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A blessed feast of the Translation of St. Swithun, 862. According to Wikipedia, "Swithun was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Wi******er and subsequently patron saint of Wi******er Cathedral. His historical importance as bishop is overshadowed by his reputation for posthumous miracle-working. According to tradition, if it rains on Saint Swithun's bridge on his feast day it will continue for forty days."

A blessed Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. 8am Low Mass, 9:30am Sung Mass.

A blessed feast of Silas, Companion of Paul, Martyr, 1st Century. 5:30pm Vigil Mass. According to James Kiefer, "Silas is chiefly remembered as the companion of the Apostle Paul who was arrested with him at Philippi (Acts 16:19-40). They were beaten severely and confined in the inner prison, with their feet in stocks. There they sang hymns in the night, and an earthquake shook the prison, and released them. As a result, the jailer and his household became believers.
The first mention of Silas is earlier. Paul and Barnabas went on a missionary journey (A 13:1-5), taking with them John Mark, who (for unspecified reasons) parted from them and went home in the middle of the journey (A 13:13). Paul and Barnabas completed their mission and returned to Antioch. They had made many Gentile converts on their mission, and the question arose whether a Gentile could become a Christian without also becoming a Jew, being circumcised if male, and undertaking to observe the Law of Moses (A 15:1). The congregation at Antioch referred the question to the Apostles at Jerusalem, and Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to present their case. A council of apostles and elders at Jerusalem judged that, with a few specified exceptions, the Law of Moses was not to be imposed on Gentile Christians, and they sent two men from Jerusalem back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas to convey their reply. The men were Judas Barsabbas (not otherwise mentioned) and Silas.

A blessed ferial Friday.

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The Christ Church Angelus The Christ Church Weekly Newsletter www.ccbtown.com - 609.298.2348 - Fr. Matt (pastoral emergencies) 732.859.5823 St. Benedict of Nursia July 11, 2024 Help for Cancer Patients Lemonade on the Lawn A s

A blessed feast of Benedict of Nursia, 540. 10am Low Mass w. Anointing for Healing. According to James Kiefer, "Benedict was born at Nursia (Norcia) in Umbria, Italy, around 480 AD. He was sent to Rome for his studies, but was repelled by the dissolute life of most of the populace, and withdrew to a solitary life at Subiaco. A group of monks asked him to be their abbot, but some of them found his rule too strict, and he returned alone to Subiaco. Again, other monks called him to be their abbot, and he agreed, founding twelve communities over an interval of some years. His chief founding was Monte Cassino, an abbey which stands to this day as the mother house of the world-wide Benedictine order.Totila the Goth visited Benedict, and was so awed by his presence that he fell on his face before him. Benedict raised him from the ground and rebuked him for his cruelty, telling him that it was time that his iniquities should cease. Totila asked Benedict to remember him in his prayers and departed, to exhibit from that time an astonishing clemency and chivalry in his treatment of conquered peoples.
Benedict drew up a rule of life for monastics, a rule which he calls "a school of the Lord's service, in which we hope to order nothing harsh or rigorous." The Rule gives instructions for how the monastic community is to be organized, and how the monks are to spend their time. An average day includes about four hours to be spent in liturgical prayer (called the Divinum Officium -- the Divine Office), five hours in spiritual reading and study, six hours of labor, one hour for eating, and about eight hours for sleep. The Book of Psalms is to be recited in its entirety every week as a part of the Office."

A blessed ferial Wednesday.

A blessed ferial Tuesday.

A blessed feast of Ss. Aquila and Priscilla, Martyrs, 1st Century. According to James Kiefer, "When Paul came to Corinth (probably in the year 50), he met Priscilla (or Prisca) and her husband Aquila, tentmakers by trade like Paul, Jewish, and just arrived from Rome, from which city the Emperor Claudius had recently expelled the Jewish community. (The Roman historian Suetonius tells us that Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome because they were rioting on account of someone named Chrestus -- presumably referring to disputes between Christian and non-Christian Jews.) It is not clear whether Aquila and Priscilla were already Christians before meeting Paul, or were converted by his preaching. After eighteen months, the three of them went together to Ephesus, where Priscilla and Aquila remained while Paul continued to Antioch. Soon after, a man named Apollos came to Ephesus, who had heard and believed a portion of the Christian message, and was promoting that belief with eloquent preaching, based on a thorough knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. Aquila and Priscilla befriended him and explained the Gospel to him more fully, after which he continued to preach with even greater effectiveness.
Priscilla and Aquila were apparently in Rome when Paul wrote to that congregation, and in Ephesus with Timothy when Paul wrote his last letter to Timothy. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians from Ephesus, he joined their greetings with his own. Clearly they were dear to Paul, and were earnest and effective in spreading the Good News of Christ and His saving work. Altogether, Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned six times in the New Testament (Acts 18:2,18,26; Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19), and the reader will note that in the odd-numbered mentions, Aquila's name comes first, while in the even-numbered mentions, Priscilla's comes first, as if to emphasize that they are being mentioned on equal terms.

A blessed Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. 8am Low Mass, 9:30am Low Mass.

A blessed feast of Sexburga, Abbess of Ely, 700. 5:30pm Vigil Mass. According to Catholic.org., "Sexburga was one of four daughters of the English king Anna honored as saints. During her twenty-four years of marriage to King Erconbert of Kent, Sexburga gave birth to four children, two of whom are likewise venerated as saints (her daughters Ercongota and Ermenilda). As queen, she was revered for her piety and humility. Following her husband's death, Sexburga was able to satisfy her long-standing desire to consecrate her life completely to the service of God, entering a convent she had previously founded at Minster-in-Sheppey. Thereafter, Sexburga sought a yet more hidden life in order to focus her thoughts upon heaven. This prompted her to transfer to the convent founded by her sister Saint Etheldreda at Ely. Despite her hopes for a hidden existence, Sexburga was chosen to succeed her sister as Ely's abbess. It was Sexburga who ordered the opening of Etheldreda's tomb after sixteen years. A doctor waiting outside the tent erected over the tomb for the exhumation overheard Sexburga within the tent suddenly exclaim, "Glory to the name of the Lord!" Her sister's body had been found to be totally incorrupt."

A blessed feast of Vladimir of Kiev, King and Confessor, 1015. According to Catholic.com, "St. Vladimir I, 956-1015, Grandson of St. Olga and illegitimate son of Sviastoslav, grand duke of Kiev, and his mistress, Malushka, he was given Novgorod to rule by his father. Civil war broke out between his half-brothers Yaropolk and Oleg; Yaropolk made himself ruler by defeating and killing Oleg, and when he captured Novgorod, Vladimirwas forced to flee to Scandinavia in 977. Vladimir returned with an army and captured Novgorod and defeated and slew Yaropolk at Rodno in 980; Vladimir was now sole ruler of Russia, notorious for his barbarism and immorality. After his conquest of Kherson in the Crimea in 988, he became impressed by the progress of Christianity and approached Eastern Emperor Basil II about marrying the emperor's daughter Ann. He was converted, reformed his life and married Anne. On his return to Kiev, he invited Greek missionaries to Russia, let his people to Christianity, borrowed canonical features from the West and built schools and churches. His later years were troubled by rebellions led by the sons of his first marriages, although two sons by Anne, SS Romanus and David became martyrs. In 1014 he was obliged to march against his rebellious son Yaroslav in Novgorod, fell ill on the way and died at Beresyx, Russia. He is patron of the Russian Catholics."

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The Christ Church Angelus The Christ Church Weekly Newsletter www.ccbtown.com - 609.298.2348 - Fr. Matt (pastoral emergencies) 732.859.5823 Independence Day July 4, 2024 Independence Day A blessed Independence Day! Independenc

A blessed Independence Day. 10am Low Mass w. Anointing for Healing, 4pm Nuptial Mass. From Satucket: On 2 July 1776, the Continental Congress, comprising delegates sent by the legislatures of the thirteen colonies, voted to declare complete independence from British rule, and on 4 July the formal wording of the declaration (principally the work of Thomas Jefferson) was approved and the document signed. The decision to seek independence rather than simply a restoration of the colonists' traditional rights as British subjects did not come readily or suddenly. Armies had been in the field for more than a year before the Declaration, and for another two years afterward, the officers of the Continental Army drank his Majesty's health at every mess. But the Declaration was rightly acknowledged as crucial. It speaks in terms of the Natural Law and God-given principles of justice and right, in language that, as one (British) writer has said, combines great prose, great politics, and great theology.

A blessed feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

A blessed Sixth Sunday after Pentecost. 8am Low Mass, 9:30am Low Mass.

A blessed feast of Ss. Peter & Paul, Apostles. 5:30pm Vigil Mass.

A blessed feast of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, Martyr, 202. According to James Kiefer, "Irenaeus was probably born around 125. As a young man in Smyrna (near Ephesus, in what is now western Turkey) he heard the preaching of Polycarp, who as a young man had heard the preaching of the Apostle John. Afterward, probably while still a young man, Polycarp moved west to Lyons in southern France. In 177, Pothinus, the bishop of Lyons, sent him on a mission to Rome. During his absence a severe persecution broke out in Lyons, claiming the lives of the bishop and others (see 2 June). When Irenaeus returned to Lyons, he was made bishop. He died around 202. He is thus an important link between the apostolic church and later times, and also an important link between Eastern and Western Christianity.
His principal work is the Refutation of Heresies, a defense of orthodox Christianity against its Gnostic rivals. A shorter work is his Proof of the Apostolic Preaching, a brief summary of Christian teaching, largely concerned with Christ as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy."