Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish

August 11th – St. Clare (Memorial) – St Clare of Assisi, welcomed and guided into religious life by St. Francis himself, is the foundress of the Order of Poor Ladies (known as the Poor Clares). When Saracens were preparing to attack the convent, St. Clare, who was very ill,  asked to be helped to the gates. She carried a Monstrance containing the blessed Eucharist and prayed: “O Lord, do not deliver over to beasts the souls that praise You! Protect Your servants, for You have redeemed them by Your precious Blood. And in the midst of that prayer a voice was heard, saying: “Always will I protect you!” The Saracens fled. 

St Clare is the Patroness of embroiderers, eyes, gilders, goldsmiths, good weather, laundry workers, needle workers, telephones, television and television writers. 

August 14th – St. Maximillian Kolbe (Memorial) – St. Maximillian Kolbe, founded the Militia of the Immaculate Mary, and using the most modern printing techniques available to print many catechetical tracts and documents, and even started a shortwave radio station. 

In WWII he was captured by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz. He sacrificed his life for another prisoner, and was condemned to die in a starvation bunker. There he led the other prisoners in continual prayer. After two weeks of being deprived of food and water, his impatient captors ended his life by lethal injection. Upon canonization, St. Pope John Paul II declared him to be a Martyr of Charity. 

St. Maximillian Kolbe is the Patron of drug addicts, families, imprisoned people, journalists, political prisoners, prisoners, and the pro-life movement.

August 15th – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Solemnity) – Tradition tells us that, when our Blessed Mother reached the end of her life, she fell asleep, and was carried by the angels, body and soul, into heaven. Our Lady carried Our Lord in her womb, held him, nurtured him, and cared for him. Through love for His Mother, He brought her whole, without the corruption of death, to be with him in heaven. 

August 21st – St. Pius X (Memorial) – The primary goal of Pope St. Pius X’s pontificate was “to renew all things in Christ”. He greatly promoted frequent, especially daily, reception of the Eucharist, encouraged daily bible reading by the faithful, and reformed the age of first communion to 7, where it was previously 12 to 14. 

St. Pope Pius X is the Patron of first communicants and pilgrims.

August 22nd – The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Memorial) – Just as we know that Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe, the Church reminds us, with this memorial, that his blessed Mother is Queen in heaven. 

In his encyclical “AD Caeli Reginam”, Pope Pius XII wrote: “She was the Mother of Christ, and Christ is God; and she shared in the work of the divine Redeemer, in His struggles against enemies and in the triumph He won over them all. From this union with Christ the King she assuredly obtains so eminent a status that she stands high above all created things; and upon this same union with Christ is based that royal privilege enabling her to distribute the treasures of the kingdom of the divine Redeemer. And lastly, this same union with Christ is the fountain of the inexhaustible efficacy of her motherly intercession in the presence of the Son and of the Father.”

August 24th – St. Bartholomew (Feast) – St. Bartholomew, also called Nathanael in scripture, was one of Christ’s Apostles. In John 1:47, Jesus says of him: “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.”. According to tradition, after the Ascension, St Bartholomew preached the Gospel in India, then in Armenia, where he was ultimately martyred by flaying. In most artistic depictions he is represented as holding his own skin. 

St Bartholomew is the patron of bookbinders, butchers, leather workers, neurological diseases, skin diseases, dermatology, plasterers, shoemakers, tanners, and trappers.

August 28th – St. Augustine (Memorial) – St. Augustine of Hippo famously, or rather, infamously, led a life of sin and debauchery. His Mother, St. Monica, prayed tirelessly for her son to have a change of heart, which he eventually did. He was baptised, became a priest, then a Bishop, and went on to become one of the church’s greatest theologians. 

St. Augustine is the Patron of brewers, printers, theologians, and philosophers.

August 29th – The Passion of St. John the Baptist (Memorial) – This memorial commemorates the beheading of St. John the Baptist, as described in Mark 6:17-29. Just as St John’s birth and ministry foreshadowed our Lord’s birth and ministry, so did his death, with King Herod threatened by St. John and his followers, so did the religious leaders, threatened by our Lord’s teachings, have Jesus put to death. 

St. John is the Patron of Baptisms, Quebec, French Canadians, converts, prisoners, singers, epileptic, tailors, to name a few.