Faith Filled Friday: All Saints Day at St. Rita Parish

We had a wonderful All Saints Day evening Mass at my parish, St. Rita of Cascia Church on Staten Island, NY.  Our pastor, Fr. Eugene is a great collector of relics, and he had received permission to display a goodly amount throughout the church.  Cardinal Timothy Dolan, our Archbishop, came by to celebrate the All Saints Day Mass and bless the relic cabinets.  It was a wonderful Mass.  Everything, the service, the incense, the music, the choir, the entrance and closing processions, the homily.  Cardinal Dolan has a great sense of humor.  It was one of the most perfect Masses I have ever attended.

First the entrance procession.

 

Now there are nine relic cabinets throughout the church, each having a dozen or more relics inside.  Here what the cabinets look like.

 

Besides the reliquary of a particular saint, a small statue of that saint might also be beside it.  I’m going to give you a few pictures of saints that are dear to me, mostly saints from the Dominican Order.  The date in the plaque is their feast day.

Let’s start with St. Dominic de Guzman, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Martin de Porres..

 

Saints Patrick and Frances of Assisi

Saint Augustine of Hippo and his mother St. Monica, displayed together.

And for my son, St. Matthew the Evangelist.

One cabinet has only three reliquaries in it, but they are of the upmost importance.  They are from the life of Jesus Christ.

If you can’t read the plaques, they identify “From the Wood of the Cross of Our Lord,” “Relics from the Crib, Rock of the Agony, Column of Flagellation, Lance, and Tomb of Our Lord,” and “From the Holy Seamless Tunic of Our Lord.”

Here are some pictures from the Mass.

Finally, one with the Cardinal blessing one of the cabinets.

All you holy men and women pray for us!