Liturgical Calendar

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: The New Testament does not record the birth of the Virgin Mary; however, the Church remembers her birth on September 8^th. This tradition is part of the Catholic Church and appears in non-canonical documents such as the Protoevangelium of James and The Nativity of the Virgin Mary. The Eastern Church celebrated the feast of the Virgin's birth long before Pope Sergius I brought the feast day to the West in the 7^th century. The Nativity of the Virgin Mary, born without the stain of original sin (CCC 411), is the announcement, promise, and preparation for the birth of the Messiah.

September 11: On September 11^th, 1683, the armies of Ottoman Turks attacked the city of Vienna in what was to be the first battle in a jihad of the Islamic conquest of Europe and the extinction of Christianity. The Christians defeated the Muslim Turks, saving not just Vienna but all of Europe. Pope Innocent XI commemorated the Christian victory at the Battle of Vienna over the Muslims on September 12th by attributing the win to the Virgin Mary, to whom the victorious Christian Polish king had entrusted his army. To honor the Virgin’s intercession, the Pope extended the feast of the Holy Name of Mary to be celebrated by the Universal Church in every Christian nation on the 12^th of September.

Because of the significance of the last Muslim attack on the West on September 11^th, 1683, an organized group of Muslim men launched an attack on the United States on the same day in 2001. They used airplanes to attack the World Trade Towers in New York City and the Pentagon. They also intended to attack the U.S. Capitol building or possibly the White House in Washington, D.C. The attack was to announce the beginning of a new global jihad against Christianity and the West by the forces of Islam. See this month’s Featured Article on the website, “The Historical Significance of the Date September 11^th.”

Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary: Pope Julius II granted this feast in 1513 to honor the Holy Name of the Virgin Mary for the diocese of Cuenca, Spain. Pope Sixtus V extended the celebration to the Kingdom of Naples and Milan in 1671.

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: This feast commemorates the recovery of the precious relic of the Sacred Cross upon which Christ died by St. Helena, the mother of the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great. The feast also commemorates the dedication on September 14^th, 335, of the churches she built on the sites identified by Jerusalem Christians as the places of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection. It became a major feast in the Church in the East in the 4^th century upon the dedication of the two churches, later combined into one church called the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Church in the West adopted the feast day about three centuries later. Christians often traveled to the Holy Land in the spring to celebrate the feasts of Easter and Jesus’s Ascension forty days later. For Christians who could not journey in the spring, the forty days from the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 6^th) to the Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross became a favored pilgrimage time.

The Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows: The Feast of the Exultation of the Cross is on the 14^th of September, and the next day, on the 15^th, we remember the Virgin Mary’s sorrow as she walked the way of the Cross through the streets of Jerusalem with her beloved son. Sometimes in our lives, God calls us to suffer for the sake of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. At such times, we can find comfort in our Mother Mary. She lived in a land oppressed by a foreign power. She endured poverty and became a refugee who traveled to Egypt when Herod, an evil and corrupt ruler, attempted to murder her child. She returned to her homeland only to be widowed. Mary was the first to believe that Jesus was the promised Davidic Messiah and supported Jesus in His ministry, only to experience the heartbreak of witnessing her people reject her son as their Redeemer-Messiah. She saw Him arrested as a criminal and crucified on a Roman cross. However, her suffering also brought great joy as she, with Jesus’s other disciples, experienced His Resurrection and His Ascension to glory, and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish Feast of Pentecost forty days after His Ascension. And finally, at the end of her earthly life, her son rewarded her faithfulness in suffering when He saved her from the physical pain and corruption of death to take her bodily into Heaven. Mary’s story of suffering for the sake of her Savior and her reward of heavenly glory comforts and gives hope to Christians of all generations. From her example, we learn that we will join our Savior in glory if we persevere in faith despite our sufferings.

The Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle:  St. Matthew was a Jew and probably a Levite who worked for the Romans as a tax collector (publican) in Galilee. In Hebrew, his name means “gift of God.” Jesus saw him seated at the customs house and called Matthew to “Follow Me.” Matthew immediately followed Jesus, became a disciple, and left his old life behind (Mt 9:9-13). Later, Jesus selected him as one of His Twelve Apostles (Mt 10:14). According to the testimony of the Church Fathers, Matthew’s Gospel was the first to be written down and distributed. He wrote it for Jews in their language (either Hebrew or Aramaic) while St. Peter was in Rome, before Matthew left Judea on his missionary journeys. Later, his Gospel was translated into Greek, the international language of the time. According to Church tradition, Matthew evangelized in Asiatic Ethiopia (south of the Caspian Sea), Macedonia, Syria, Persia, Parthia, Medea, and Egypt, and suffered martyrdom in either Asiatic Ethiopia or Medea. St. Matthew is the only Apostle mentioned in the Jewish Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud records his trial and execution (Sanhedrin 43a). According to Church tradition, his tomb is in Salerno, Italy. St. Matthew is the patron saint of bankers, tax collectors, accountants, and bookkeepers.

The Feast of the Archangels Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael: September 29^th is the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. They are the three Archangels named in the canonical texts. St. Michael (whose Hebrew name means “who is like God”) is the prince of angels, the leader of the celestial hosts, who ended the rebellion of Satan and his demon angels (Dan 10:13; 12:1; Jude 9; Rev 12:7). St. Gabriel (whose Hebrew name means “force of God”) is the divine herald who spoke to the prophet Daniel about the coming of the Messiah and the end of the Age (Dan 8:16-16; 9:21-27). He also announced the births of St. John the Baptist and Jesus (Lk 1:19, 26). St. Raphael (Hebrew name means “God has healed”) accompanied Tobias on his journey in the Book of Tobit. St. Michael is the defender of the people of God and the patron saint of police, paratroopers, and grocers. St. Gabriel is the patron saint of postal workers, ambassadors, news vendors, and couriers. St. Raphael is the patron saint of the blind and adolescents. See CCC 57, 328, 336, 350-52, 1034, 1352.

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