Altar servers are generally recognized by the parish for assisting the priest, carrying the candles, carrying the cross, receiving the gifts, and setting the altar at Mass. Altar servers are also prayer leaders and role models for all the children in the parish.  Their service is commendable and a big contribution to our beautiful liturgies and church celebrations.   All boys and girls beginning in the 4th grade are encouraged to participate. Training sessions are held monthly with Brothers Orlando and Jorge.  Call the rectory at 718-892-3232 or contact one of the brothers if you are interested in this exciting ministry. 

FIRST ALTAR SERVERS MEETING 

This meeting is for all current altar servers as well as for those interested in becoming altar servers.  It will take place on Sunday, September 16 at 2:30PM in the Rectory Meeting Room.

TO AN ALTAR BOY

To be Christ's page at the altar, 
To serve Him freely there. 
Where even the Angels falter, 
Bowed low in reverent prayer.

To touch the throne most holy, 
To hand the gifts for the feast, 
To see Him meekly, lowly, 
Descend at the word of the priest.

To hear man's poor petition, 
To sound the silver bell, 
When He in sweet submission, 
Comes down with us to dwell.

No grander mission surely 
Could Saints or men enjoy; 
No heart should love more purely, 
Than yours my altar boy.

God bless you, lad, forever, 
And keep you in His care, 
And Guard you that you never 
Belie the robes you wear.

For white bespeaks untainted 
A heart both tried and true; 
And red tolls love the sainted 
The holy martyrs knew.

Throughout life, then, endeavor 
God's graces to employ; 
And be in heart forever 
A holy altar boy.

------ by St. John Berchmans

Nine boys and girls were commissioned as altar servers during the 10:30AMMass on December 23. They each received unique new albs, that were handmade by a St. Helena parishioner, as well as a surplice and a cross.


NEW ALTAR SERVER TRAINING on THURSDAY, JULY 11 at 1:30PM in the Church.  The topic will be serving the regular Mass and the Funeral Mass.




Practicing the Solemn Mass with Deacon Ricardo Rivera. 


   

                                  ST. JOHN BERCHMANS - Patron Saint of Altar Servers

FEAST DAY: NOVEMBER 26

St. John Berchmans was born the eldest son of a shoemaker in 1599 at Diest, Belgium. At a very young age, he wanted to be a priest, and when thirteen he became a servant in the household of one of the cathedral canons at Malines. After his mother's death, his father and two brothers followed suit and entered religious life. In 1615 he entered the Jesuit college there, becoming a novice a year later. In 1618 he was sent to Rome for more study and was known for his diligence and piety, and his stress on perfection even in small things. That year his father was ordained and died six months later. John was so poor and humble that he walked from Antwerp to Rome. He died at the age of 22 on August 13, 1621. Many miracles were attributed to him after his death; he was canonized in 1888 and is the patron saint of altar boys.

      Although he longed to work in the mission fields of China, he did not live long enough to permit it. After completing his coursework, he was asked to defend the "entire field of philosophy" in a public disputation in July, just after his exit examinations. The following month he was asked to represent the Roman College in a debate with the Greek College. Although he distinguished himself in this disputation, he had studied so assiduously that he caught a cold in mid-summer, became very ill with an undetermined illness accompanied by a fever, although some think it now to have been dysentery, and died a week later. He was buried in the church of Saint Ignatius at Rome, but his heart was later translated to the Jesuit church at Louvain.

      So many miracles were attributed to him after his death at the age of 22, that his cultus soon spread to his native Belgium, where 24,000 copies of his portrait were published within a few years of his death. He was known for his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady, to whom he composed a Chaplet in honor of her Immaculate Conception. 


St. Helena altar servers marching in parade, May 30, 1943.

Br. Orlando receiving the Ministry of Acolyte.


Altar Server's Meeting October 2018.



The Visit of Our Lady of the Clouds to the Spanish Mass

Solemn Vows of Br. Ricardo


January 2018 Meeting


December 2017 Meeting


November 2017 Meeting


First Altar Server Meeting - September 2017