As you have undoubtedly heard, our Holy Father Pope Francis was called to his eternal reward yesterday, Easter Monday (April 21, 2025) after twelve years of papal ministry. We have been blessed by his faithful ministry and leadership – may he now enjoy the blessings of rest & reward with the Lord in heaven.
There are many and varied traditions surrounding the death of a pope – our chancery has issued general guidelines and a liturgical guidelines document. Because of the priority of the octave of Easter – the climax of Christ’s ministry and mission on earth – all Masses for the Dead must wait until after Divine Mercy Sunday. Already we here on the Olympic Peninsula are preparing several Masses across our parish family – we will have more to share fairly shortly.
In the meantime, let us spend time in prayer for our pope – especially aware of and celebrating the triumph of our Lord over sin & death. The traditional prayers for a deceased pope over the novendiales (nine days of mourning) are simply yet powerful: praying the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be (the Eternal Rest prayer is recommended too) each day. The rosary and the Office for the Dead are especially to be commended – I encourage you to look for opportunities to gather with family, friends, and fellow parishioners over the coming days. The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has created a dedicated page for Pope Francis – you will find helpful reflections and resources there.
℣. Eternal rest grant unto Francis, O Lord.
℟. And let the perpetual light shine upon him.
And may his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
April 20 – Today is the memorial of Saint Agnes of Montepulciano. Born in 1268, she received permission from the pope and joined the a Franciscan monastery at the age of nine years old! At the age of 13, she was sent to help found a new community in Proceno, Italy. She was eventually recalled back to Montepulciano to head the monastery there where she was inspired to led the nuns to become Dominicans under the Rule of Saint Augustine. If her young fervor & skill wasn’t amazing enough, her life was marked with miraculous moments throughout her life. Read more about her at the Nashville Dominican’s website.
April 21 – Today is the memorial of Saint Anselm. Despite his youthful disregard for religion, Saint Anselm became one of the greatest minds of the Church and is called the ‘Father of Scholasticism’. After living a worldly life, he joined the monastery of Bec in Normandy and eventually led it as abbot. The abbey became a major influence in philosophy and theology, with Saint Anselm eventually publishing his theological works. About sixteen years before his death, he was named archbishop of Canterbury (which he did not want to do!), giving special care to the poor and opposing the slave trade. Bishop Barron has a lovely reflection on Saint Anselm’s illuminating thought on the love of God for us.
April 23 – If you ever go to the Holy Land, you’ll see all over the place depictions of a soldier on a horse stabbing a dragon. It won’t take much investigation to discover that this is a depiction of today’s saint: Saint George. Born in the late third century, he was a soldier in Diocletian’s army. but when Diocletian issued an edict to persecute Christians, George gave away all he had to the poor and the tore the edict apart – in front of Diocletian, no less! – and proclaimed in faith in Jesus. As you might imagine, he was martyred for his faith. Why a dragon? For that story, I recommend the Vatican New website write-up on that and other interesting details about Saint George.
April 25 – Today is the feast of Saint Mark, evangelist. Writer of one of the Gospels, he is often symbolized by the lion (the symbols of the Gospels themselves taken from a vision of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:1-21). Saint Mark’s description of Saint John the Baptist – ‘A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’ – is often compared to a roaring lion. Of the man himself, what we know is mostly from sacred scripture – especially his closeness (despite some conflict!) with Saint Paul and with Saint Peter. Read more about him at Loyola Press.
No “Why Do Catholics Do That?” pastor’s insert this week
Priests celebrating their anniversaries this week
- Rev. Arulanandu David (April 24, 1998)
- Rev. Navy Kumar Thomas (April 24, 1998)
Remembering our deceased priests
- Fr. Joseph Conway (April 21, 1948)
- Fr. Thomas C. McEnnis (April 21, 2012)
- Fr. John McMahon (April 25, 1984)
Thank you for posting your comments, Father. May these days of rest from work renew you!