Wednesday 26 August 2009

A lovely surprise at Mass today . . .

We had a lovely surprise at Mass today. Fr Paul Brandon who often celebrates Mass at St Ann's when he is in the area visiting family, brought with him a relic of Blessed Dominic of the Mother of God (Father Dominic Barberi, Passionist Priest).

Dominic was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1963, during the Second Vatican Council. Later popes also admired Dominic; on his visit to England in 1982 Pope John Paul II described Blessed Dominic as
"One example of the countless other priests who continue to serve as models of holiness for the clergy of today"

Dominic is best remembered for his part in Newman's conversion, but is also commemorated for his exhausting work in the efforts to return England to the Catholic faith in the nineteenth century.

Naturally we celebrated the Memorial in his honour and after a beautiful Mass during which the relic had lain upon the altar, Fr Paul blessed those present with the relic.

1 comment:

Khoi said...

The homily given by Fr Paul this morning was funny, informative and inspiring.
Funny when he talked about Blessed Dominic.
Informative with respect to the life and works of the priest.
Inspiring as all homilies are.