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Weekly Bulletin September 15, 2024
by Terrie Evans
On this 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Catholic Church honors all Catechists on Catechetical Sunday, the annual celebration that is observed on Sunday, September 15. Every year, the Catholic Church in the United States designates the 3rd Sunday in September as a day to celebrate and pray for the mission of the Church to teach the Gospel to all people. The title, Catechist designates those who dedicate themselves to instruct others in the Faith. Pope John Paul II stressed that the Catechist, whether cleric, religious or layperson shares the Gospel by personal witness and by teaching the Doctrines of the Church whose calling comes from God with the Holy Spirit inspiring and guiding you. The Theme for 2024 is “Lord, when did we see You hungry” to recognize the gift that Catechists bring to a parish community. St. John Paul reminded us: “Every member of the faithful is called to holiness and to mission. We are called to be Eucharist by word and action to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our times cry out for this kind of holiness, one inflamed by the ardent determination to bring as many of our brothers and sisters as possible to Christ.”
On Monday, September 16th we honor St. Cornelius, a Pope who reigned for two years, before being excommunicated and dying while in exile. He became the 21st Pope of the Church, succeeding no one as persecutions prohibited the clergy of Rome from electing a successor. He was chosen when the cruel Emperor Decius left Rome on a military campaign. In the 3rd Century of the Church of Rome, there were 46 Priests, 7 Deacons, & Sub deacons and around 50,000 Christians. During his reign from 251-253, Pope Cornelius made important decisions especially for how to reintegrate Christians who had offered pagan sacrifice, regretted their actions, and desired to come back to the Church. These acts were considered unforgiveable, the Church could not absolve them, as they were to be judged by God alone at death. Cornelius along with St. Cyprian and of their Bishops thought they could eventually be reinstated into the Church by repentance and penance. Cornelius and the Bishops felt there is no sin that cannot be forgiven. When the new Emperor Gallus was in power, he banished Cornelius to a city near Rome where he suffered physical hardship until his death in 253 and was laid to rest near the Papal crypt in the Catacombs of St. Callixtus. St. Cornelius was seen as a staunch defender of the Church although, he was seen as lenient to his fellow Christians who did not hold the same ideals and was thought of as a wise pastor and a brave martyr. A Prayer to St. Cornelius: “St. Cornelius, our Lord said that it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world of he would lose his own soul. You gained the papacy, not the whole world. Yet gave it up rather than bend to the will of the Church’s enemies. Help us to persevere like you.”
On Tuesday, September 17th we celebrate and honor the life of St. Robert Bellarmine, an Italian Jesuit, and Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was born in Montepulciano, Italy on October 4, 1542, the third of ten children and was raised to live a life of dedication to almsgiving, prayer, fasting and meditation. He entered the newly formed Jesuit Society of Jesus in 1560 and went on to teach becoming known for his sermon in Latin. He became the Rector of the Roman College in 1592, Province of Naples in 1594, and Cardinal in 1598. Robert was an outstanding scholar and servant of God who defended the Apostolic See against the anti-clerics in Venice and against the political tenets of James I of England as a point of principle for English Catholics. He wrote on devotion and instruction and in 1598, he published a Catechism in two versions which has been translated to 60 languages that became the official teaching of the Catholic Church for centuries. He was the Spiritual Father of St. Aloysius of Gonzaga and helped St. Frances de Sales get approval for the Visitation Order. In 1602, Robert was made Archbishop of Capua and in 1605, he received some votes in the conclaves which elected Pope Leo XI and Pope Paul V. In 1621, when Pope Gregory XV was elected, it was though Robert being a Jesuit counted against him in the judgement of many of the Cardinals. He died on September 17, 1621, at the age of 78 after retiring to the Jesuit College of St. Andrew in Rome and was buried at the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930 with his remains adorned in the red robes of a cardinal, are displayed behind glass under an altar next to the body of his student Aloysius Gonzaga in the altar of St. Ignatius. He is the patron saint of Bellarmine University, Canon Lawyers, and catechists.
On September 17th we also honor St. Hildegard of Bingen, a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian Mystic, and German Benedictine Abbess. As a young sick child, she had spiritual experiences and visions but was too shy to talk or boast about them. She said: “I saw a light so great that it frightened me; she wrote when she was three, “But the shyness of a child stopped me from telling anyone about it.” She had the gift of extremely vivid imagery. She saw devils transformed from great sparkling light into black coals and insisted she saw everything perfectly awake, not in some dream. The accounts of her visions were later submitted to the Bishop who would acknowledge them as being a gift from God. Pope Eugenius III also came to a favorable conclusion about her visions with her fame spreading all throughout Europe. People traveled many distances to hear her speak and seek help from her before she became a Benedictine nun, and Abbess moving her convent near Bingen, on the Rhine in 1147. In 1165, she founded another convent at Eibingen. She wrote many works on the meaning of her visions and also commentaries on the Gospels, the Athanasian Creed, the Rule of St. Benedict and the Lives of the Saints. Hildegard also became known as an important composer with more chant compositions surviving. Hildegard died on September 17, 1179, and was originally buried in the Church of Rupertsburg with her relics moved to Cologne and then to Eibingen. St. Hildegard would become known for her immense knowledge of all things faithful, music, natural science, herbs, and medicinal arts although she never had any formal education or learning how to write.
On Thursday, September 19th we honor St. Januarius who became Bishop of Benevento, Italy, the city of his birth. While still young, he became a priest and at the age of 20, became Bishop of Naples at the time Christians were being persecuted by Emperor Diocletian. At that time, Deacons and lay Christians who professed their faith were then taken prisoner and put in a dungeon. Januarius went to visit and comfort them while jailed and he too was arrested. The Governor tormented Januarius and his three Christian friends until they were all held awaiting their death. He was martyred on September 19, 305 with his relics transferred by order of St. Severus, Bishop of Naples to the Neapolitan catacombs outside the walls. In the early 9th Century, his body was moved to Benevento with his head remaining in Naples. It was not until 1480 that his body was rediscovered and transferred to Naples in 1497 where he became the city’s patron saint. St. Januarius became famous for the annual liquefaction of his blood which according to legend was saved after the saint death.
Over two centuries, official reports began to appear declaring that the blood spontaneously melted, first once a year, then twice and finally three times a year. There are thousands of the faithful who will assemble to witness the event in the Naples Cathedral on September 19th, St. Januarius Day to commemorate his martyrdom, on December 16th to celebrate his patronage of Naples and its Archdiocese, and on the Saturday before the 1st Sunday of May to commemorate the reunification of his relics. The blood also spontaneously liquefies at the papal visit when Pope Pius IX visited in 1848, but it did not liquefy for John Paul II, or Pope Benedict. Pope Francis venerated the dried blood during a visit to the Naples Cathedral in 2015 while saying the Lords’ Prayer and then kissing it. During his visit, Archbishop Sepe declared “The blood has half liquified, which shows that St. Januarius loves our Pope and Naples.” When exposed in the Cathedral, it liquifies and bubbles and no one is able to explain the miracle. The blood is stored in two hermetically sealed small ampoules held since the 17th Century in a silver reliquary with the ampoules kept in a bank vault with the keys held by local notables such as the Mayor of Naples. There are also separate reliquaries that hold bone fragments believed to belong to St. Januarius that are kept in a crypt under the main altar of the Naples Cathedral. Naples became known as the “City of Blood” with the vials of blood of St. Patricia, St. John the Baptist, and St. Pantaleon, with the Church recognizes the miraculous liquefying blood for, saints from Campania. Besides the Naples Cathedral, the other major shrine for St. Januarius is the Most Precious Blood, Little Italy, Manhattan, New York. Also on September 19th, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of San Gennaro who is also considered one of the 50 patron saints of Naples. In New York’s Little Italy, the statue of San Gennaro will be carried through the streets during the Feast of San Gennaro. This is the 98th annual fest to be celebrated from September 12-22 with a solemn High Mass celebrated on September 19th to honor the patron saint of Naples.
On Friday, September 20th we honor Korean Saints, St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon and Paul Chong Ha-Sang and their Companions. Andrew Kim Tae-gon was the first Korean priest and lay apostle who was Baptized at age 15 and then traveled 1,300 miles to the Seminary in Macao, a journey that took him 8 months. He left China and after six years, returning to his country through Manchuria and was ordained. He then arranged for missionaries to enter the country by a water route to evade the border patrol. There was no religious freedom in Korea and those caught were persecuted. Andrew Kim Tae-gon was arrested, tortured, and beheaded at the Hab River near Seoul. Paul Chong Ha -sang, his companion, was also persecuted during the reign of this feudal society. Paul became a lay apostle and was a married man of 45 who worked to promote Christianity in Korea. During those turbulent times, they both had the desire to be faithful shepherds of God. Evangelization became difficult as Korea refused all contact with the outside world except the exception for their countrymen to make a yearly journey to Beijing to pay taxes. Later, Christian Literature obtained from Jesuits in China became available for educated Korean Christians to study. A home church was established and after a Chinese Priest managed to enter the country, around 1883, religious freedom finally came. In 1984, Pope John Paul II visited Korea and Canonized Andrew, Paul, 98 Koreans and those who were martyred between 1839-1867. Among those who gave their lives for their faith were Bishops, Priests, and lay persons. There are Korean Catholic Churches dedicated to St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, New York, and Seattle. There was a special Mass celebrated in 2021 in Rome on the 200th birthday of St. Andrew to honor the beginning of the Catholic Church in Korea. That same year, a movie, “A Birth” about the saint and his mission was shown at the Vatican with plans to install a 12-foot statue of the Korean Martyr at St. Peter’s Basilica. A Prayer for those Martyred during the persecutions in Korea: “O God, who have been pleased to increase your adopted children in all the world, who made the blood of the Martyrs St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon and his companions a most fruitful seed of Christians, grant that we may be defended by their help and profit always from their example. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. AMEN.”
On Saturday, September 21st, we honor the feast of St. Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist, and Martyr who was born in Capernaum, Gailee in the Roman Empire. While living at Capernaum, Matthew was a collector of taxes for the Romans until Jesus changed his life. Jesus called on Matthew while he was at work “at the customs post” and without hesitation, Matthew got up, left his responsibilities, and joined Jesus. He became one of Jesus’ 1st Apostles who wrote the first four Gospels of the New Testament beginning with Christ’s earthly ancestry, stresses, and His human and kingly character. Matthew was the traditional author of the 1st Synoptic Gospel, The Gospel according to Matthew. He wrote for his fellow Jews and longed to show them how Jesus had fulfilled all the deepest hopes of the Jewish people. Matthew wrote his Gospel to show that the Messias had come in the Person of Jesus Christ and brought the message that he was a Savior that would never desert His followers. The last words of Matthew’s Gospel quote Jesus ‘s command that his followers must Baptize disciples from all mankind, with Jesus’ promise: “I am with you always, to the end of the world.” Even though Matthew meant his Gospel for his fellow Jews, Matthew alone tells us to worship the Savior, – the three Magi who followed a star that led them to the stable at Bethlehem, and brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the infant Jesus. Of all four Gospel writers, Matthew was the one writer who wrote the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount and after Jesus’ Ascension, Matthew withdrew to an Upper Room in Jerusalem proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. Matthew was most concerned with the rules for dealing with a fellow-Christian who was straying from the Church. He preached the Gospel among Hebrews for 15 years and in the 3rd Century, Jewish Christian Gospels attributed to Matthew were used by Jewish Christian groups such as the Nazarenes and Ebionites. He is recognized as a Saint in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican Churches with his Feast Day celebrated on September 21st in the West and November 16th in the East. He died in Ethiopia, around 68 AD, 1st Century and was Canonized Pre- Congregation. He is the patron saint of accountants, tax collectors, civil servants and Salerno, Italy where the relics of Matthew the Apostle were discovered in 1080 and where his shrine is located. St. Matthew the Evangelist Prayer: “O God, You chose St. Matthew the Publican to become an Apostle. By following his example and benefiting from his prayers, may we always follow and abide by Your will. AMEN.”
San Antonio Church will hold their 88th annual spaghetti dinner sponsored by the Men’s and Ladies Sodality on Sunday October 13, 2024, from 12-7 P.M. There will be a drive-through for curbside pickup and reservation only limited dine-in seating. Adults $13, kids (under 12) $6. For dining reservations call Jimmy Capano at 513-364-8301 or drive through pickup call Dave Sabatelli at 513-405-6444.