Laudetur Iesus Christus! Today Saturday September 26 is not only Ember Saturday but also the feast of the North American Martyrs – 6 Jesuits who gave their lives to evangelizing to the natives in Canada parts of New York – more on them below.

Tomorrow Sunday September 27 is the 17^th Sunday after Pentecost and Dr. Mike Foley has a reflection on the Collect for this weekend which ties into love of God and love of neighbor: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/09/unity-versus-devil-collect-for.html

Welcome to Fr. Brad Jones

We wanted to welcome Fr. Brad Jones, the new part time parochial vicar at St. Ann. We aren’t aware if he offers the Latin Mass, but he did distribute Holy Communion at this past Wednesday’s Low Mass at St. Ann. Please keep him in your prayers as he slowly returns to ministry after some health issues.

Sunday Latin Masses

11:30am – St. Thomas Aquinas parish – The parish requires signups to attend Sunday Masses however they have just expanded their capacity – so there are plenty of seats now available. There are also slots outside. All attendees will have the opportunity to receive Holy Communion. Please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0445a4af29a6f94-thefeast

12:30pm – St. Ann parish – usual constraints for Mass since May (per diocese – not governor). Seating outside in plaza.

Feast of the North American Martyrs – September 26

In the traditional calendar, today the Church in the U.S. & Canada honors the 6 Jesuits who gave their lives for the holy faith in the 1640s. Most notable of them is St. Isaac Jogues who had some of the flesh chewed off his fingers by some of his captors yet still persisted onward to convert souls (and presumably offer Mass).  This saint also escaped from one of the tribes and ended up traveling south to the Dutch colonial city of New Amsterdam, later sold to the British and renamed the city of New York. So New York City was blessed to have its first connection to a saint in the 1640s – many years before its first diocese was set up. Today, north of New York City, a shrine to these great saints was built in the 1930s in Auriesville, New York called the Shrine of the North American Martyrs: https://www.ourladyofmartyrsshrine.org/

There are may be a local connection to our diocese with the North American Jesuits and martyrs. One of the companions of the martyrs, Fr. Gabriel Druilettes, though not a martyr himself, was also known as the apostle of Maine, and ended up traveling to Augusta, Maine, where he befriended a customs house chief named John Winslow. Mr. Winslow was English (and protestant), but was very friendly to Fr. Druilettes and his convert companions. It’s likely that Mr. Winslow was an ancestor of our current Chancellor and Vicar General, Fr. Patrick Winslow, who describes his family heritage in this article: http://catholicnewsherald.com/189-news/faith/faith-nov/588-thanksgiving-a-family-affair-st-thomas-aquinas-pastor-descends-from-pilgrim-fathers

A great book on the Catholic history of the U.S. that told the above story is Our Land and Our Lady, published in 1943 by Daniel Sargent. This book is rare, but if you find a copy, it’s very inspiring and gives us a glimpse of what a truly Catholic America could have looked like (and still should): https://www.amazon.com/Our-land-Lady-Daniel-Sargent/dp/B00087JM4U

Latin Mass News and tradition

• The Omission of Difficult Psalms: As a follow up to last week’s e-mail about the Divine Office/Breviary, a reader shared with us an article which discusses why the traditional breviary is preferred to modern ones as it contains many more Psalms – especially those that are more “difficult” or morally challenging. Sadly these Psalms were removed after 1962:
  https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-omission-of-difficult-psalms-and.html

• Online Traditional Breviary: Also the Traditional Breviary is available online to use on your phone or tablet at this very easy to use website. If you’re looking to start praying the traditional Breviary this might be a good starting point: https://divinumofficium.com/

• A Latin Mass priest invites President Trump to consecrate the U.S. to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. As you may recall a few years ago, the CLMC highlighted nations and leaders who consecrated their nations to the Sacred Heart or Immaculate Heart. We now have a Latin Mass priest in Baltimore who is suggesting the same thing for the U.S. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/priest-invites-president-trump-to-consecrate-u.s-to-immaculate-heart-of-mary

• The League of St. Martin: A year ago, you may recall Fr. Buettner giving a sermon at St. Ann on Fr. Lawrence Carney, a Latin Mass priest who walks the streets of St. Joseph, Missouri and evangelizes the Catholic faith. Fr. Carney is now starting up an apostolate called The League of St. Martin to help spread the Latin Mass, and the Holy Face devotion https://www.martinians.org/

• Robert Bellarmine and the Holy Mass: CLMC friend Mediatrix Press publisher Ryan Grant (who visited us at St. Ann in 2018) recently gave an interview on St. Robert Bellarmine and the Holy Mass: https://youtu.be/8eM8AtzyAys