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Angela77
Guest
How do Catholics celebrate the feast day of a saint?
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OraLabora
Guest
Well if you pray the Liturgy of the Hours the question sort of answers itself, you pray the office appropriate for the saint’s feast depending on degree (optional memorial, memorial, feast or solemnity).
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Mrs_Sally
Guest
Depends on the Saint. No one is obliged to recognize all Saint’s days, but people often celebrate their patron Saint, Saint they were named after, or other favorites.
Besides saying the prayers appropriate for that Saint in morning/evening prayers, you could say a novena to that Saint. We usually say a novena leading up to the feast of our patron Saints.
Just like people eat special meals or otherwise recognize Saints like St Patrick and St Valentine, you could have a special meal for your Saint’s day. So for the feast of St Elizabeth of Hungry (a favorite of ours) you might serve goulash.
Besides saying the prayers appropriate for that Saint in morning/evening prayers, you could say a novena to that Saint. We usually say a novena leading up to the feast of our patron Saints.
Just like people eat special meals or otherwise recognize Saints like St Patrick and St Valentine, you could have a special meal for your Saint’s day. So for the feast of St Elizabeth of Hungry (a favorite of ours) you might serve goulash.
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Wesley7
Guest
Parish gatherings then Mass/Liturgy. Coffee hour?
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iohanne
Guest
Depends on the saint, depends on the culture, depends on how traditional the parish can be.
Obviously the heavens are populated with hundreds if not thousands of saints already so it would be impractical to observe them all but there are big saints that are eternally commemorated - not everyone knows St. Ceolfraed but most people know St. John the Baptist or St. Mary Magdalene.
Depending on the culture, it’s customary to have a little festival or engage in recreational activities that remind us of the saint. On the feast of St. John the Baptist’s beheading, I like to go swimming since it’s usually warm enough outside. In the Philippines, the feast of San Juan Bautista is celebrated with city-wide water-festivals in all the major cities! It is literally impossible to leave your house that day without getting soaking wet. In other European cultures, since Jesus called St. John the Baptist a bright and burning light, bonfires on the night were often built, blessed and then old sacramentals were piously disposed of by throwing them into that fire. Other cultures may eat chocolate insects in order to commemorate St. John who lived off of locusts and honey.
In addition, there’s the devotional aspect to it. There are many prayers to the saints: prayers that they composed themselves, novenas that can be said to them leading up to their feast day. If you have an icon or a statue of them at home and a home censer, you can offer up incense, light a candle and pray to them.
There are also many traditional things that parishes can do together as a whole but which are often forgotten, particularly in the Post-VII era. St. Blaise for example was normally associated with a blessing of throats using two blessed candles. Some Marian feasts were celebrated by bringing flowers, seeds and fruits to the parish to have them blessed - since she is the Rod of Jesse from which the Flower of salvation sprung. Then there are also random cool things like looking out for the yearly phenomenon of St. Lawrence’s Tears around the feast day of St. Lawrence. I’ve never seen it but I’ve known people who have seen falling stars around his feast day - his “tears”, since he suffered a particularly gruesome martyrdom. These are only just a few examples!
The sanctification of time is something liturgical Christians do best and 2,000 years of Catholic history has given us a rich patrimony and heritage to remember the heroes of our Chuch. Let’s not forget!
EDIT I suppose that having public festivals or even just a large enough parish gathering to be able to celebrate many of these customs would depend on whether we were living in a predominantly Catholic country or not. I suppose in countries where evangelisation and missionary work is more necessary (the USA), it would be more beneficial for Catholics to gather around monasteries to experience this deepening of faith and en-rooting of Catholic culture but this itself may impede the actual evangelisation and missionary work. In countries where more profound catechesis is the emphasis (countries that are already traditionally Catholic), I think these customs would be most beneficial.
Obviously the heavens are populated with hundreds if not thousands of saints already so it would be impractical to observe them all but there are big saints that are eternally commemorated - not everyone knows St. Ceolfraed but most people know St. John the Baptist or St. Mary Magdalene.
Depending on the culture, it’s customary to have a little festival or engage in recreational activities that remind us of the saint. On the feast of St. John the Baptist’s beheading, I like to go swimming since it’s usually warm enough outside. In the Philippines, the feast of San Juan Bautista is celebrated with city-wide water-festivals in all the major cities! It is literally impossible to leave your house that day without getting soaking wet. In other European cultures, since Jesus called St. John the Baptist a bright and burning light, bonfires on the night were often built, blessed and then old sacramentals were piously disposed of by throwing them into that fire. Other cultures may eat chocolate insects in order to commemorate St. John who lived off of locusts and honey.
In addition, there’s the devotional aspect to it. There are many prayers to the saints: prayers that they composed themselves, novenas that can be said to them leading up to their feast day. If you have an icon or a statue of them at home and a home censer, you can offer up incense, light a candle and pray to them.
There are also many traditional things that parishes can do together as a whole but which are often forgotten, particularly in the Post-VII era. St. Blaise for example was normally associated with a blessing of throats using two blessed candles. Some Marian feasts were celebrated by bringing flowers, seeds and fruits to the parish to have them blessed - since she is the Rod of Jesse from which the Flower of salvation sprung. Then there are also random cool things like looking out for the yearly phenomenon of St. Lawrence’s Tears around the feast day of St. Lawrence. I’ve never seen it but I’ve known people who have seen falling stars around his feast day - his “tears”, since he suffered a particularly gruesome martyrdom. These are only just a few examples!
The sanctification of time is something liturgical Christians do best and 2,000 years of Catholic history has given us a rich patrimony and heritage to remember the heroes of our Chuch. Let’s not forget!
EDIT I suppose that having public festivals or even just a large enough parish gathering to be able to celebrate many of these customs would depend on whether we were living in a predominantly Catholic country or not. I suppose in countries where evangelisation and missionary work is more necessary (the USA), it would be more beneficial for Catholics to gather around monasteries to experience this deepening of faith and en-rooting of Catholic culture but this itself may impede the actual evangelisation and missionary work. In countries where more profound catechesis is the emphasis (countries that are already traditionally Catholic), I think these customs would be most beneficial.
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Monica4316
Guest
At my FSSP parish, they actually did the blessing of throats on the feast day of St Blaise that was cool.
that was cool.
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UnamSanctam1302
Guest
I read the article on that saint in the pre-Vatican II Catholic Encyclopedia.
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ConstantineTG
Guest
With a fiesta!!!
Well, that is how we do it in the Philippines. A festive procession of the statue of the patron saint around town, then a Mass, then eating like there’s no tomorrow
Well, that is how we do it in the Philippines. A festive procession of the statue of the patron saint around town, then a Mass, then eating like there’s no tomorrow
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choliks
Guest
I miss going to a fiesta. I particularly love the feast of St. John the Baptist in June. Wet and fun.With a fiesta!!!
Well, that is how we do it in the Philippines. A festive procession of the statue of the patron saint around town, then a Mass, then eating like there’s no tomorrow
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Oneofthewomen
Guest
I am a chef, and I, quite often, cook for a priest friend of mine when he entertains other priests.
I bought this book for my cookbook collection, and because I thought it would be fun to use when helping him plan menus.
It is a beautiful book, lots of great information on some pretty obscure Saints and I have tried some of the recipes, they were yummy!
The St. Iago (James) Pork Chops are awesome!!
I bought this book for my cookbook collection, and because I thought it would be fun to use when helping him plan menus.
It is a beautiful book, lots of great information on some pretty obscure Saints and I have tried some of the recipes, they were yummy!
The St. Iago (James) Pork Chops are awesome!!
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Richard320
Guest
There’s plenty of ideas in this book:The Bad Catholics Giude to Good Living
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
If I remember right, the feast for the Mexican Martyrs, or maybe Padre Pro, called for a trip to Taco Bell.
Followed up by throwing the trash on the steps of the local masonic lodge!
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
If I remember right, the feast for the Mexican Martyrs, or maybe Padre Pro, called for a trip to Taco Bell.
Followed up by throwing the trash on the steps of the local masonic lodge!
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PaxetBonum777
Guest
Well, I have a good friend at my parish who has the same confirmation saint as I do (St. Francis of Assisi), so we decided that we should celebrate his feast day together. What we ended up doing on his day (October 4th) was a day-long celebration with anyone who wanted to join. We started the day off at 11:00 with a hike (we live in Colorado). Upon reaching the top of the mountain, we read Canticle of the Sun. It was pretty awesome, especially the part about Brother Wind At 5:15 we went to mass. At 7:00 we met (with a good number of other students) in the church’s TV room to eat and watch a movie about St. Francis’ life. Unfortunately, due to my poor planning, I was unable to acquire a movie, so our priest lent us his copy of a movie about St. Francis Xavier (close enough, right?) which we watched instead. Thank you, Oneofthewomen, for posting the link to Cooking with the Saints. I made some Paletta di Mandorla using the book’s recipe and it actually turned out pretty good. I want to start a tradition at my parish of celebrating saint’s days. We already celebrate Bl. (soon to be St.) John XXIII, our patron, but I’d like to branch out into others. I’m thinking the next celebration could be St. Francis Xavier (perhaps with Indian food) on December 3rd or the Immaculate Conception on December 8th. Saints’ days are definitely a beautiful Catholic tradition that should be kept alive.
At 5:15 we went to mass. At 7:00 we met (with a good number of other students) in the church’s TV room to eat and watch a movie about St. Francis’ life. Unfortunately, due to my poor planning, I was unable to acquire a movie, so our priest lent us his copy of a movie about St. Francis Xavier (close enough, right?) which we watched instead. Thank you, Oneofthewomen, for posting the link to Cooking with the Saints. I made some Paletta di Mandorla using the book’s recipe and it actually turned out pretty good. I want to start a tradition at my parish of celebrating saint’s days. We already celebrate Bl. (soon to be St.) John XXIII, our patron, but I’d like to branch out into others. I’m thinking the next celebration could be St. Francis Xavier (perhaps with Indian food) on December 3rd or the Immaculate Conception on December 8th. Saints’ days are definitely a beautiful Catholic tradition that should be kept alive.- Status