Pastor’s Letter: August 11, 2024

Pastor’s Letter: August 11, 2024

9 Aug 2024 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessed and joyful Feast of St. Philomena to you all! This weekend, I am excited to be celebrating for the first time with all of you the Feast of our patroness and namesake, St. Philomena. I think I may have mentioned this before, but the first thing I did after hearing from Bishop Lou I would be pastor here was say a prayer asking God’s blessing on all of us and that through His grace I could grow with all of you as your new pastor. The second thing I did was order several books about St. Philomena! ☺ As I still had a few trips for the Eucharistic Revival, I took along these books and started getting to know our dear saint. There are so many amazing stories and details about her life!

For this week, I thought it might be nice to review a few highlights of her story:

In 1802, excavators found an unopened tomb in the catacombs of Rome. Fr. Paul  O’Sullivan, O.P., in his book, St. Philomena the Wonder-Worker, writes that there have likely been 6 million Christians buried in the catacombs…an astounding number…but also a practical reason why any given tomb might not have been known/remembered through time. The tomb was sealed over with three slabs, which had the inscription: Lumena—Pax Te—Cum Fi

As Fr. O’Sullivan explains, “It would seem the slabs had been misplaced, as happened so often in the necessary haste of burial. The first slab should have been placed in the third place and when this is done the inscription becomes at once clear:  Pax Te Cum Fi Lumena [or as we would read it] Peace [be] with you, Philomena” (p.9). Fr. O’Sullivan continues with a description of the symbols that were on the tomb/slabs…

• “First, there was an anchor which, from its resemblance to the Cross, was looked on as an emblem of hope. It is also at times a sign of martyrdom, as anchors were fastened to the neck of some of the confessors when they were thrown into the sea. Some think that St. Philomena was cast into the river Tiber.
• Second, there were two arrows, one pointing upwards and the other downwards. These, too, might betoken the kind of death which the martyrs suffered, as some were shot to death with arrows.
• Third, there was a lance, which might have had a similar significance.
• Fourth, there was a palm—the emblem of the martyr’s triumph.
• Fifth, and lastly, there was a lily, an emblem of purity” (p. 10).

Fr. O’Sullivan goes on to describe a vial of dried blood there, along with a fractured skull and bones…doctors determined they belonged to a girl who was 12 or 13 years old (p.10-11). While other details of the young girl’s life were unknown (there have been some private revelations which fill in details of her life—I’ll look for a future opportunity to share more about those), these symbols help us to know she was a virgin and a martyr (why we wear red for the Mass honoring St. Philomena).

What is known moving forward from the discovery of her tomb, ongoing and countless miracles have been attributed to her intercession: rain ending a drought miracles related to her relics, and so many healings, including the healing of Blessed Pauline Jaricot of France, which Pope Gregory XVI declared a first class miracle, and which led to St. John Vianney’s love and devotion to St. Philomena (St. John Vianney and Pauline were friends). Fr. O’Sullivan writes that upon hearing of this miracle, crowds of people cheered:  “Viva St. Philomena! Viva our dear Saint! Viva the great Virgin and Martyr!…” (p.35). So many miracles have been attributed to St. Philomena’s intercession that Pope Gregory XVI declared her “the Great Wonder-Worker of the XIXth Century” (p.66).

What a great patroness for our Parish! What a great model for our young people! As we are getting ready to start another school year, I invite all of you to pray for our students through the intercession of St. Philomena. May this school year be one of true growth for all of us in our minds and hearts; may we continue to grow in knowing how much God loves each one of us; and may we share that love generously each day with one another, with our families, and each person we come across.

P.S.  a practical note for those with gluten allergies…a few people have asked about being able to receive low-gluten hosts…which we do have consecrated in our tabernacle. To help Communion be prayerful and stress free for anyone needing to receive a low-gluten host, the main priest celebrant of the Mass will have the low-gluten hosts during Communion. Just simply come forward in that priest’s line and indicate you would like to receive a low-gluten host. I will also include that in my notes for visiting priests if we ever have guest priests celebrating the Mass.

Know of my prayers for everyone during this week of celebrating St. Philomena!

In Christ,

Father Luke

CLICK HERE for the special readings we will use this weekend at Mass.