FEASTS OF THE WEEK
Thursday 13th August : St. Fachtna
(also called Fachanan). He was founder of the monastery of Ross Carbery (Ross Ailithir). He died around the year 600. His monastery became the principal monastery of west Cork and later had a famous scripture school.
Friday 14th August : St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941)
Born Raymond Kolbe. He became a Franciscan and took the name Maximilian Mary. He was filled with a very Polish devotion to the Virgin Mary. He contracted tuberculosis and though he recovered remained frail all his life. After the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 he was imprisoned and released for a time. He was arrested again in February 1941 and the following May sent to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. A prisoner escaped one day the following July. In reprisal for this escape, the deputy camp commander selected 10 men to be starved to death in an underground bunker. One man selected was Fransiszek Gajowniczek. In reaction, he cried out in despair lamenting the fact that he would never see his wife and children again. Fr Kolbe stepped forward and said to the officer "I am a Polish Catholic priest. I am old, I want to take his place, because he has a wife and children". Gajowniczek was returned to the prisoners and Fr Kolbe along with 9 other men was sent to the bunker. After two weeks of starvation 5 prisoners remained. The director of the camp infirmary was called and he gave each of them an intravenous injection of poison acid. Fr Kolbe died on 14th August - his remains were cremated the following day - feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was canonised in 1982 by Pope St. John Paul II. Gajowniczek was present at the canonisation.
Saturday 15th August : Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The assumption of Mary honours the fullness of blessedness that was her destiny, the glorification of her immaculate soul and virginal body that completely conformed her for the risen Christ. This is a celebration that offers to the Church and to all humanity an exemplar and a consoling message, teaching us the fulfilment of our highest hopes. Their own future glorification is happily in store for all those whom Christ ahs made his won brothers and sisters by taking on their flesh and blood.
Sunday 16th August : 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
There is a great mystery in the will of God that all be saved. He knows the minds and hearts of all and does not judge in a human way. We hold to the belief in the need of membership for salvation, but we do so in the light of the universality of salvation. Like the Canaanite woman we must persevere with a determined faith in seeking the truth in love, until all nations learn of God's salvation, and all people praise his name.
Monday 17th August : Our Lady of Knock
The story of Knock began on the 21st August 1879 when Our Lady, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist appeared at the south gable of Knock Parish Church. This miraculous apparition was witnessed by fifteen people, young and old. Knock is an internationally recognised Marian Shrine and was visited by Pope St. John Paul II in 1979 and Pope Francis in 2018.
Wednesday 19th August : St. John Eudes (1601-1680)
From Normandy, France, he spent a fruitful twenty years with the French Oratory, then left to found a congregation to improve the standards of the clergy through seminaries. He founded also the Sister of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge. He was a powerful preacher and among the first to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Thursday 20th August : St. Bernard (1090-1153)
He became a Cistercian monk at Citeaux in 1113 and was chosen Abbot of Clairvaux in 1115. His writings reveal a solid grasp of biblical studies, spiritual theology and philosophy. Patron of Gibraltar and beekeepers.
Friday 21st August : St. Pius X (1835-1914)
Born Guiseppe Melchiorre Sarto in northern Italy in 1835. Cardinal Patriarch of Venice. He became Pope in 1903. In his 11 year pontificate, he carried out key reforms in the Church. He encouraged pastoral liturgy and sacramental practice, especially of frequent communion, to which he admitted young children reversing the then practice of someone receiving Confirmation before Communion. He developed a reputation as being very friendly with children. During papal audiences, he would gather children around him and talk to them about things that interested them. His weekly catechism lessons in the courtyard of San Damaso in the Vatican always included a special place for children. In the last months of his life, he witnessed the violence and destruction of World War I. Some say he died of grief - just three weeks after the war started; he died on the night of 20th August 1914. The only motto attributed to him is the one for which he is best remembered: instaurare omnia in Christo (to restore all things in Christ); these were the last words he spoke.
Saturday 22nd August : The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
During the Middle Ages, Mary was venerated as queen of the angels and saints. Pope Pius XII prescribed the memorial for the universal Church at the close of the Marian Year 1954. It is placed on this date to stress the connection of Mary's queensihp with the Assumption.