Papa Stronsay Calendar 2020

The Papa Stronsay Calendar for 2020 can now be purchased from our website HERE.

As always, our Calendar is jam-packed full of all kinds of Liturgical, religious and secular information, that will leave you wondering how you ever managed without it!

It features a photo from the life of our Congregation for each month.

 

Each month our calendar gives you the Liturgical feast and colour, the four major phases of the moon, the liturgical zodiac, the traditional days of abstinence, the major astronomical occurrences, national public holidays for eight English-speaking countries, as well as many other interesting treats that help you live your day-to-day life as a Catholic, and participate in the life of our Religious Congregation.

 

The video below shows our 2016 calendar and gives a good idea of what you can expect from this years calendar

Click below to order your 2020 Papa Stronsay Calendar!

News from Mt St Joseph's Kakahu in the New Zealand Wilderness

- Mount Saint Joseph's Kakahu -

Kakahu is the district in Canterbury, New Zealand,

Kakahu is Maori for a cloak.

The 300 acres of wilderness is named after the cloak of St Joseph.

We are here to stay and our nest move

is to build a monastery of huts

in honour of the Infant Jesus hidden in the cloak of Saint Joseph

and we will call the place

The Monastery of the Hidden Jesus

if God so Wills, so will it be.

St Joseph in his cloak presenting the Hidden Jesus.

We implore St Joseph to be

the patron and Foster-father of this place.

St Teresa said we'd only need a bell to begin a monastery.

It marks the hours of prayer, work and silence.

Our first construction:

The Oratory of St Joseph in the Wilderness.

It was blessed by the Bishop of Aberdeen. 

During the retreat we held last summer we set up our cells in the field. 

Prayer.

Silence.

Winter 2019.

Time for action.

In the solitude of Rosary Gully

we decided to build a prototype cell.

The first foundation hole.

St Teresa said that everything was in beginning.

So we began in earnest.

The ground was stony, the digging was slow, but....

We all got into it, 

and God is good who give work to men

Gloria Patri et Filio + et Spiritui Sancto...

(to be continued)

St Alphonsus High and Dry

On the eve of the feast of our Holy Father St Alphonsus the time and tide are just right to easily remove the Monastery barge, St Alphonsus, from the water in order to undergo some maintenance.

The trailer having been rolled down the slipway and under the St Alphonsus, both are slowly pulled back up the slipway.

 

 Whilest each tractor individually has the pulling power to do the job, they do not have the traction to pull the St Alphonsus's 20-plus tonnes, so the wheels spin.

 

 With both pulling in tandem, however, the objective is easily accomplished.

 Br Romuald checks with Fr Magdala if this is far enough.

Using a powerful jack, the vessel is lifted off the trailer.

Each pull of the lever lifts the St Alphonsus's bulk only a few millimetres, but by this an enormous weight is lifted with little effort.

With the weight lifted off the wheels by the jack, Fr Magdala and Br Edmund bring more blocks to place underneath.  The St Alphonsus is not sitting quite correctly on the trailer.  With the weight lifted, the trailer can be repositioned.

The trailer having been repositioned, Brother moves the slightly precarious support-blocks at the back of the boat further forward so that they are lifting both the boat and the trailer off the ground.

 

 The aim is to ensure that the massive weight of the boat is not resting on the wheels for longer than it needs to, in order to prevent damage to them.

Done.  The St Alphonsus and its trailer are held securely, just slightly above the ground.

We wish a very happy feast of St Alphonsus

to one and all!

June - Winter In the Silence of the Snow at Mt St Joseph's

Views around the hermitage at Mt St Joseph's Kakahu.

 South.

 East.

After the snow.

Gleaning the fallen branches.

 The chant of the chainsaw!

Alas, its sound is not sufficiently appreciated.

When it stops, 

the silence of the gorge is refreshed and vibrant! 

 And the clicking sounds from the pruning blades

and pine gives a hint of incense.

A peaceful morning.

Notice of the passing of Josephine Sim, R.I.P.

Josephine Frances Rae Sim, R.I.P.

1932 - 2019

(Photo taken of her in 2009 - click to make larger)

Of your charity please pray for the soul of

Josephine Frances Rae Sim, R.I.P. 

who peacefully passed from this world into eternity

on Sunday 19th May, 2019

in her 67th year of married life.

She was fortified by the sacrament of Extreme Unction,

assisted by the Prayers for the Dying

and clothed in the holy scapular of Our Lady of Mt Carmel.

+

She is survived by her husband. Ivan Rae,

Her three sons: Fr. Michael Mary, Ivan Anthony Rae, Alexander Turfus

Her three daughters: Susanne Maree, Deborah Helen and Angela Mary

and her many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She was herself the 10th of 11 children

born to William and Catherine Wilson

of Wingatui, Otago, N.Z.

She is survived by her older sister Nuala.

+

The Funeral Mass of Requiem

will be offered in 

St John the Baptist Catholic Church

7 Killarney Street 

Alexandra, 9320

on

Saturday, 25 May at 1.00 p.m.

+

Prayer from the Absolution:

Deliver O Lord, we beseech Thee,

the soul of Thy handmaid Josephine Frances Rae

from every bond of her sins

that in the glory of the resurrection

she may live anew,

being raised up in the fellowship of Thy Saints and elect.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

+

Eternal Rest grant unto her O Lord

and let perpetual light shine upon her.

May she rest in peace.

Amen.

May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed

through the mercy of God,

 rest in peace.
Amen.

+

Absolve quaesumus, Domine,

animam famulae tuae Josephine Frances Rae

ab omni vinculo delictorum:

ut in resurrectionis gloria,

inter sanctos et electos tuos resuscitata respiret.

Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine.

Et lux perpetua luceat ei.

Requiescat in pace.

Amen.

Anima ejus, et animae omnium fidelium defunctorum

per misericordiam Dei requiescant in pace.

Amen.

+

Transalpine Redemptorist Deacons

On 30th March our two Subdeacons, Br Martin Mary and Br Peter Mary we ordained to the Diaconate in a beautiful ceremony at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary where they have both been studying.  They were ordained along with seven other seminarians of the Fraternity of Saint Peter.

 The Ordinandi wait pensively for the procession into the church to begin.

 Fr Magdala Maria, F.SS.R. was present representing the Transalpine Redemptorists.  He was Deacon for the ceremony.

His excellency Bishop Joseph Perry conferred the Diaconate.  Fr Magdala Maria takes his place to the bishop's left.

 Having been called forward, the nine Subdeacons kneel and are addressed by the bishop.

They then prostrate themselves before the altar while the Litany of the Saints is chanted.

 Having risen, the bishop prays for them, and blesses them.

Accipe Spiritum sanctum...

Receive the Holy Ghost...

 The Matter of the Sacrament: Bishop Perry lays his right hand upon the head of each candidate...

Accipe Spiritum sanctum...

Receive the Holy Ghost...

Emitte in eos, quaesumus Domine, Spiritum sanctum...

Send forth the Holy Ghost upon them we beseech Thee O Lord...

...and he pronounces the Form of the Sacrament over all while extending his hand.  At this moment the Church was given nine new Deacons, and the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer got two of them!

 

Accipe stolam candidam de manu Dei...

Receive the shining stole from the hand of God... 

The newly ordained Deacon is presented his stole to kiss...

 ...and is then clothed in it by the bishop.

Induat te Dominus indumento salutis...

May the Lord cloth thee with the garment of salvation...

He receives the Dalmatic.

 Accipe stolam candidam de manu Dei...

Receive the shining stole from the hand of God...

 Induat te Dominus indumento salutis...

May the Lord cloth thee with the garment of salvation...

 

Accipe potestatem legendi Evangelium in Ecclesia Dei...

Receive the power of reading the Gospel in the Church of God...

Each Deacon in turn places his hand upon the Evangelarium, the book containing the Gospels of each Mass, from which it is now his duty to chant the Gospel and a solemn Mass.

 Br Peter Mary and Br Martin Mary offer their candles to Bishop Perry.

 Br Peter Mary receives the Pax from Bishop Perry during Mass.

 The ordination complete, our two new Deacons process out of the seminary chapel.

 Continuing the seminary custom, the newly ordained kneel before the image of Our Lady and chant the Salve Regina invoking her protection over their ministry.

Br Martin Mary and Br Peter Mary with Fr Magdala Maria following the ordination.

Thanks be to God for this, His gift for our Congregation.  May He protect our new Deacons, and our entire Congregation from all harm, and make our work fruitful for the salvation of souls. Amen.