Nobember 2024
Brother Knights, Ladies Auxiliary and IHM Congregation:
November has much for us to celebrate. As I wasn’t sure when the newsletter would reach you, I already talked about All Saints Day and All Souls Day in my October letter.
If I were to ask you “What’s the Pope’s Church”, you’d likely say Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. However, Saint John Lateran is the official Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome and serves as the seat of the Bishop of Rome (aka the Pope). It was built in the time of Constantine and consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324. The dedication feast day is November 9th.
On November 18th we celebrate the dedication to Saints Peter and Paul. This celebrates Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City and the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
The Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on November 21st. This commemorates the presentation of the child Mary by her parents at the Temple in Jerusalem.
Of course, November is most known for Thanksgiving day – this year as late as it can be on the 28th. Growing up, most of us likely heard that the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621 when the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts, had a feast with the Wampanoag Native Americans.
However, in 1619, British settlers proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving when they reached the site known as Berkeley Hundred on the banks of Virginia’s James River. A number of years before that, in 1565, Spanish explorers and the local Timucua people of St Augustine, Florida, celebrated a mass of Thanksgiving. There was also a rich tradition from Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Native American cultures of giving thanks at harvest time festivals.
The roots of what we think of as Thanksgiving go back to 1789 when President George Washington designated November 26th of that year “as a day of public Thanksgiving and prayers to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God.” President John Adams issued a “Day of Public Thanksgiving for Peace”. President Thomas Jefferson scuttled public observances – citing separation of church and state.
During the Civil War in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made it federally formalized as an annual tradition when proclaiming a national “day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens” to be held on the last Thursday in November. In 1942, Thanksgiving moved to its current date on the fourth Thursday of November.
Prayers for safe travels on Thanksgiving and that it be a good time with family & friends
Vivat Jesus
Douglas Blondin
Grand Knight Council 7502
Northglenn, CO
