OUR MOTHER OF PERPETUAL HELP Feast Day: June 27 
Our Mother of Perpetual Help is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a 15^th Century Byzantine icon of the Madonna & Child. The Archangels Michael & Gabriel, hovering in the upper corners, hold the instruments of the Passion—St. Michael (left corner) holds the spear, the wine -soaked sponge, and the crown of thorns. St. Gabriel (right corner) holds the cross and the nails. The intent of the artist was to portray the Child Jesus contemplating the vision of His future Passion. Frightened by the vision, He runs to His mother for consolation. The anguish He feels is shown by the loss of His sandals. The icon, also conveys the triumph of Christ over sin and death, symbolized by the golden background (a sign of the glory of His resurrection) and the manner in which the angels hold the instruments, i.e. like trophies gathered up from Calvary on Easter morning. The Child Jesus grasps the hand of the Blessed Mother. He seeks comfort from His mother, as He sees the instruments of His passion. The position of Mary’s hands—both holding the Child Jesus (who seems like a small adult) and presenting Him to us—convey the reality of our Lord’s incarnation, that He is true God who became also true man. The star painted on Mary’s veil, centered on her forehead, highlights her role in the plan of salvation as both the Mother of God & our mother. On January 19, 1866 , Frs. Marchi & Bresciani, Redemptorists, brought the miraculous picture to St. Alphonsus Church. Today it is permanently enshrined in the Church of St. Alphonsus, where the original Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help text is prayed weekly. 

BAPTISM OF OUR LORD Feast of the Baptism of the Lord  
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, or Theophany, is the feast day commemorating the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. The baptism of Jesus marks the inauguration of His public ministry and confirms His identity as the Son of God. Christ’s baptism remarkably shows all three Persons of the Trinity at the same time: the Son being baptized, the Holy Spirit descending, and the Father speaking from the heavens. On this occasion, Jesus entered into His ministry and acquired His first disciples. St. John proclaimed Christ the Lamb of God, whose way he had prepared, and the triune nature of the Godhead was manifested. When the Solemnity of the Epiphany is transferred to Sunday, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the following Monday. This feast brings to an end the season of Christmas.  

ST ANDRE BESSETTE

ST. DON BOSCO  

OUR LADY OF LOURDES Feast Day: February 11 
 This title is given to the Virgin Mary due to her apparitions that occurred in Lourdes, France on Feb 11, 1858 to 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous, in the cave of Massabielle while she was gathering firewood. Our Lady  was wearing a white dress, a blue girdle and a yellow rose on each foot, the same color as the chain of Her Rosary. There were 18 reported apparitions from Feb 11 - July 16, 1858. It was on the 16^th apparition that She said “I am The Immaculate Conception.” Our Lady instructed Bernadette to dig in the ground nearby, from which came a spring with healing properties, active to this day. While there have been more than 7,000 miraculous recoveries attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes at the French Shrine, only 70 cases have been officially recognized by the Catholic Church. The last official miracle attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes was declared in 2013.

ST. BERNADETTE Feast Day: April 16 (in France on February 18)
St. Bernadette of Lourdes, original name Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, was born on Jan 7, 1844, in Lourdes, France. She came from a very poor family and was the oldest of 9 children. As a young teenager, she had a series of visions of the Virgin Mary in the Massabielle grotto, ultimately leading to the founding of the Shrine of Lourdes.Bernadette was frail and sickly and suffered a lot during her life. Her health was very delicate. She was often in bed with high fevers & painful attacks of asthma. The Virgin said to Bernadette, “I promise to make you happy, not in this world, but in the next.” These words of the Virgin were fulfilled fully in our saint. She died of tuberculosis on April 16, 1879 at the age of 35, in Nevers, France. As part of the canonization process, her body was exhumed three separate times, in 1909, 1919, & finally in 1925, when she was moved to the glass casket. She was canonized on Dec 8, 1933 by Pope Pius XI. Today, St. Bernadette’s body can still be seen incorrupt in the Chapel of Nevers in the glass casket where she appears to be asleep.

ANNUNCIATION  Feast: March 25
The Feast of the Annunciation, one of the principal feasts of the Christian church is celebrated on March 25, nine months before Christmas. It is known as the Solemnity of the Annunciation, the Feast of the Incarnation, Conceptio Christi, or Lady Day. It commemorates the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, where he announced that she would  conceived a Son by the power of the Holy Spirit to be called Jesus. The angel’s announcement is met with Mary’s willing consent. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Through this yes, the Savior of the human race entered the world, and death was defeated.
 
JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF MARY Solemnity: March 19
Joseph was the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus. After marrying Mary, he found her already pregnant and “being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace” (Matt 1:19), decided to divorce her quietly, but an angel told him that the child was the Son of God and was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Obeying the angel, Joseph took Mary as his wife. The Gospels tell us that Joseph was a “just” man, meaning that he was faithful. He was faithful to God and said “yes” to God’s plan for him to be Mary’s husband and Jesus’ foster father. He was faithful to Mary, caring for her while they waited for her baby to be born. He was faithful to Jesus, protecting Him, when he learned of King Herod’s plan to kill Him. And when the danger passed, he helped Mary to raise Jesus with love in the small town of Nazareth. We honor St. Joseph on March 19.

APRIL - ADORING ANGELS This month the reredos artwork depicts Adoring Angels. Angels represent the connection between heaven and earth, as well as strength, peace, faith, protection and beauty. Angels are mighty beings who offer praise and worship to God. At every Mass, the angels are present and active. The whole sanctuary is filled with angels surrounding the priest, angels honoring Christ, present in the Eucharist. “ In her liturgy, the church joins with the angels to adore the thrice-holy God” (CCC335). The first two choirs of angels are often mentioned in liturgical hymns, such as “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name”. Seraphim are in the highest choir of the angelic hierarchy. In the Book Of Isaiah, they are described as constantly praising God, and they are the caretakers of God’s throne.

MAY - ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER

MAY - OUR LADY OF FATIMA

SACRED HEART OF JESUS
June is the month of the Sacred Heart. In 1856, Pope Piux IX designated that the Feast of the Sacred Heart would be celebrated universally on the Friday after the Corpus Christi octave each year. 

FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY This feast was instituted for the universal church by Pope Piux XII in 1944. The feast was moved to a Saturday following the Feast of the Sacred Heart, so that the TWO HEARTS would appear side by side. These 2 are inseparable, First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart and First Saturday devotion to the Immaculate Heart.

OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL 

ST. TERESA OF AVILA

ST. ROSE OF LIMA Feast Day: August 23
St. Rose of Lima is the Patron saint of Peru, South America and the Philippines. She was a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic. She was born in Lima, Peru in 1586, and was exceptionally beautiful! Her beauty was so great that she was nick­ named "Rose". According to legend, a servant had a vison where her face turned into a rose! At her confirmation in 1597, she officially took the name of Rose. To deter suitors, she cut off  her hair and rubbed her face with hot peppers to make it blister! She was known for her piety and chastity. She regularly wore a crown of thorns, practiced fasting, slept few hours a night so she could pray. She self-flagellated, and experienced numerous visions especially of the devil.
 She passed away on Aug 24, 1617 and was said that several miracles followed her death. She was beatified by Pope Clement IX on May 10, 1667, and was canonized by Pope Clement X on April 12, 1671. 

ST. MARTIN DE PORRES Feast Day: November 3
St. Martin was born in Lima, Peru on December 9, 1579. Martin was an illegitimate son of a Spanish gentleman and a freed slave from Panama, of African, or possibly of Native American descent. He was raised in poverty after his father abandoned them and bore the stigmas of both his illegitimate birth and his mixed race. He was placed to study with a barber -surgeon where he learned the medical arts. Because of his compassion and eagerness to serve, he volunteered with the Dominicans at age 15, and helped care for the sick in the monastery infirmary. He was known for his devotion to the Eucharist and constant prayer. He distributed alms and food to the poor and needy in Lima and was friends with St. Rose of Lima, another lay Dominican. His funeral was an occasion of public honor, and many miracles are said to have occurred after his death. He was beatified in 1837 by Pope Gregory the XVI & canonized by Pope John XXIII.

SAN LORENZO RUIZ Feast Day: September 28
Born: November 28, 1594 Captaincy General of the Philippines. Lorenzo Ruiz, also called Saint San Lorenzo of Manila, is a Filipino saint venerated in the Catholic Church. A Chinese-Filipino, he became his country’s protomartyr after his execution in Japan by the Tokugawa Shogunate during its persecution of Japanese Christians in the 17^th century. He was born to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, both Catholic. At a young age, Lorenzo served as an altar boy and studied under the Dominican friars. While working as clerk for the Binondo Church, Ruiz was falsely accused of killing a Spaniard. Thereby, he sought asylum on board a ship with the help of three Dominican priests. However, upon arrival in Japan, the missionaries were arrested & thrown into prison. After 2 years, they were transferred to Nagasaki to face trial by torture. On September 27, 1637, he and his companions were taken to the Nishizaka Hill, where they were tortured, and hung upside down. This methos was supposed to be extremely painful, as victims were bound, with one hand always left free so that they may signal their desire to recant, that would lead to their release. Ruiz refused to renounce Christianity and died from blood loss and suffocation. His body was cremated ,with the ashes thrown into the sea. He was beatified on Feb 18, 1981 in Manila, Philippines by St Pope John Paul II.  It was the first beatification ceremony to be held outside the Vatican and was canonized by the same Pope in Vatican on October 18, 1987, making him the first Filipino saint.

ST. MICHAEL

ST. GABRIEL

ST. RAPHAEL

ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX Feast Day: October 1
St. Therese of Lisieux, also called St. Therese of the Child Jesus or The Little Flower. Original name, Marie Francois Therese Martin. Therese was the youngest of nine children, five of whom survived childhood. All four of her elder sister became nuns and at the age of 15, she entered the Carmelite convent at Lisieux, having been refused admission a year earlier. St. Therese contracted tuberculosis and during her confinement to the infirmary at Carmel she spent her time writing out her life story at the request of the Prioress. The manuscript eventually became part of the book, “Story of a Soul.” She died at the age of 24, believing that her life was really just beginning for God, promising to spend her heaven doing good on earth. Her promised “Shower of Roses” began at her death and has become a torrent in the church ever since. She was canonized by Pope Piux XI on May 17, 1925 and was declared a Doctor of the Church on October 19, 1997 by St. John Paul II. St. Therese, Pray for us!
 
ST. POPE JOHN PAUL II Feast Day: October 22
Pope John Paul II, born Karol Josef Wojtyla and was the head of the Catholic Church & Sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005. Born in Poland, he was the first non-Italian pope (in 455 years), since Adrian VI in the 16th century and the second longest serving Pope in modern history after Piux IX.  His papacy was marked by his firm and unwavering opposition to communism, as well as abortion, contraception, capital punishment & homosexual sex. He actively promoted the devotion to Divine Mercy and officially designated the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. He died April 2, 2005 on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, and was beatified on May 1, 2011, Divine Mercy Sunday, by Pope Benedict XVI. He was canonized together with Pope John XXIII on April 27, 2014, (again on Divine Mercy Sunday), by Pope Francis. His motto was Totus Tuus (‘Totally Yours’). Pope Saint  John Paul II, pray for us!

CHRIST THE KING Feast Day: November 20
Feast of Christ the King, also called Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. This Feast is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church in honor of Jesus Christ as Lord over all creation. Essentially a magnification of the Feast of the Ascension, it was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as a reminder that Christ reigns over all earthly rulers. While earthly powers fade away, Christ’s reign and His kingdom remain eternal. 

OUR LADY OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL Feast Day: November 27
The Feast Day of the Miraculous Medal is celebrated yearly on Nov 27. It was on this day in 1830 that the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Catherine Laboure in the Motherhouse chapel of the Daughters of Charity in Paris, France. On the front of the medal, Mary is standing upon a globe, crushing the head of a serpent beneath her foot. She stands upon the globe as the  Queen of heaven and earth. Her feet crush the serpent to proclaim Satan and all him followers are helpless before her (Gn 3:15). On the back is a cross with an M– a Marian cross is a term to describe a symbolic representation of the close connection of Mary with the redemptive mission of Jesus. The letter ”M” below the cross indicates Mary’s presence at the foot of the Cross. “O Mary conceived without sine, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.” 

ST. NICHOLAS Feast Day: December 6 
St. Nicholas was born during third century in the village of Patara in Asia Minor. He was an early Christian Bishop of Greek descent from the Maritime City of Myra in Asia Minor during the time of the Roman Empire. He was known for his generosity and kindness, which gave rise to legends of miracles he performed for the poor and unhappy. He is also known as Nicholas, the Wonderworker. Images of St .Nicholas shows the three gold balls, which represents the gold given to provide dowries for the impoverished maidens. Sometimes oranges or apples are used to represent the gold. The Miter, a special pointed hat worn by a bishop is a general symbol for bishops, but it is unique to St. Nicholas among holiday gift-givers. The Crozier, the hooked staff carried by a bishop:, represents a shepherd’s staff as the bishop is to be the shepherd of the people, as Jesus is the Good Shepherd. St Nicholas became recognized as a saint long before the Roman Catholic Church began the regular canonization procedures in the late 10^th century. Therefore, he does not have a specific date of canonization, rather records of him exist in a gradual spread until his stories became widely known and celebrated. He died on Dec 6, 343 at the age of 73.

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE Feast Day: December 12
Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in Mexico as the pregnant Mother of God to Blessed Juan Diego, an Aztec Indian at the Hill of Tepeyac on Dec 9, 10 and 12, 1531. She left a Miraculous image of her appearance on his cactus fiber cloak, or “tilma”, which still exists today for all to see in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Radiating from La Virgen de Guadalupe are sun rays representing the power of God, as well as the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli, the sun god. She stands on a crescent moon, representing her power over the Aztec god of darkness, as well as the image of the Immaculate Conception. The black ribbon around her belly indicates that she is with child. She is pictured in prayer, showing that she is not a god, but praying to someone else who is. Her knee is slightly bent which could indicate a prayerful dance. She is clearly the woman from the book of Revelation. In 1754, Pope Benedict XIV approved her patronage, and granted her a proper feast and mass for December 12. Pope Pius X proclaimed her patroness of Latin America in 1910, and in 1935 Pius XI approved her patronage over the Philippines. Pope John Paul II, canonized Juan Diego and declared Our Lady of Guadalupe the Patroness of the Americas.

ST. STEPHEN Feast Day: December 26   

St Stephen was born in Tarsus, a major city in eastern Cilicia in 5 AD.  Died—36 ce, Jerusalem. The name Stephen is Greek and according to Acts 6, he is a foreign born Jew or a Hellenist who spoke Greek. St Stephen is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity. He lived an exemplary life as one of the seven deacons appointed by the Apostles to perform charitable acts to the poor. His defense of his faith before the rabbinic court enraged his Jewish audience, and he was taken out of the city and stoned to death. His final words, a prayer of forgiveness for his attackers (Acts of the Apostles 7:60) “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them”, echo those of Jesus on the cross (Luke 23:34).  Following those words, Stephen died, in the Lord. He is often represented carrying a martyr’s palm and a pile of rocks or with rocks on his head, symbolic of his martyrdom by being stoned to death. He is the patron saint of deacons and stonemasons.

SAN JUAN DIEGO CUAUHTLATOATZIN Feast Day: December 9
Juan Diego was born in 1474 with the name “Cuauhtlatoatzin” (“the talking eagle”) in Cuautlitlan, today part of Mexico City, Mexico. He was a gifted member of the Chichimeca people, one of the more culturally advanced groups living in the Anahuac Valley. On Dec 9, 1531, when Diego was on his way to morning mass, the Blessed Mother appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill, the outskirts of what is now Mexico City. She asked him to go to the Bishop and to request in her name, a shrine be built in Tepeyac, where she promised to pour her graces upon those who invoke her. The Bishop who did not believe him, asked for a sign to prove that the apparition was true. On Dec 12, Diego returned to Tepeyac. Here, the Blessed Mother told him to climb the hill and to pick the flowers that he would find in bloom. He obeyed and although it was wintertime, he found roses flowering. He gathered the flowers and took to Our Lady who carefully placed them in his mantle and told him to take them to the Bishop as a “proof."  When he unfolded the tilma before the Bishop, roses cascaded from his tilma, and an “Icon” of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously impressed on the cloth, bringing the Bishop to his knees. Within 2 weeks of the miracle, Bishop Zumarraga ordered a Shrine to be built where the Virgin Mary had appeared. He died May 30, 1548 and was buried in the first chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe. He was beatified on May 6, 1990, and canonized on July 31, 2002 by Pope John Paul II in the Basilica of Santa Maria di Guadalupe, Mexico City.