Thanksgiving - History Books and the Facts

The history books will tell you that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Protestant pilgrims of Massachusetts in 1621. Not so. There was the Catholic Thanksgiving of 1565 in Florida and another Catholic Thanksgiving of 1589 in Texas.

 1.The first American Thanksgiving was actually celebrated on September 8 (feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin) in 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida. The Native Americans and Spanish settlers held a feast and the Holy Mass was offered. This was 56 years before the Puritan pilgrims of Massachusetts.Don Pedro Menendez came ashore amid the sounding of trumpets, artillery salutes and the firing of cannons to claim the land for King Philip II and Spain. The ship chaplain Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales chanted the Te Deum and presented a crucifix that Menendez ceremoniously kissed. Then the 500 soldiers, 200 sailors and 100 families and artisans, along with the Timucuan Indians celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in gratitude to God.

 2.The second American Thanksgiving happened on April 30, 1598, when Spanish explorer Don Juan de Oñate requested the friars to say a Mass of Thanksgiving, after which he formally proclaimed “La Toma”, claiming the land north of the Rio Grande for the King of Spain. The men feasted on duck, goose, and fish from the river. The actors among them dressed and presented a play. All this took place twenty-three years before the Pilgrims set sail from England on the Mayflower. 

3.The Puritan pilgrims were violently anti-Catholic. They left England because they thought that the Church of England was too Catholic. These Puritans were strict Calvinists. The pilgrims also opposed celebrating Christmas, dancing, musical instruments in church, and even hymns as papistical.

 4.Squanto, the beloved hero of Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock, was Catholic! Squanto had been enslaved by the English but he was freed by Spanish Franciscans. Squanto thus received baptism and became a Catholic. So it was a baptized Catholic Native American who orchestrated what became known as Thanksgiving.

 5.So while Thanksgiving may celebrate the Calvinist Separatists who fled England, Catholics might remember the same unjust laws that granted the crown of martyrdom to Thomas More, John Fisher, Edmund Campion, et al. are the same injustices that led the Pilgrims to Plymouth.

 6.And let everyone remember that “Thanksgiving” in Greek is Eucharistia. Thus, the Body and Blood of Christ is the true “Thanksgiving Meal”.

And don’t forget to raise your wine glass and recite the wonderful limerick of Hilaire Belloc:

“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,
There’s always laughter and good red wine.
At least I’ve always found it so.
Benedicamus Domino!”

― Hilaire Belloc

- Hat tip to Dr. Taylor Marshall for this analysis/text

If you are able, please help a family who recently lost everything in a devastating fire

Padre Pro movie Trailer

This is the Spanish trailer for the Padre Pro movie we watch only once a year!
              This is in the original Spanish.
    This year we have two very special guests visiting us for our Fiesta, Catherine Burhans and Krystina Roberts!!!

Feast of Bl. Miguel Pro

HAPPY FEAST OF:
         Bl. Miguel Agustin Pro S.J.!!!!

    Here are some real pictures of Father Miguel:

 
His real signature.

Born on January 13, 1891 in Guadalupe, Mexico, Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez was the eldest son of Miguel Pro and Josefa Juarez.

Miguelito, as his doting family called him, was, from an early age, intensely spiritual and equally intense in hi mischievousness, frequently exasperating his family with his humor and practical jokes. As a child, he had a daring precociouness that sometimes went too far, tossing him into near-death accidents and illnesses. On regaining consciousness after one of these episodes, young Miguel opened his eyes and blurted out to his frantic parents, "I want some cocol" (a colloquial term for his favorite sweet bread). "Cocol" became his nickname, which he would later adopt as a code name during this clandestine ministry.

Miguel was particularly close to his older sister and after she entered a cloistered convent, he came to recognize his own vocation to the priesthood. Although he was popular with the senoritas and had prospects of a lucrative career managing his father's thriving business concerns, Miguel renounced everything for Christ his King and entered the Jesuit novitiate in El Llano, Michoacan in 1911.

He studied in Mexico until 1914, when a tidal wave of anti-Catholicism crashed down upon Mexico, forcing the novitiate to disband and flee to the United States, where Miguel and his brother seminarians treked through Texas and New Mexico before arriving at the Jesuit house in Los Gatos, California.

In 1915, Miguel was sent to a seminary in Spain, where he remained until 1924, when he went to Belgium for his ordination to the priesthood in 1925. Miguel suffered from a severe stomach problem and after three operations, when his health did not improve, his superiors, in 1926, allowed him to return to Mexico in spite of the grave religious persecution in that country.

The churches were closed and priests went into hiding. Miguel spent the rest of his life in a secret ministry to the sturdy Mexican Catholics. In addition to fulfilling their spiritual needs, he also carried out the works of mercy by assisting the poor in Mexico City with their temporal needs. He adopted many interesting disguises in carrying out his secret mininstry. He would come in the middle of the night dressed as a beggar to baptize infants, bless marriages and celebrate Mass. He would appear in jail dressed as a police officer to bring Holy Viaticum to condemned Catholics. When going to fashionable neighboorhoods to procure for the poor, he would show up at the doorstep dressed as a fashionable businessmam with a fresh flower on his lapel. His many exploits could rival those of the most daring spies. In all that he did, however, Fr. Pro remained obedient to his superiors and was filled with the joy of serving Christ, his King.

Falsely accused in the bombing attempt on a former Mexican president, Miguel became a wanted man. Betrayed to the police, he was sentenced to death without the benefit of any legal process.

On the day of his execution, Fr. Pro forgave his executtioners, prayed, bravely refused the blindfold and died proclaiming, "Viva Cristo Rey", "Long live Christ the King!" 

Father Miguel before he gets shot.

Father Pro in disguise.

In disguise as a chimney sweep.

Happy Feast of Saint Albert the Great and Happy Name day Dad!

Happy Feast of Saint Albert the Great (O.P.) 

 Biography
Albert the Great was one of the Church's greatest intellects. He studied at the University of Padua and later taught at Hildesheim, Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Regensburg, and Strasbourg. He then taught at the University of Paris, where he received his doctorate in 1245. He was among the first and greatest of the natural scientists, gaining a reputation for expertise in biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, geography, metaphysics and mathematics. He was also very learned in biblical studies and theology.
Albertus Magnus
St. Albert's life spans the better part of the thirteenth century (1200?-1280). Widely admired for his wisdom and learning, he was known to his contemporaries as "Albertus Magnus": Albert the Great. Subsequent generations, impressed by the breadth of his learning, called him "Doctor universalis": Teacher of all subjects. He was also the teacher of a rather singular student, St. Thomas Aquinas, his "Dumb Ox" with a bellow for the ages.
St. Albert did study and teach a wide variety of subjects, though not always for angelic pupils. Around 1250, acting in religious obedience, he began the process of commenting the known works of Aristotle. St. Albert's attempt to make the Greek philosopher "intelligible to the Latins" filled twenty years of his life and almost twice as many volumes! As a commentator, St. Albert is no slave to the letter of Aristotle's texts. He uses them as a means of addressing intellectual problems of more immediate relevance to his day. He draws on Arabic, Byzantine and Greek traditions of commentary to do so. St. Albert's commentaries include extensive "digressions" in which he at times drops altogether the conceit of interpreting Aristotle. It helps to understand the latitude St. Albert saw in his role as a commentator to recall that he wrote self-standing treatises to "fill the gaps" in the Aristotelian corpus.
St. Albert is perhaps best remembered for his life-long interest in the order and operation of the natural world. It was in recognition of the discipline and godliness of this interest that Pius XII declared Albert patron saint of "students of the natural sciences" in his Apostolic Letter Ad Deum (16 December 1941). In fostering devotion to St. Albert, the Holy See hoped to improve "the sad state of affairs of our day when the latest advances of science are employed, unhappily, not for God's praise and man's salvation, but to visit the calamities of war even upon civilian centers and cities." The feast day of St. Albert the Great is November 15.

               And.....
            Happy Name Day Dad! You are always and ever will be in our prayers! Thank you for all that you do for us, and may your Patron, Saint Albertus Magnus ever be your intercessor in Heaven!! God Bless you!!!

 

Joshua's Birthday pictures

Here are Joshua's birthday pictures! Enjoy!

Happy JOsh

Josh's birthday cake ( Mia got her fingers in the icing)

Dad carrying the cake

Josh getting ready to BLOW THOSE CANDLES OUT!!!!

Joshua opening his presents

I finally got his attention!

He got caution tape for his '' road construction''!

We do not know what is in this box, Therese said it was a secret.

Joshua's birthday!

                                Happy 10th Birthday Joshua!

      Do not fret. There are more birthday pictures to come!

All Saints Day

           HAPPY FEAST OF ALL SAINTS!

Happy Emilia

Thomas waiting for his turn to be judged.

Sophia giving the judges hints

Mary after being judged

Thomas got help from Chris to give hints as to who he was

Joshua being judged ( Blessed Franz Jaggerstatter) He ended up telling them who he was!!

Walter Goodwin, Saint Isadore the Farmer

Chris

Sophia loved playing with other girls' props

Mom and Emilia

 

 

 

 

                                                 The Judges and some pictures of the judging.

Father Gagnon

Sophia being judged

 

Mr. Jemison

Father Soos

Brother Mark

Father Soos' Birthday

 On October 29 we were able to have Father Soos our Prior over for a birthday party. We decorated the dining room and made his favorite dinner, steak and guiness with cheesecake for desert. Then the little kids put on a little concert for him ending with Happy Birthday. Then everyone had little gifts and cards for him. I think he had a great time! I only got a few pictures, most of the events are on the video camera and I can not post them, but here are a few pictures.

FATHER SOOS

The cheesecake ( Mine and Meghan's first try and it turned out really good!)

Watching the concert

A little glimpse of the dining room

Christopher put together a little happy birthday sign with his legos.

A new Family Member

       INTRODUCING .....
            COOPER SOMERTIN HICKMAN