In the baking heat of Summer (aways hot in the Mediterranean, but this year even Britain is getting a taste of it!) Holy Mother Church in Her wisdom and charity offers us joyful Marian feasts to break the stifling monotony of the long season after Pentecost. Later this month is the glorious feast of the Assumption, which the Order in Britain will this years celebrate at the International Holiday Camp near Arundel, with Mass in the cathedral on the day.
Tomorrow, were it not Sunday, would be the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows. On this hot August day Our Lady made snow fall in Rome on the site She had chosen for a church to be built in Her honour, the oldest Marian church in Christendom – Saint Mary Major, or Our Lady of the Snows. By custom on this day rose-petals fall from the roof of the Basilica at the Mass, in honour of the mystical snowfall.
In jolly liturgical days in our Own Priory of England, Mass on this day was celebrated in the Conventual Church of Saint John of Jerusalem in St John's Wood, by the late John Canon McDonald. The fall of the petals not quite as had been intended, but the general effect was charming!
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Canon McDonald, and for the Hospital of Saint John and Saint Elizabeth, for the patients and staff, as well as for the board of directors. May they serve God amongst the sick and the dying.
Our Lady of the Snows, pray for us
St John the Baptist, pray for us
Saint Elizabeth, pray for us
Posts
