FEAST OF OUR LADY OF KNOCK AND SAINT PIUS X, POPE ~ FEAST DAY – AUGUST 21ST: Today, we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Knock and Saint Pius X, Pope. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Pius, Pope on this feast day, we humbly pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and we pray for those who mourn. We pray for the poor and needy and for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏
OUR LADY OF KNOCK: On August 21, 1879 an event took place that would forever have a profound impact on the tiny and relatively unknown town of Knock, Ireland. Our Lady is said to have appeared in Ireland to two women in the back of the town church. The Virgin Mary was clothed in white garments and wearing a brilliant crown. By her side was St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist. Behind them, an altar with a lamb and a cross on it, at the gable wall of the parish church of the village of Knock in County Mayo. The women called several others to the church who were also able to see this miracle. The miracle was witnessed by 15 people. Ten days after the apparition a young girl, born deaf, was able to hear. By the end of 1800, over 300 cures were recorded by the parish priest. One-and-a-half million people make a pilgrimage to Knock annually. In the 1970’s a new church was built, which Pope John Paul II visited in 1979. It was during the centenary celebrations that the pope raised the church to the status of Basilica of Our Lady Queen of Ireland. The Shrine at Knock draws almost two million people each year and many healings have been reported there. Our Lady of Knock appeared to a variety of people on that faithful night. Even though she never spoke a single word, her miraculous appearance comforted the people of Ireland and gave a renewed vigor to the faith of those of the Emerald Isle, and encouraged many to turn to the Virgin Mary and she has become the country’s “queen.”
The anniversary of this apparition is remembered each year at the Knock Shrine on August 21st with a special liturgy offered at the site of Mary’s appearance. However, the rest of Ireland celebrates Our Lady of Knock on August 17th. It is classified as a “memorial,” and parishes around Ireland may celebrate Our Lady’s apparition on that day. Currently this celebration is only on select calendars, primarily in Ireland, and not on the universal Roman calendar. According to Knock Shrine, “Although the Anniversary of the Apparition takes place on the 21st of August, the 17th of August was chosen as the Feast day of our Lady of Knock, as the 21st August is already assigned to St. Pius X, the Pope of the Eucharist.“ For the rest of Ireland (and most of the Roman Catholic world), August 21 remains dedicated to St. Pius X. The rationale behind the switching of liturgical days is to give more focus to a particular feast day, instead of supplanting one that is already being widely celebrated.
PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF KNOCK: Our Lady of Knock, Queen of Ireland, you gave hope to our people in a time of distress and comforted them in sorrow. You have inspired countless pilgrims to pray with confidence to your divine Son, remembering His promise: “Ask and you shall receive, Seek and you shall find”. Help me to remember that we are all pilgrims on the road to heaven. Fill me with love and concern for my brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those who live with me. Comfort me when I am sick or lonely or depressed. Teach me how to take part ever more reverently in the Holy Mass. Give me a greater love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Pray for me now and at the end of my death. Amen🙏
SAINT PIUS X, POPE: Pope St. Pius X (1835-1914) was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto. He became the 259th Pope and was the first Pope elected in the 20th century. He came to the papal office in 1903 and died 11 years later in 1914, just as World War I was beginning. Two of the most outstanding accomplishments of this saintly Pope were the inauguration of the liturgical renewal and the restoration of frequent Communion from childhood. He also waged an unwavering war against the heresy and evils of Modernism, gave great impetus to Biblical studies, and brought about the codification of Canon Law. His overriding concern was to renew all things in Christ.
St. Pius X was born and saw the light of earth at Riesi, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, then under the political control of Austrian Empire (now in the province of Treviso, Veneto, Italy) on June 2, 1835. He was the second of ten children, three brothers and six sisters from an impoverished family of Giovanni Battista Sarto (1792–1852), the village postman, and Margherita Sanson (1813–1894). He was baptised on June 3, 1835. Though poor, his parents valued education, and Giuseppe walked 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to school each day. He felt a calling to be a priest at a young age. Drawn to the priesthood, he received a scholarship to enter one of the best seminaries of his day, and was ordained in 1858. After 26 years, he was named bishop of Mantua, Italy, and in 1893, he became patriarch of Venice. After the death of Pope Leo III, who made him cardinal, he was elected Supreme Pontiff in 1903. Saint Pius X was a man of virtue, sanctity, and zeal, and a great defender of the Catholic faith against heresy. He ranks as one of the greatest reforming popes in history. In his eleven-year pontificate he contributed to reforms in papal elections, seminary life, Eucharistic practice, liturgy, biblical studies, the Divine Office, catechesis, revised the Breviary, reorganized the Roman Curia, and initiated the codification of canon law. He was also known as a pastoral pope for encouraging Catholic social action as well as the development of personal holiness, piety, and a daily lifestyle which reflected deep Christian values. He promoted the reading of the Bible, the Sacred Scripture by all the lay faithful, and reformed the liturgy, promoted clear and simple homilies, and brought back Gregorian chant. He harshly denounced the evil of Modernism as “the summation of all heresies.”
As Pope, St. Pius X lowered the age of First Holy Communion to the age of reason. He issued decrees making the age of First Holy Communion earlier (at the age of 7) and advocated frequent and even daily reception of the Eucharist. He was particularly devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Confidence. Above all, St. Pius X’s holiness shone forth conspicuously. From him we learn again that “the folly of the Cross”, simplicity of life, and humility of heart are still the highest wisdom and the indispensable conditions of a perfect Christian life, for they are the very source of all apostolic fruitfulness. The Saint’s last will and testament bears the striking sentence: “I was born poor, I have lived in poverty, and I wish to die poor.” St. Pius X saw the light of heaven on August 20, 1914, died of natural causes reportedly aggravated by worries over the beginning of World War I. Pope Pius X was canonized by his successor Pope Pius XII on May 29, 1954. He’s the Patron Saint of Archdiocese of Atlanta, Georgia; diocese of Des Moines, Iowa: first communicants; diocese of Great Falls-Billings, Montana; pilgrims; diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri. His feast day is August 21st.
PRAYER: God, to preserve the Catholic faith and renew all things in Christ, You filled Pope St. Pius with heavenly wisdom and apostolic fortitude. Grant that we may follow his direction and example and be rewarded with eternal life with You. Amen🙏