to history than the one in the manger, yet which now, for the Christian faith, serves as a critical pivot point in the history of salvation. The one conceived immaculately, opening for all the reception of God’s divinity among us, herself is born into our world. We also commemorate a modern-day saint known for her simple and quiet ministry, Teresa of Kolcata, whom many still refer to as Mother Teresa. And we remember a saint of the Americas in Peter Claver, the 17^thcentury Spanish Jesuit whose ministry in Colombia led him to become the patron saint of slaves, those without a political voice, and who has remained significant in the faith of African-American Catholics.
SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE AND DOCTOR
PATRON OF PORTSMOUTH ABBEY
- Feastday: September 3
  
  While this patronal feast of the monastery typically now occurs prior to the beginning of the school year, this year it coincided with the third day of faculty meetings prior to the start of the term. The following words are taken from a homily on Ezekiel by Saint Gregory the Great (Lib. 1, 11, 4-6: CCL 142, 170-172). They would seem to resonate with any authentic leader in our contemporary day, struggling to address the many issues with which we presently contend, sincerely aware of his own sinful limitations.
  
  For Christ's love I do not spare myself in speaking of him.
  
  “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.” Note that a man whom the Lord sends forth as a preacher is called a watchman. A watchman always stands on a height so that he can see from afar what is coming. Anyone appointed to be a watchman for the people must stand on a height for all his life to help them by his foresight.
  
  How hard it is for me to say this, for by these very words I denounce myself. I cannot preach with any competence, and yet insofar as I do succeed, still I myself do not live my life according to my own preaching.
  
  I do not deny my responsibility; I recognize that I am slothful and negligent, but perhaps the acknowledgment of my fault will win me pardon from my just judge. Indeed when I was in the monastery I could curb my idle talk and usually be absorbed in my prayers. Since I assumed the burden of pastoral care, my mind can no longer be collected; it is concerned with so many matters.
  
  I am forced to consider the affairs of the Church and of the monasteries. I must weigh the lives and acts of individuals. I am responsible for the concerns of our citizens. I must worry about the invasions of roving bands of barbarians, and beware of the wolves who lie in wait for my flock. I must become an administrator lest the religious go in want. I must put up with certain robbers without losing patience and at times I must deal with them in all charity.
  
  With my mind divided and torn to pieces by so many problems, how can I meditate or preach wholeheartedly without neglecting the ministry of proclaiming the Gospel? Moreover, in my position I must often communicate with worldly men. At times I let my tongue run, for if I am always severe in my judgments, the worldly will avoid me, and I can never attack them as I would. As a result I often listen patiently to chatter. And because I too am weak, I find myself drawn little by little into idle conversation, and I begin to talk freely about matters which once I would have avoided. What once I found tedious I now enjoy.
  
  So who am I to be a watchman, for I do not stand on the mountain of action but lie down in the valley of weakness? Truly the all-powerful Creator and Redeemer of mankind can give me, in spite of my weaknesses, a higher life and effective speech; because I love him, I do not spare myself in speaking of him.
Cuthbert, abbot
- Feastday: September 4
  
  St. Cuthbert makes special appeal today as a keenly observant man, interested in the ways of birds and beasts; in his own time he was famed as a worker of miracles in God’s name, on one occasion healing a woman’s dying baby with a kiss. The ample sources for his life and character show a man of extraordinary charm and practical ability, who attracted people deeply by the beauty of holiness; it is not for nothing that Bede so often refers to him as ‘the child of God.’ (Donald Atwater)
  
  (Saint Cuthbert shrine at Durham pictured)
Teresa of Kolkata, virgin and religious
- Feastday: September 5
  
  'Her mission to the urban and existential peripheries remains for us today an eloquent witness to God’s closeness to the poorest of the poor. Today, I pass on this emblematic figure of womanhood and of consecrated life to the whole world of volunteers: may she be your model of holiness! I think, perhaps, we may have some difficult in calling her “Saint Teresa”: her holiness is so near to us, so tender and so fruitful that we continual to spontaneously call her “Mother Teresa”. May this tireless worker of mercy help us increasingly to understand that our only criterion for action is gratuitous love, free from every ideology and all obligations, offered freely to everyone without distinction of language, culture, race or religion. Mother Teresa loved to say, “Perhaps I don’t speak their language, but I can smile”. Let us carry her smile in our hearts and give it to those whom we meet along our journey, especially those who suffer. In this way, we will open up opportunities of joy and hope for our many brothers and sisters who are discouraged and who stand in need of understanding and tenderness.' (Pope Francis, homily at Mass of canonization, September 4, 2016)
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin
- Feastday: September 8
  Nine months to the day after celebrating her Immaculate Conception, the church commemorates the birth of Mary. This date is shared by several Rites of the Orthodox church. Our earliest source for the names of Mary’s parents is second-century’s the Protoevangelium of James, which mentions Joachim and Anne, and offers more detail on the birth and childhood of Mary. Pope Saint John Paul II wrote in 2004: 1. “The liturgy today commemorates the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast, very important to popular piety, leads us to admire in Mary the Child, the purest dawn of the Redemption. We are contemplating a little girl like every other, yet at the same time the only one who was ‘blessed among women’ (Lk 1: 42). Mary was the immaculate ‘Daughter of Zion’, destined to become the Mother of the Messiah.” (General Audience)
Peter Claver, priest
- Feast Day: September 9th
  
  A native of Spain, the young Jesuit Peter Claver left his homeland forever in 1610, arriving in the New World at Cartagena, in the Caribbean. Ordained there in 1615, Claver declared himself “the slave of the Negroes forever.” During the forty years of his ministry, Claver instructed and baptized an estimated 300,000 slaves. (see franciscanmedia.org). Peter Claver has inspired the Knights of Peter Claver, the largest African-American lay organization in the United States, whose mission is “to render service to God and His Holy Church, render aid and assistance to the sick and disabled, and promote social and intellectual association among our members.” (see kofpc.org)
John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor
- Feast Day: September 13th
  
  John, the great preacher – his name means “golden-mouthed” – was brought to Constantinople from Antioch after a dozen years of priestly service in Syria, being made bishop in 398. Ascetic, unimposing but dignified, and troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a monk, John became a bishop under the cloud of imperial politics. If his body was weak, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons, his exegesis of Scripture, were never without a point. Sometimes the point stung the high and mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours.
  
  (source: franciscanmedia.org)
Exaltation of the Cross
- Feast Day: September 14th
  
  The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross celebrates two historical events: the discovery of the True Cross by Saint Helena in 320 under the temple of Venus in Jerusalem, and the dedication in 335 of the basilica and shrine. However the feast, more than anything else, is a celebration of God's greatest work: his salvific death on the Cross and His Resurrection
  (source: catholicnews agency.com).
Cornelius (pope) and Cyprian (bishop), martyrs
- Feast Day: September 16
  
  These third century popes presided over a church divided and under persecution. Cornelius sought to end a schism rooted in competing visions of mercy and whether the Church could receive back those who had apostatized in the face of martyrdom. Cyprian similarly steered a middle course between those who refused to accept the lapsed and those diminishing the need for penance. Both ended up martyred under the persecutions.
Hildegard of Bingen, virgin and doctor
- Feast Day: September 17
  
  This medieval Benedictine mystic was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Benedict XVI in 2012: “This great woman truly stands out crystal clear against the horizon of history for her holiness of life and the originality of her teaching… Hildegard asks herself and us the fundamental question, whether it is possible to know God: This is theology’s principal task. Her answer is completely positive: through faith, as through a door, the human person is able to approach this knowledge."
The Korean Martyrs
- Feast Day: September 20
  
  These martyrs include the first Korean priest, Andrew Kim, as well as Chong Ha Sang, one of the lay leaders of the persecuted 19^th century Korean church. Canonizing the group, which includes French missionary priests, in 1984 at a great open-air Mass in Seoul, Pope St. John Paul II quotes them in his homily: “Listen to the last words of Teresa Kwon…: ‘Since the Lord of Heaven is the Father of all mankind and the Lord of all creation, how can you ask me to betray him? Even in this world anyone who betrays his own father or mother will not be forgiven. All the more may I never betray him who is the Father of us all.’ A generation later, Peter Yu’s father Augustine firmly declares: ‘Once having known God, I cannot possibly betray him.’”
Matthew, apostle
- Feast Day: September 21
  
  This apostle is commonly known as a self-acknowledged example of Christ’s teaching: “Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).
Padre Pio Pietreclina, priest
- Feast Day: September 23
  
  The Capuchin friar Pio of Pietrelcina died in 1968, and was canonized in 2002 by John Paul II. Paul VI draws us to his simple witness: “Look what fame he had, what a worldwide following gathered around him! But why? Perhaps because he was a philosopher? Because he was wise? Because he had resources at his disposal? Because he said Mass humbly, heard confessions from dawn to dusk and was – it is not easy to say it – one who bore the wounds of our Lord. He was a man of prayer and suffering.” (20 Feb 1971)
Ceolfrid, abbot
- Feast Day: September 25
  
  We honor Ceolfrid, a Benedictine abbot today. The Venerable Bede writes in his Lives of the Holy Abbots of this 7^th century Northumbrian abbot: “He was a man well skilled in the knowledge of Holy Scripture of most excellent manners, of wonderful continence, and one in whom the virtues of the mind were in no small degree depressed by bodily infirmity, and the innocency of whose heart was tempered with a baneful and incurable affection of the lungs.”
Cosmos and Damian, martyrs
- Feast Day: September 26
  
  Cosmos and Damian, whose names are familiar to us from the Canon of the Mass, were twin brothers who suffered martyrdom together with three of their brothers, in the Diocletian persecution of the third century.
Vincent de Paul, priest
- Feast Day: September 27
  
  Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), whose name is well-known from the eponymous charitable society, himself established confraternities for the relief of the poor and sick in each parish. This learned and revered saint remained focused on simplicity, and is known for his direct teachings: “Humility is nothing but truth, pride is nothing but lying,” and, “Go to the poor, and you will find God.” The name “Vincentian” now encompasses both an order of priests, brothers and sisters, as well as one of the largest Catholic lay organizations in the world, with over 190,000 members.
Jerome, priest and doctor
- Feast Day: September 30
  
  Pope Benedict XVI tells us: “What can we learn from St Jerome? …this above all: to love the Word of God in Sacred Scripture. St Jerome said: ‘Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ’. It is therefore important that every Christian live in contact and in personal dialogue with the Word of God given to us in Sacred Scripture.” (November 11, 2007)

Saints and FeastsSeptember

Saints and Feasts
September