Dear Friends of the Charlotte Latin Mass Community,

Laudetur Iesus Christus!

This coming Friday April 29th is the Feast of St. Peter Martyr (or St. Peter of Verona), a 13th century Dominican Friar.  A disciple of St. Dominic, Pope Gregory IX appointed St. Peter as a general inquisitor to combat the Manichean heresy, and St. Peter defended the faith across Italy through his preaching. He was martyred in 1252.

In the Extraordinary Form, there is an ancient custom to honor St. Peter by having palm leaves blessed in his honor. Tradition holds that when these blessed palm leaves are made into crosses and buried in the four corners of one’s property, they are to guard against natural disasters.

While there is no Latin Mass on his feast day, Fr. Reid has generously agreed to bless St. Peter palms for us. We will be handing out these “blessed palm kits” on Sunday May 1st before and after the 12:30pm Latin Mass at St. Ann’s. Please stop by the Latin Mass table to pick them up while quantities last.

Also if you have time to help us prepare the kits, we’ll be meeting at 11am May 1st in the upstairs conference room of the Allen Center.

We leave you with a poem St. Thomas Aquinas composed about St. Peter Martyr.

Here silent is Christ’s Herald;
Here quenched, the People’s Light;
Here lies the martyred Champion
Who fought Faith’s holy fight.

The Voice the sheep heard gladly,
The light they loved to see
He fell beneath the weapons
Of graceless Cathari.

The Saviour crowns His Soldier;
His praise the people psalm.
The Faith he kept adorns him
With martyr’s fadeless palm.

His praise new marvels utter,
New light he spreads abroad
And now the whole wide city
Knows well the path to God.