October gets all the glory, sporting so many lovely feast days. But let’s not forget September. In fact, September may just well outshine the month of the Holy Rosary! 

September 9 is the feast of St. Peter Claver, a Spanish Jesuit missionary in South America who spent his life ministering to enslaved Africans there. He is very popular in the U.S. in Black Catholic communities, and there’s even an organization called “The Knights of St. Peter Claver.” September 12 is a feast day reinstituted on the universal liturgical calendar by Papa Wojtyla, no doubt due to his great love of the Mother of God. It is the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, one of the Divine Praises, no less. September 14, the Feast of the Triumph or Exaltation of the Cross, is fittingly followed by the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows on September 15. September 15 is also the feast of St. John Chrysostom (Chrysostom meaning “golden tongue”). He is a Father and Doctor of the Church, and wrote a book called “In Praise of St. Paul” with which we Daughters of St. Paul heartily concur.

Next up are two Doctors of the Church on the same day, September 17: the great St. Robert Bellarmine and St. Hildegard of Bingen. If you don’t know much about either of these spiritual giants, check them out. Bellarmine was an Italian Jesuit and Cardinal, extremely influential during the Counter-Reformation, and Hildegard was a German jane-of-all-trades: composer, artist, mystic, visionary, healer, abbess. St. Januarius on September 19 is famous due to the liquification of his blood. A Neapolitan bishop-martyr from the fourth century, Januarius’ dried blood has been preserved as a relic, and has miraculously liquefied on his feast day and other dates for at least 700 years. Newcomers to the General Roman Calendar are St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon and Companions (also known as “The Korean Martyrs”) on September 20. St. Andrew is Korea’s first native-born Catholic priest and was killed along with many other Korean Christians in a fierce persecution in 1846. Father Kim is the patron saint of Korea.

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September 21 boasts the feast of an Apostle, Matthew. Matthew was a despised tax collector for the Roman called by Jesus to be one of the Twelve. He is also an Evangelist, the author of one of the four Gospels. His text, written in Aramaic, took pains to show how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament. 

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The beloved Franciscan Capuchin stigmatist and wonder-worker, Padre Pio, was canonized in 2002, and we celebrate his feast on September 23. St. Thecla’s feast is on the same day—a saint greatly revered in the East and hardly known to us in the West. She was a contemporary and disciple of St. Paul. (See how I’m getting all these St. Paul references in here?) There is an apocryphal text called “The Acts of Paul and Thecla,” which chronicles that consecrated virginity was a growing vocation for women in the earliest Church. The Venerable Co-Foundress of the Daughters of St. Paul took the name “Mother Thecla.”

Perhaps the crown jewel of the month for us Canadians is the feast of the Canadian Martyrs on September 26. If you’ve never been to Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario, you must go. I promise it won’t be your last visit. The grounds feature statues, Stations of the Cross, a Rosary walk, picnic spaces, a gift shop and eateries. Save several hours (or a second trip) for Saint-Marie Among the Hurons, directly across the street. Sainte-Marie is a state-of-the-art interactive museum with a rebuilt fort that both the Jesuits and Christian Huron made use of. The burial place of St. Jean Brebeuf and St. Gabriel Lalemant, along with Huron faithful, is also located there. 

Two other that must be included in this litany are September 28, feast of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions, martyrs. (St. Lorenzo is the first canonized Filipino saint); and September 29, Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. September 29 used to only be “Michaelmas,” and the other archangels had their own feasts, but I’m sure they don’t mind being honoured collectively.

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Feast days are important. They keep our eyes on our goal, or as “The Imitation of Christ” says: We go from feast to feast until the final feast of Heaven.

Sr. Helena Raphael Burns, fsp, is a Daughter of St. Paul. She holds a Masters in Media Literacy Education and studied screenwriting at UCLA. HellBurns.com  Twitter: @srhelenaburns  #medianuns