Scripture of the Day
Saint of the Day
Feast date: May 16
On May 16, the Catholic Church remembers Saint Simon Stock, a twelfth- and thirteenth-century Carmelite monk whose vision of the Virgin Mary is the source of the Brown Scapular devotion.Simon was born during 1165 in the English county of Kent. He is said to have been strongly devoted to God from his youth, to the point that he left home at age 12 to live in the forest as a hermit. Following the customs of the earliest monks, he lived on fruit and water and spent his time in prayer and meditation.
After two decades of solitary life in the wilderness, he returned to society to acquire an education in theology and become a priest. Afterwards, he returned to his hermitage until the year 1212, when his calling to join the Carmelite Order – which had only recently entered England – was revealed to him.
During the early 13th century, a group of monks in the Holy Land sought formal recognition as a religious order. Their origins were mysterious, and by some accounts extended back to the time before Christ, originating in the ministry of the Biblical Prophet Elijah.
The Carmelites’ ascetic, contemplative lifestyle was combined with ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is she who is said to have appeared to Simon Stock, telling him to leave his hermitage and join the order that would soon be arriving with the return of two English Crusaders.
Impressed by the Carmelites’ rigorous monasticism, Simon joined in 1212 and was sent to complete a course of studies at Oxford. Not long after his return to the order, he was appointed its vicar general in 1215. He defended the Carmelites in a dispute over their legitimacy, later resolved by the Popes.
In 1237, Simon took part in a general chapter of… Read More
Today's Devotions
In the Chapel
8:10 am (before the 8:30 mass)
(unless there is a school Mass)
Bulletin
Download Our Church Bulletins!
You are invited to download our church bulletins from this page. Please note that in order to view a church bulletin, you will need to first download the Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download the reader for free by clicking on the 'Get Acrobat Reader' button on the right.
eChurch Bulletins
Get your Church bulletin automatically delivered to your inbox each week! You are not limited to your home Parish. So, find out what is going on in neighboring Parishes. Are you traveling, have vacation homes? Then sign-up for e-bulletins through the Discover Mass "eChurch Bulletin" service.
Sign up to get the bulletin in your email box. Click on the bulletin tab and use the sign up button in the middle of the page.