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August 26: Our Lady of Czestochowa

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

  From the Priest of Salem:  This morning, I celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa, using one of the Votive Masses of Our Lady.  While I am not Polish, I have a always loved this miraculous image of Our Lady and its history.  I enjoyed explaining Our Lady’s story to our parochial school children at Mass this morning.

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF CZESTOCHOWA:

Holy Mother of Czestochowa, Thou art full of grace, goodness and mercy. I consecrate to Thee all my thoughts, words and actions, my soul and body. I beseech Thy blessings and especially prayers for my salvation. Today, I consecrate myself to Thee, Good Mother, totally, with body and soul amid joy and sufferings to obtain for myself and others Thy blessings on this earth and eternal life in Heaven.  Amen.

Czestochowa Roman Vestment

I also has the chance to wear my new Roman-style chasuble with the applique of Our Lady of Czestochowa given to me by Fr. Andrew McCormick of Pennsylvania and beautifully attached by our Carmelite Nuns in Alexandrian, South Dakota.

Posted in Catholic Culture, Feast Days and Devotions, Prayer/Spiritual Life, The Blessed Virgin Mary | No Comments »

Pictures from the Visit of the National Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima Statue last Monday, June 28

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Posted in Catholic Culture, Feast Days and Devotions, Parish Celebrations, Prayer/Spiritual Life, The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Catholic Home | No Comments »

Nat’l. Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima to visit St. Mary, Salem on Monday, June 28, 2010

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Monday, June 28th – Visit of the National Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima to St. Mary Church in Salem:

The National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of the USA is a lovely hand-carved Image of Our Lady of Fatima given to our country by the Bishop of Fatima in 1967 and crowned by Cardinal O’Boyle in the National Basilica in Washington, DC in 1971. The Statue was blessed by Pope Paul VI during his visit to Fatima in 1967.

The statue will be received in Salem before the 8:15am Mass on Monday, June 28th, and remain in the church throughout the day for veneration and prayer.  At 12 Noon, the Rosary of Our Lady will be prayed, with a short talk by Mr. Bill Sockey.  At 5:30pm, a Latin Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be celebrated, followed by Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.  At 7:00pm, a talk on Our Lady of Fatima will be given by Mr. Bill Sockey, who travels the United States with the National Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima Statue.  Light refreshments will be served in the lobby of the school follwoing this evening talk.

Please mark your calendars for this special opportunity given to our parish and arranged by Msgr. Charles Mangan, Director of the Marian Apostolate for Sioux Falls.   For more information on the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima, you may go to:

http://www.wafusa.org/statue_tours/statue_tours.html

Posted in Catholic Culture, Culture of Life, Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, Feast Days and Devotions, Parish Quasquicentennial, Prayer/Spiritual Life, The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Catholic Home | No Comments »

Candlemas at Salem

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

TODAY we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord/Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Blessing of Candles, Procession and Holy Mass (in the Ordinary Form). The Parochial School children sang, and after Mass, the statue of the Infant Jesus, kept in the sanctuary since Christmas, was taken down and the faithful were invited to venerate it.  The large Christmas Tree, the other Christmas decoration left up until Candlemas, was also taken down in the afternoon by the 7th grade class.

Since we are in the midst of celebrating Catholic Schools Week, the younger chidren’s balloon arrangements, part of their decorations from the opening of Catholic Schools Week, were still at the entrance to the sanctuary.


Posted in Catholic Culture, Christmastide, Feast Days and Devotions, Parish Celebrations, Prayer/Spiritual Life, St. Mary's School, The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Sacred Liturgy | No Comments »

Let us ask the intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Help for the people of Haiti

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

LET US PRAY TO OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP FOR THE PEOPLE OF HAITI.  Under this title, Our Blessed Mother is honored as the PATRONESS OF HAITI and the HAITIAN PEOPLE:

O Lord Jesus Christ, by whose gift Mary Thy Mother, whose image we venerate, is our Mother too, and ready at all times to help us: grant, we beseech Thee, that we, who earnestly beg her maternal help, may be counted worthy to reap through all eternity the fruit of Thy redemption.  We ask this of Thee, Who live and reign with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever.  Amen.

The Latin Collect of the Mass of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, celebrated on June 27:  Dómine Jesu Christe, qui Genetrícem tuam Maríam, cujus in sígnem venerámur imáginem, Matrem nobis dedísti perpétuo succúrre reparátam: concéde, quaésumus; ut nos, matérnam ejus opem assídue implorántes, redemptiónis tuæ fructum perpétuo experíri mereámur.  Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia saécula sæculórum.   Amen.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help (or Succour) – Introduction:

Our Lady (or Our Mother) of Perpetual Help (Succour)  is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, associated with the Byzantine icon of the same name, said to be from the 13th or 14th century, but perhaps 15th century, which has been in Rome since at least the late 15th century. The image is very popular among Catholics throughout the world, and has been much copied and reproduced. In the Byzantine Church this iconography is known as the Theotokos of the Passion.

Desciption of the Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help:

The icon depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary wearing a dress of dark red with blue mantle and veil. On the left is the Archangel Michael, carrying the lance and sponge as instruments of Our Lord’s Passion. On the right is the Archangel Gabriel carrying a 3-bar cross and nails. This type of icon is a later type of the Hodegetria composition, where Mary is pointing to her Son, known as a Theotokos of the Passion. The Christ-child has been alarmed by a pre-sentiment of His Passion, and has run to His Mother for succour, or help.   The facial expression of the Virgin Mary is solemn and is looking directly at the viewer instead of her Son. The Greek initials on top read Mother of God, Michael Archangel, Gabriel Archangel, and Jesus Christ, respectively. Jesus is portrayed clinging to His Mother with a dangling sandal.  The icon is painted with a gold background on a walnut panel, and may have been painted in Crete, then ruled by Venice, the main source of the many icons imported to Europe in the late Middle Ages and through the Renaissance.  It was cleaned and restored in 1866 and again in the 1940s and 1990’s.

History of the Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help:

The earliest written account of the image comes from a Latin and Italian plaque placed in the church of Saint Matthew where it was first venerated by the public in 1499. The writer of the icon is unknown, but according to legend the icon was stolen by a merchant from Crete who was sailing to Rome. The merchant supposedly sailed and hid the icon while traveling at sea, until a storm hit hard and the sailors prayed to the icon for help. When the merchant arrived in Rome he fell ill, and as his dying wish he asked another merchant to place the icon in a church where it could be venerated. The merchant then confided to his wife about the icon. Upon seeing the beautiful icon, the merchant’s wife refused to give it to the church but instead hung it in her home. Later on, the Virgin Mary appeared to the merchant’s daughter, requesting that the icon be turned into a parish for veneration. The Virgin Mary indicated to the little girl that she ought to be placed between the basilicas of St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran. The wife then went to the Augustinian Friars to whom she gave up the icon. On March 27, 1499, the icon was transferred to the church and the icon was venerated there for 300 years.

In 1798, the governor of Rome, General Massena, ordered several churches in Rome closed and destroyed. St. Matthew’s was one of these churches. The Perpetual Help icon was taken by the Augustinian fathers to a nearby church, St. Eusebius. Later on they moved it to Santa Maria Posterula to a side altar. Pope Pius IX had invited a group of priests called the Redemptorists to set up a Marian house of veneration in Rome. They stationed in Via Merulana, not knowing that it was once the church of San Mateo and shrine of the once-famous icon. One day, a Redemptorist father heard stories of the icon and of the church in which it was once enshrined. The Redemptorists built a small church next to the building called St. Alphonse of Ligouri.

The Father General of the Redemptorists, Most Rev. Nicholas Mauron, decided to bring the whole matter to the attention of Blessed Pope Pius IX.  The Pope decided that the icon should be exposed to public veneration and the logical site was their church of St. Alphonse of Liguori, standing as it did between the Basilicas of St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran. Pope Pius IX wrote a short memorandum ordering the Augustinian Fathers of St. Mary in Posterula to surrender the picture to the Redemptorists, on condition that the Redemptorist supply the Augustinians with another picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help or a good copy of the icon of Perpetual Help in exchange. Upon the return of the icon, Pope Pius IX gave the icon the title Our Mother of Perpetual Help. In June 23, 1867, the image was crowned by the Dean of the Vatican Chapter in a solemn and official recognition of the Marian icon under the title of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour. In April 21, 1866, the Redemptorist Superior General gave one of the first copies to Pope Pius XI, which is now preserved in the chapel of the Redemptorists’ General Government in Rome. The icon is under the care of the Redemptorist fathers of St. Alphonse of Ligouri Church where the icon is now enshrined.

Since then, the icon has been venerated all around the world. The icon has been popularized among many cultures and has had several titles in different languages such as Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro, Perpetuo Succursu, Beata Virgo de Perpetuo Succursu, Ina ng Laging Saklolo and Mother of Perpetual Soccour.

According to tradition, when handing over the Icon to the Redemptorist in 1866, Blessed Pope Pius IX expressed the desire that they should make her known to the world. From that time until present day, devotion to the Mother of Perpetual help has spread all over the world. Thousands of copies of the Picture have been dispatched throughout the world and there are many shrines where copies of the original Icon are venerated and regarded as miraculous.

Among the best known shrine are those in Boston and New York (USA), Haiti, where Our Lady of Perpetual Help is the Patroness of the country; Santiago (Chile, Curitiba, Belém and Manaus in Brazil, Tequisquiapan in Mexico; Belfast and Limerick in Ireland; Bussolengo in Italy; Torun and Cracow in Poland; Singapore and the most famous of all in Manila (Philippines).

The Perpetual Novena which began in St. Louis (USA) in 1927, has made a notable contribution to the spread of this devotion. The Novena has been called “Perpetual”, because it is held on a fixed day each week of the year. During the Novena devotions, the faithful not only say the traditional prayer, but they also present written petitions and thanksgivings for favors received. There is also a meditation on some aspect of the spiritual life.

Posted in Catholic Culture, Feast Days and Devotions, Prayer Requests, Prayer/Spiritual Life, The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Catholic Home | No Comments »

Ven. John Henry Cardinal Newman: Meditation for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

In this passage from his 1840 sermon ‘The New Works of the Gospel’, Newman reflects on the nature of faith and the fruits of grace in the Christian life, shedding light on the words of St Elizabeth to the Blessed Virgin Mary in today’s Gospel, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled”:

______________________________

We see why justification must be of faith: because, as Christ, by means of His Spirit, makes a new beginning in us, so faith, on our part, receives that new beginning, and cooperates with Him. And it is the only principle which can do this: for as things spiritual are unseen, so faith is in its very nature that which apprehends and uses things unseen. We renounce our old unprofitable righteousness, which is from Adam, and accept, through faith, that new righteousness which is imparted by the Spirit; or, in St. Paul’s words, “we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” [Galatians 5: 5] [...]

Let us think much, and make much, of the grace of God; let us beware of receiving it in vain; let us pray God to prosper it in our hearts, that we may bring forth much fruit. We see how grace wrought in St. Paul: it made him labour, suffer, and work righteousness almost above man’s nature. This was not his own doing; it was not through his own power. He says himself, “Yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me.” [1 Cor. 15: 10] God’s grace was “sufficient for him” [see 2 Cor. 12: 15]. It was its triumph in him, that it made him quite another man from what he was before. May God’s grace be efficacious in us also. Let us aim at doing nothing in a dead way; let us beware of dead works, dead forms, dead professions. Let us pray to be filled with the spirit of love. Let us come to Church joyfully; let us partake the Holy Communion adoringly; let us pray sincerely; let us work cheerfully; let us suffer thankfully; let us throw our heart into all we think, say, and do; and may it be a spiritual heart! This is to be a new creature in Christ; this is to walk by faith.

Posted in Advent, Famous Sermons & Homilies, John Henry Cardinal Newman, Prayer/Spiritual Life, The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Sacred Liturgy | No Comments »

Dec. 12: Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Tomorrow morning at 10:00am, a Sung Mass (Usus Antiquior) will be celebrated at St. Mary Church, Salem for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness/Empress of the Americas and of the Culture of Life.

The Proper of the Mass can be found here: Proper of the Mass: Our Lady of Guadalupe

HE HAS NOT done this for any other nation…. (Ps. 147:2; Comm Ant)

“My little son, there are many I could send.  But you are the one I have chosen” (Our Lady to St. Juan Diego at Guadalupe, 1531).

FROM CATHOLIC CULTURE:  The opening of the New World brought with it both fortune-seekers and religious preachers desiring to convert the native populations to the Christian faith. One of the converts was a poor Aztec Indian named Juan Diego. On one of his trips to the chapel, Juan was walking through the Tepayac hill country in central Mexico. Near Tepayac Hill he encountered a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light as bright as the sun. Speaking in his native tongue, the beautiful lady identified herself:

“My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother’s Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard.”

Juan, age 57, and who had never been to Tenochtitlan, nonetheless immediately responded to Mary’s request. He went to the palace of the Bishop-elect Fray Juan de Zumarraga and requested to meet immediately with the bishop. The bishop’s servants, who were suspicious of the rural peasant, kept him waiting for hours. The bishop-elect told Juan that he would consider the request of the Lady and told him he could visit him again if he so desired. Juan was disappointed by the bishop’s response and felt himself unworthy to persuade someone as important as a bishop. He returned to the hill where he had first met Mary and found her there waiting for him. Imploring her to send someone else, she responded:

She then told him to return the next day to the bishop and repeat the request. On Sunday, after again waiting for hours, Juan met with the bishop who, on re-hearing his story, asked him to ask the Lady to provide a sign as a proof of who she was. Juan dutifully returned to the hill and told Mary, who was again waiting for him there, of the bishop’s request. Mary responded:

 ”My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop shall have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow.  Only peace, my little son.”

Unfortunately, Juan was not able to return to the hill the next day. His uncle had become mortally ill and Juan stayed with him to care for him. After two days, with his uncle near death, Juan left his side to find a priest. Juan had to pass Tepayac Hill to get to the priest. As he was passing, he found Mary waiting for him. She spoke:

“Do not be distressed, my littlest son. Am I not here with you who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Your uncle will not die at this time. There is no reason for you to engage a priest, for his health is restored at this moment. He is quite well. Go to the top of the hill and cut the flowers that are growing there. Bring them then to me.”

While it was freezing on the hillside, Juan obeyed Mary’s instructions and went to the top of the hill where he found a full bloom of Castilian roses. Removing his tilma, a poncho-like cape made of cactus fiber, he cut the roses and carried them back to Mary. She rearranged the roses and told him:

 ”Call me and call my image Santa Maria de Guadalupe”.

It’s believed that the word Guadalupe was actually a Spanish mis-translation of the local Aztec dialect. The word that Mary probably used was Coatlallope which means “one who treads on snakes”! Within six years of this apparition, six million Aztecs had converted to Catholicism. The tilma shows Mary as the God-bearer – she is pregnant with her Divine Son. Since the time the tilma was first impressed with a picture of the Mother of God, it has been subject to a variety of environmental hazards including smoke from fires and candles, water from floods and torrential downpours and, in 1921, a bomb which was planted by anti-clerical forces on an altar under it. There was also a cast-iron cross next to the tilma and when the bomb exploded, the cross was twisted out of shape, the marble altar rail was heavily damaged and the tilma was…untouched! Indeed, no one was injured in the Church despite the damage that occurred to a large part of the altar structure.

In 1977, the tilma was examined using infrared photography and digital enhancement techniques. Unlike any painting, the tilma shows no sketching or any sign of outline drawn to permit an artist to produce a painting. Further, the very method used to create the image is still unknown. The image is inexplicable in its longevity and method of production. It can be seen today in a large cathedral built to house up to ten thousand worshipers. It is, by far, the most popular religious pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere.

PRAYERS ASKING OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE’S INTERCESSION:

I.  PRAYER FOR ALL VICTIMS OF ABORTION

Holy Mother of God and of the Church, our Lady of Guadalupe,  you were chosen by the Father for the Son through the Holy Spirit.

You are the Woman clothed with the sun who labors to give birth to Christ while Satan, the Red Dragon, waits to voraciously devour your child.

So too did Herod seek to destroy your Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and massacred many innocent children in the process.
So today does abortion killing many innocent unborn children and exploiting many mothers in its attack upon human life and upon the Church, the Body of Christ.

Mother of the Innocents, we praise God in you for His gifts to you of your Immaculate Conception, your freedom from actual sin; your fullness of grace, your Motherhood of God and the Church, your Perpetual Virginity and your Assumption in body and soul into heaven.

O Help of Christians, we beg you to protect all mothers of the unborn and the children within their wombs. We plead with you for your help to end the holocaust of abortion. Melt hearts so that life may be revered!

Holy Mother, we pray to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart for all mothers and all unborn children that they may have life here on earth and by the most Precious Blood shed by your Son that they may have eternal life with Him in heaven. We also pray to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart for all abortionists and all abortion supporters that they may be converted and accept your Son, Jesus Christ, as their Lord and Savior. Defend all of your children in the battle against Satan and all of the evil spirits in this present darkness.

We desire that the innocent unborn children who die without Baptism should be baptized and saved. We ask that you obtain this grace for them and repentance, reconciliation and pardon from God for their parents and their killers.

Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite power of merciful love. May it put an end to evil. May it transform consciences. May your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope. May Christ the King reign over us, our families, cities, states, nations and the whole of humanity.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary, hear our pleas and accept this cry from our hearts!

II.  PRAYER COMPOSED BY POPE ST. PIUS X

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mystical Rose, make intercession for the Holy Church, protect the Sovereign Pontiff, help all those who invoke thee in their necessities, and since thou art the ever Virgin Mary, and Mother of the True God, obtain for us from thy most holy Son the grace of keeping our faith, of sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life, of burning charity, and the precious gift of final perseverance.   Amen.

(One Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father…in gratitude for the Miraculous Portrait as a continuing miracle and testimony.)

 

Posted in Culture of Life, Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, Feast Days and Devotions, Prayer/Spiritual Life, The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Sacred Liturgy | No Comments »

Novena in Preparation for Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

Mother of the Eternal High Priest

November 29 through December 7:

The Novena (in Latin/English) may be downloaded here: Immaculate Conception Novena

Posted in Catholic Culture, Feast Days and Devotions, Prayer/Spiritual Life, The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Sacred Liturgy | No Comments »

+ Father Robert J. Fox (1927-2009)

Friday, November 27th, 2009

 

Please pray for the happy repose of the soul of Father Robert Joseph Fox, retired priest of the Diocese of Sioux Falls and founder of the Fatima Family Apostolate, who died in Hanceville, Alabama at the age of 81 on Thanksgving Day after a courageous battle with cancer:

O God, Thou didst raise Thy servant, Robert, to the sacred priesthood of Jesus Christ, according to the Order of Melchisedech, giving him the sublime power to offer the Eternal Sacrifice, to bring the Body and Blood of Thy Son Jesus Christ down upon the altar, and to absolve the sins of men in Thine own Holy Name. We beseech Thee to reward his faithfulness and to forget his faults, admitting him speedily into Thy Holy Presence, there to enjoy forever the recompense of his labors. This we ask through Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord.   Amen.

The Reverend Robert J. Fox (December 24, 1927 – November 26, 2009) was a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, SD and a prolific author.  Father Fox ministered in a number of rural parishes in South Dakota, including the parishes of Millbank, Hoven, Bristol, Waubay, Redfield, and Alexandria.  He was the Founder and Director of the national Fatima Family Apostolate and Youth for Fatima Pilgrimages as well as the editor of the Immaculate Heart Messenger. 

He was born in Watertown, South Dakota in 1927.  His father, Aloysius Fox, was a farmer.  Fox was raised in a religious family and developed a vocation at an early age.  After graduating from Watertown High School, Fox studied at St John’s University, a Benedictine liberal arts college in rural Minnesota, between 1947 and 1950.  Fox graduated from the St Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1955.

After priestly ordination, Fox served as a parochial vicar in several parishes where some of his superiors suggested that he start working as a writer.  He started sending in letters and articles to Catholic publications and they were published.  He eventually became a weekly columnist for the National Catholic Register.

Fox became the pastor of St Anthony’s parish in Bristol, South Dakota in 1962.  He was the pastor in a number of parishes in South Dakota between 1961 and 1971. He became the pastor at St Bernard’s Church in Redfield, South Dakota in 1971.

In 1971, Cardinal John Wright, the Prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy asked him to write six books as part of the General Catechetical Directory.  Fox did so and started a prolific career with well over 50 books to his credit.  In 2005, he published an autobiography entitled: A Priest is a Priest Forever.

In thanksgiving for his work for the General Catechetical Directory, Fox built his first shrine to Our Lady of Fatima in Redfield in 1972.  He took his first pilgrimage group to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal in 1974 and continued to do so for almost 30 years.

Fr. Fox gave talks at many conferences across the globe, appeared often on television, and produced a quarterly magazine, The Immaculate Heart Messenger.  He was also a frequent visitor to Russia for the purpose of evangelization, bringing message of Fatima to many Christians in that country.

Among Fr. Fox’s numerous television and radio appearances are several Mother Angelica Live Shows; an appearance on Johnette Benkovic’s The Abundant Life; EWTN Doug Keck’s Bookmark; Daily Mass; WEWN shortwave radio and Sirius Satellite Radio and Relevant Radio.

Prayer had always been first and foremost in his life and often he faithfully fulfilled the 81-day novena which is composed of nine nine-day novenas, in which one prays the Rosary Novena three times (27 days) in request, three times (another 27 days) in adoration, and three more times (final 27 days) in thanksgiving. It was a novena from ancient Catholic traditions he learned while a teenager.

Fr. Fox was responsible for having built four shrines to the Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Fatima since 1972: the second at Immaculate Conception Church in Waubay, SD, the third at St. Mary of Mercy Church in Alexandria, SD, and the fourth at the new headquarters of the Fatima Family Apostolate in Hanceville, Alabama.

He began the Fatima Family Apostolate in 1986 and has been the director of the apostolate since then, as well as the editor of its newsletter.  In 1987, he began the first National Marian Congress in Alexandria, South Dakota.  In June of each year the conference would attract an average attendance of 8,000.  The last Marian Congress in Alexandria was held the weekend of June 13, 2003.  Fr. Fox celebrated his Golden Anniversary of Priesthood (50 years) in 2005.

After his retirement, Fr. Fox moved to Hanceville, Alabama, where he celebrated daily Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, which is part of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery.  He took with him the Fatima Family Apostolate he founded in Alexandria, SD, firmly reestablishing it in Hanceville, Alabama, only 8 miles from the now famous Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Father Fox died in the early afternoon of Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FR. FOX (funeral arrangements, etc.) AND THE FATIMA FAMILY APOSTOLATE, go to: www.fatimafamily.org.

Books published/authored by the Rev. Robert J. Fox:

  • Religious Education: Its Effects, Its Challenges Today, Daughters of St. Paul, 1972.
  • The Catholic Prayerbook, Our Sunday Visitor, 1974.
  • Renewal for All God’s People, Our Sunday Visitor, 1975.
  • Charity, Morality, Sex and Young People, Our Sunday Visitor, 1975.
  • The Marian Catechism, Our Sunday Visitor, 1976.
  • Saints and Heroes Speak, Our Sunday Visitor, 1977.
  • A Prayer Book for Young Catholics, Our Sunday Visitor, 1977.
  • Principles of spiritual growth]: Phase 2 : module on guilt (Genesis 2 bridges the gap between the old and the new), Intermedia Foundation – 1978
  • Teenagers and Purity; Teenagers and Going Steady; Teenagers Looking toward Marriage, St. Paul Editions, 1978.
  • Ten sermons on the Mother of God,: In light of Vatican II and Our Lady of Fatima, with addendum: Four articles on Communism and the Church, AMI Press – 1978
  • Catholic Truth for Youth, Ave Maria Press, 1978.
  • A World at Prayer, Our Sunday Visitor, 1979.
  • A Catechism of the Catholic Church: Two Thousand Years of Faith and Tradition, Franciscan Herald, 1980.
  • A Catholic Prayer Book, Our Sunday Visitor, 1980
  • Rediscovering Fatima, Our Sunday Visitor, 1982.
  • Prayerbook for Catholics, Christendom Press 1982
  • The Call of Heaven: Life of Stigmatist of San Vittorino, Father Gino, Christendom Publications, 1982.
  • The Mary Book, Mother of Evangelism, Fatima Family Apostolate
  • The call of heaven: Bro. Gino, stigmatist, Christendom Publications, 1982.
  • A Prayer Book for Young Catholics, Our Sunday Visitor, 2nd ed., 1982.
  • Jacinta of Fatima: Her Life As She Might Tell It, Ami Intl Pr, 1982
  • St. Therese of Lisieux: Her Life As She Might Tell It, Ami Intl Pr, 1982
  • St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort: His Life As He Might Tell It, A M I Press, 1983
  • Fatima Today, Christendom Publications, 1983.
  • The Catholic Faith, Our Sunday Visitor, 1983.
  • Opus Sanctorum Angelorum:, AMI Press – 1983
  • The Work of the Holy Angels, AMI International, 1984.
  • Family Bonding Through Discipline, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1987.
  • Families, Seedbeds for Vocations, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1987.
  • Blessed Jacinta and Francisco, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1987.
  • Immaculate Heart of Mary: True Devotion, Our Sunday Visitor, 1986.
  • Guidance for Future Priests, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1988.
  • A Handbook on Guadalupe, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1988.
  • Until Death Do Us Part, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1988.
  • National Children’s Day to Honor Our Lady: Second Sunday of October : a handbook for parents, teachers and pastors, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1988.
  • St. Joseph Promise, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1989.
  • True Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1989.
  • Marian Manual, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1989.
  • First Saturdays, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1989.
  • To Russia with Love, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1989.
  • The Gift of Sexuality: A Guide for Young People, Our Sunday Visitor, 1989.
  • Fox-Sight: Telling the vision of Robert J. Fox, Our Sunday Visitor, 1989.
  • Mary’s White League for Children, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1990.
  • Illustrated Rosary Meditations for Children, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1990.
  • Protestant Fundamentalism and Born Again Catholic, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1990.
  • Fatima Today – The Third Millennium, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1990,2002.
  • Mary Book: Mother of Evangelism, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1991.
  • Only Heroic Catholic Families Will Survive, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1991.
  • Catechism of Church History, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1991.
  • The World and Work of the Holy Angels, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1991.
  • Covenant With Jesus, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1992.
  • Kolbe St. of the Immaculata, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1993.
  • A Man Called Francis, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1996.
  • Mary Through the Ages, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1996.
  • A Young Catholic’s Apology for the Faith, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1995.
  • Jesus – Light of the World, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1997.
  • Catechism on Mary and the Pope Who Changed the World, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1998.
  • Manual of Prayers, Our Sunday Visitor 1998
  • Fundamentals of Faith, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1999.
  • Mary in Mid-America Shrine Book, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1999.
  • Documents on Fatima & Memoirs of Sister Lucia, Fatima Family Apostolate, 2000.
  • The Intimate Life of Sister Lucia, Fatima Family Apostolate, 2001.
  • Light from the East – Miracles of Our Lady of Soufanieh, Fatima Family Apostolate, 2002.
  • Reclaiming Your Children for the Faith , Fatima Family Apostolate, 2003.
  • Catechism in Poetry , Fatima Family Apostolate, 2003.
  • Messages from the Heart of Your Mother, Fatima Family Apostolate, 2004.
  • A Priest is a Priest Forever – Autobiography, Fatima Family Apostolate, 2005.
  • Ray Likes to Pray, Fatima Family Apostolate, 2006.
  • Fatima is Forever, Fatima Family Apostolate, 2006.
  • Masculinity: The Gentle Man , Fatima Family Apostolate, 2007.
  • Eucharist: Heaven and Earth Unite , Fatima Family Apostolate, 2008.
  • Mary Teaches the Faith at Fatima, Fatima Family Apostolate, 2009.

 

Posted in Biographies, Deceased Priests, Diocese of Sioux Falls, Prayer Requests, The Blessed Virgin Mary, Year of the Priesthood | No Comments »

Nov. 21: Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady

Saturday, November 21st, 2009
Presentation of Our Lady by Titian

Presentation of Our Lady by Titian

This morning, the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Missa Cantata in the Usus Antiquior was sung at 10:00 am at St. Mary Church, Salem, SD.  Organ music used included works by Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) and J. S. Bach (1685-1750) and vocal music by Msgr. Lorenzo Perosi (1872-1956) and Orlando de Lassus (c. 1532-1594).  The music for the Ordinary was Missa “In Simplicitate” by Jean Langlais (1907-1991).

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Giotto

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Giotto

 

The Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

By the Rev. Father Matthew R. Mauriello – Priest of the Diocese Bridgeport, Connecticut

Many of the celebrations in honor of Mary are based in historical fact. The Sacred Scriptures tell of her acceptance of God’s invitation to be the mother of the Savior at the Annunciation. We know of her maternity and of her faithfulness to her son, Jesus, even standing at the side of his cross.

The Scriptures tells us nothing of Mary’s hidden life. The inspired Word of God gives us no word about her Presentation in the Temple, the feast which we celebrate each year on November 21st.  However, we do have the testimonies of tradition which are based on accounts which come to us from apostolic times. That which is known about the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple is found in the Apocrypha, principally in chapter seven of the Protoevangelium of James, which has been dated by historians prior to the year 200 AD.

This book gives us a detailed account in which Mary’s father, Joachim, tells Anna his wife that he wishes to bring their child to the Temple of the Lord. Anna responds that they should wait until the child is three years old lest she yearn for her parents. When the day arrived, the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews were invited to accompany Mary with their lamps burning to the Temple. There the priest received her, blessed her, and kissed her in welcome. He proclaimed, “The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel.” Mary was placed on the third step of the Temple and there danced with joy and all the house of Israel loved her. It was there that she was nurtured and her parents returned, glorifying the Almighty.  Even in her childhood, Mary was completely dedicated to God.  It is to this apocryphal account that we owe the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady.

Historians tell us that the Emperor Justinian built a splendid church dedicated to Mary in the Temple area in Jerusalem. It was dedicated on November 21, 543 but was destroyed by the Persians within a century. Many of the early church Fathers such as St. Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople (+730) and St. John Damascene, his contemporary, preached magnificent homilies on this feast referring to Mary as that special plant or flower which was being nurtured for better things.” She was planted in the House of God, nourished by the Holy Spirit and kept her body and soul spotless to receive God in her bosom. He Who is all-holy rests among the holy.”

We know that in the Byzantine Church this feast is considered one of the twelve great feasts of the liturgical year, called the Dodecaorton. Scholars believe that Mary’s Presentation in the Temple is considered a major feast for the Eastern churches celebrating the same values that the Western church celebrates in the feast of the Immaculate Conception.  It appears that this feast was not celebrated in Rome at the time of Pope St. Sergius (+701) who established four other principle feasts dedicated to Mary. By the ninth century it is celebrated in the monasteries of southern Italy which had been influenced by the traditions of the Byzantine churches. By the fourteenth century it had spread to England and it is recorded that it was celebrated in Avignon, France in 1373. Its acceptance is considered very slow and it was not until the year 1472 that Pope Sixtus IV extended its celebration to the universal Church.

Posted in Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, Feast Days and Devotions, Liturgical Renewal, Parish Celebrations, Prayer/Spiritual Life, The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Sacred Liturgy | No Comments »

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