Celebrating the Feast of Agnes.
This weekend, we celebrate the Feast of St. Agnes, Patron of our Parish. An interesting custom on her Feast Day is that two lambs are brought from the Trappist Abbey of Tre Fontane in Rome and the lambs are blessed by the Pope. On the following Holy Thursday of the same year, their wool is shorn and the wool is woven into what is called a “Pallium” which the Pope gives to a newly consecrated Metropolitan Archbishop as a sign of his jurisdiction over his Archdiocese and also a sign of his union with the Pope. On the 6th of January, the Feast of the Epiphany, the new Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Brown was ordained a bishop. As Papal Nuncio he does not receive the Pallium but the Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has the Pallium which is worn around the neck on special occasions because he is Archbishop looking after the Diocese of Dublin. We have a number of pictures of St. Agnes in the Church and over the front door of the Church we have a statue of St. Agnes and she invariably has a lamb in her arms. St. Agnes is the Patron Saint of young girls, engaged couples and I don’t know why – gardeners - maybe because a sheep or lamb can be useful around the garden to eat the grass and save you using the lawnmower! This is an opportunity to pray for our new Papal Nuncio who is due to take up his appointment at the end of January. May his ministry in Ireland will be blessed in every way. St. Agnes pray for our Parish Community.
Fr. John.
Church Unity Octave. The week of Prayer for Christian Unity began last Wednesday 18th January and concludes on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul and takes place each year on 25th January. Our Parish celebration always takes on the Eve of the New Year when we have our Annual Sunset Service, bringing together the Church of Ireland and the Catholic Parishes in the neighbourhood. This Annual Event was hosted by St. Mary’s Church of Ireland on new Year’s Eve. The preacher was Fr. Melvyn Mullins. Perhaps you might keep in your prayers the hope that all Christians will be one as Jesus wished.
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