Our Lady of Lourdes

Today is the Memorial Feast for Our Lady of Lourdes. “It is pleasing to God that we honor Mary. Her many different titles have developed from her personal life, her places of honor in the life of the Church, her role in the plan of our salvation and her intercession to God on our behalf. Devotion to her has not just come about because of the writings of the saints and the Church fathers but also due to the belief in Marian apparitions and the reports of miracles and healings. Because of her special role in union with God, when we honor Mary, when we pray the rosary and the stations and the many other prayers associated with her, we honor God.”
The Illustrated Book of Mary includes a page with a prayer and a page and a half of the history of Marian Apparitions and devotions from Our Lady of Grace to Our Lady of Altagracia to Our Lady of Lourdes. There are 30 different Marian stories along with popular Marian prayers including the Rosary, the Litany, the 54 day novena, first Saturday devotion and a list of the feast days of Mary. The Illustrations included in this book are from the Bonella line of Italian art.

Illustrated Book of Mary

Our Lady of the Rosary

I was asked yesterday about the rosary and I'd just like to share that we carry this neat little biography holy cards that are filled with information on the Saints and the different titles of Mary and Jesus.

The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was first established by Pope Pius V in 1573 in thanksgiving to God for the Christian armada’s defeat of the Turkish fleet at Lepanto.  Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the entire Church in 1716 after the Christian defeat of the Turks in Hungary. 

            The rosary is said to have developed through the early Christian practice of reciting the 150 Psalms prayed by the Church.  Those unable to read replaced the Psalms with 150 Our Fathers, using what was referred to as paternoster beads for counting, and eventually with 150 Hail Marys, also called Our Lady’s Psalter.  

            In 1208, Domingo de Guzman, a Spanish preacher, went to France to defend the faith against the Albigensian heresy.  As Dominic prayed in the chapel in Prouille, Our Lady appeared to him and taught him the complete rosary, attaching 15 promises for those who prayed the rosary faithfully.  These promises include special protection and graces, a decrease in sin, an abundance of mercy for souls and reception of the sacraments before dying.  St. Dominic founded the Dominican Friars, opened monasteries and spread devotion to the rosary all over the world.   

            In 1917, Our Lady appeared in Fatima, Portugal to three children, Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia as they were tending sheep.  During the sixth apparition on October 13, Our Lady told the children that she wanted a chapel built there in her honor and she wanted people to pray the rosary daily.  She told the children, “I am the Lady of the Rosary”. 

Feast of St. Agatha

Included in the Illustrated Lives of the Saints :

St. Agatha was born in Sicily, the beautiful daughter of wealthy parents.  At an early age, she consecrated herself to God. 
Agatha lived during the time when Christians were persecuted for their faith.  Because of her beauty and her wealth, she was pursued by the governor of Sicily, Quintianus.  She rejected his proposals and he had her arrested, charged as a Christian and sent to live in a house of prostitution where he hoped she would be forced to change her life.  She prayed and wept and remained faithful to God despite the humiliation she suffered and the assaults she endured.  Agatha miraculously maintained her virginity and after a month, Quintianus had her thrown in prison where she continued to profess her Christian faith.  To torture her, he had her stretched and burned with torches and finally had her breasts cut off.  Thrown back in prison to die, Agatha was comforted by a vision of St. Peter who healed all of her wounds.  After four days, she was taken back to Quintianus who was not the least bit impressed by her miraculous cures.  He ordered her to be rolled over hot coals and glass and returned to prison.  With this final prayer, “Lord, my Creator, You have always protected me from the cradle; You have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer.  Receive my soul”, Agatha died.

Feast Day:  February 5
Name Meaning:  good, virtuous
Patron Saint:  bell ringers, breast cancer, bakers, against fire, nurses, wet nurses, martyrs

In the Beginning

A call from our Bishop to my mother with the offer for her to run the local Catholic bookstore because the priest in charge at the time was ready to retire happened in 1979. She'd have to think and pray about it. For one year, my mother worked with Msgr. Williams, Frances Connelly and Kathryn Redmond and then decided to buy the store from the Diocese, knowing that it would be better for her to make mistakes (if any) with her own money rather than that of the Diocese.
I was in college at Vanderbilt when my mother, filled with energy and the Spirit, bought the store and then after a couple of years moved from the small area downtown to a four-story building a block from the Cathedral of the Incarnation. My father, in the construction business, sent a work crew to renovate the massive building and my mother worked tirelessly with vision and mission.
The store has endured floods and fire and rough economic times. It's structure has changed but it's feel and it's purpose remain the same. We are here to serve Jesus Christ and all who He sends to us as we work with one another to spread His word. It is our goal to have something for everyone. It is our goal to serve the needs of the community. It is our goal to make a difference, to spread the Good News.
We are a family business; my mother the owner, my sister, myself and my husband the managers and many children, grandchildren and cousins who have or do work along with us. Our co-workers include friends and extended family as well and we count ourselves very fortunate to have people around us who understand the mission and the nature of the business.
As we extend our business through our website and this blog and our facebook page, we invite your comments and your encouragement and your prayers. God Bless us all as we move forward with the challenges of our times.