St. Mary's Church

Having celebrated the special Solemnities of the Most Holy Trinity and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ these past two weekends, this Sunday we return to the Ordinary Time Sundays for the remainder of our Church’s Liturgical Year, which ends on November 20th with the celebration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. “Ordinary Time” gets its name both from the fact that there are no special or particular liturgical celebrations or seasons for the remainder of the year, and because we count these weeks with “ordinal” numbers. Our liturgical color for our vestments is green – a color that dominates our landscape through summer into fall. Click the title for more.

This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (also known by its Latin name: Corpus Christi). This feast was introduced into the Church in the Thirteenth Century during a time when the legitimacy of the doctrine of the Real Presence (that Jesus is truly present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist) was being questioned. A priest traveling from Prague on a pilgrimage to had stopped in the town of Bolsena, Italy to celebrate Mass. As he was elevating the host during the consecration, the host suddenly appeared in a visible way as true flesh, sprinkled with red blood. This Eucharistic miracle inspired Pope Urban IV, who investigated and approved its legitimacy, to institute the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264, commissioning Thomas Aquinas to compose prayers and music to celebrate the feast. The hymns, Tantum Ergo and O Salutaris that we use even today for Eucharistic Adoration, are among the fruits of Aquinas’ work in response to the Pope’s request. Click the title to read more.

Like married couples, it is customary for Priests to celebrate their 25th and 50th Anniversaries of Ordination, or in the case of Religious Sisters, Brothers and Priests, those Jubilee Anniversaries of their Solemn Profession. This weekend Fr. William Metzler celebrates his Golden Jubilee of Priesthood. His preparation for ministry included studies at public grammar and high schools, undergraduate studies at Boston College and two masters’ degrees from Niagara University. On May 27, 1922, Fr. Metzler was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of St. Joseph by then Archbishop John Francis Whalen. Click the title to read more.