If you would like to share some of your canned food and non-perishables for our Thanksgiving Food Drive, please either bring them to the rectory or deposit them in the special container at the back of the church. All items will benefit St. Anthony's Soup Kitchen and their Thanksgiving Food Program. If you donate a large quantity of food, you could receive a tac deduction letter. Come to the rectory with those donations. Thank you for your generosity. Donations will be accepted until November 26.

The Horsemen of St. Helena raced to victory Thursday night as the varsity trampled Our Lady of the Assumption 66-44, and the junior varsity edged out OLA 40-37 in the opening game of the Tip-Off Tournament. The varsity started fast from the starting gate and never looked back, leading for the entire game and hitting 24 two pointers and five three pointers.  Eighth graders scored big for the varsity.  Francisco Mattei had a game-high 21 points, followed by Christian Colter with 16 and Omari Ward with 13. Also contributing to the victory were Khalil Black with 6, Jose Valez with a three in the second and Devonne Stewart with a three in the third, and William Manning and Cindy Pratt each had a two. The Horsemen were 3 for 10 from the line, while OLA was 6 for 15. The junior Varsity jumped out of the gate and led 7-4 at the half, but OLA game back and took the lead 13-16 at the half. But the Horsemen came right back and dominated the second half. Peter Lugo led the junior varsity charge. He was the only player to score in all four quarters with a game-high 16 points, followed by Jahli Ward with ten points. Kyle Austin and Joseph Fernandez each contributed six, and Isaiah LaCasse hit a two in the third. The Horsemen were 2 for 2 from the line, and OLA was 9 for 16. Immaculate Conception dropped out of the Catholic League this season and was replaced by St. Theresa.  “We have three very big eighth graders, and it was good to see Colter using his right hand tonight,” said coach Bobby Schaefer.

We have very few details about the life of this saint who is best known as the mother of St. Remigius, Bishop of Rheims at the time of the conversion of the people of Gaul under Clovis. St. Celine miraculously gave birth to St. Remigius when she was already at an advanced age. Immediately after giving birth, about 438, she also gave sight to the hermit Montanus who had three times foretold the birth of the saintly Bishop.  After a holy life filled with good works and assiduous prayer, this saintly woman attained the rewards of heaven about the year 458. She was buried near Lyons, probably at Cerny, where she had lived. Unfortunately, her relics were destroyed during the French Revolution. Her feast day is October 21.

We know nothing about his conversion but looking at the language of Acts we can see where he joined Saint Paul. The story of the Acts is written in the third person, as an historian recording facts, up until the sixteenth chapter. In Acts 16:8-9 we hear of Paul's company "So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' " Then suddenly in 16:10 "they" becomes "we": "When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them." So Luke first joined Paul's company at Troas at about the year 51 and accompanied him into Macedonia where they traveled first to Samothrace, Neapolis, and finally Philippi. Luke then switches back to the third person which seems to indicate he was not thrown into prison with Paul and that when Paul left Philippi Luke stayed behind to encourage the Church there. Seven years passed before Paul returned to the area on his third missionary journey. In Acts 20:5, the switch to "we" tells us that Luke has left Philippi to rejoin Paul in Troas in 58 where they first met up. They traveled together through Miletus, Tyre, Caesarea, to Jerusalem. Luke is the loyal comrade who stays with Paul when he is imprisoned in Rome about the year 61: "Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers" (Philemon 24). And after everyone else deserts Paul in his final imprisonment and sufferings, it is Luke who remains with Paul to the end: "Only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11). Luke's inspiration and information for his Gospel and Acts came from his close association with Paul and his companions as he explains in his introduction to the Gospel: "Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus" (Luke 1:1-3). Luke's unique perspective on Jesus can be seen in the six miracles and eighteen parables not found in the other gospels. Luke's is the gospel of the poor and of social justice. He is the one who tells the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man who ignored him. Luke is the one who uses "Blessed are the poor" instead of "Blessed are the poor in spirit" in the beatitudes. Only in Luke's gospel do we hear Mary 's Magnificat where she proclaims that God "has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" (Luke 1:52-53). Luke also has a special connection with the women in Jesus' life, especially Mary. It is only in Luke's gospel that we hear the story of the Annunciation, Mary's visit to Elizabeth including the Magnificat, the Presentation, and the story of Jesus' disappearance in Jerusalem. It is Luke that we have to thank for the Scriptural parts of the Hail Mary: "Hail Mary full of grace" spoken at the Annunciation and "Blessed are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus" spoken by her cousin Elizabeth. Forgiveness and God's mercy to sinners is also of first importance to Luke. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the Prodigal Son welcomed back by the overjoyed father. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the forgiven woman disrupting the feast by washing Jesus' feet with her tears. Throughout Luke's gospel, Jesus takes the side of the sinner who wants to return to God's mercy. Reading Luke's gospel gives a good idea of his character as one who loved the poor, who wanted the door to God's kingdom opened to all, who respected women, and who saw hope in God's mercy for everyone. The reports of Luke's life after Paul's death are conflicting. Some early writers claim he was martyred, others say he lived a long life. Some say he preached in Greece, others in Gaul. The earliest tradition we have says that he died at 84 Boeotia after settling in Greece to write his Gospel. A tradition that Luke was a painter seems to have no basis in fact. Several images of Mary appeared in later centuries claiming him as a painter but these claims were proved false. Because of this tradition, however, he is considered a patron of painters of pictures and is often portrayed as painting pictures of Mary.

BL. PIETRO CASANI was born in Lucca, Italy, on September 8, 1572. Impressed by his mother's exemplary death, he felt called to enter the Congregation of the Blessed Virgin, founded in Lucca by St John Leonardi. Before entering the novitiate he had studied with the Franciscans in Lucca and then at the Roman College. After the death of St John Leonardi in 1609, his sons offered the Pious Schools their pastoral help. To ensure their continued existence, St Joseph Calasanz united them with the Congregation in Lucca. Paul V approved this union in 1614. Fr Casani was appointed rector of St Pantaleon's, headquarters of the Pious Schools. But the fathers in Lucca were soon to realize that they could not accept the ministry of the schools definitively without betraying their own founding charism. Paul V separated the two institutions in 1617. Fr Casani then decided to remain in the Pious Schools as part of the Calasanz group and played an effective role in the institute's gradual transformation from a simple secular congregation without vows to an order with solemn vows. St Joseph Calasanz continued for 30 years to give Fr Casani increasing responsibilities, appointing him as the first rector of the mother-house of St Pantaleon, first assistant general, first novice master and first Provincial of Genoa and Naples, commissioner general for the foundations in Central Europe and the first candidate to succeed the founder as Vicar General. Fr Casani was a pious man and gifted preacher who tirelessly undertook his missions promoting regular observance in Rome and elsewhere. His love of religious poverty was one reason for his spiritual bond with St. Joseph Calasanz and was consistent with his schools' preferential dedication to poor children. To maintain this rigorous poverty, they were both against accepting excessive generosity from benefactors. They also shared the new institute's pains and joys and the frustration of being unable to satisfy so many demands for foundations. However, Fr Casani was not spared trials. He was taken prisoner, stripped of his office as assistant general and the order reduced to a simple congregation without vows. During all these humiliations, Fr Casani defended the founder and his work with heroic resignation. He asked in vain for the favorable intercession of friends and of the powerful. He died on October 17, 1647, attended by Bl. Joseph Calasanz, who wrote many letters communicating his pious death and initiating his cause for beatification. But Calasanz died 10 months later and the preference for advancing his cause superseded all others. In 1738, in Szeged, Hungary, where the Piarists had had a school since 1720, a woman dying in hospital recovered from an incurable illness after kissing an image of Fr Casani given her by a Piarist priest. This led to a regular canonical process, which was recently re-examined. The miracle has been recognized and approved by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. His beatification cause commenced on March 22, 1922, under Pope Pius XI, and he became titled as a Servant of God: the first stage in the sainthood process. He was made Venerable in 1991 and Pope John Paul II beatified him in Saint Peter's Square on October 1, 1995. His feast day is October 16.

St. Ignatius is one of the great bishops of the early Church. He was the successor of St. Peter as Bishop of Antioch. He was condemned to death by wild beasts during the Emperor Trajan's persecution. On his way to Rome, he wrote seven magnificent letters, which we still have today, concerning the Person of Christ, his love for Christ, his desire for martyrdom and on the constitution of the Church and Christian life. His sentiments before his approaching martyrdom are summed in his word in the Communion antiphon, "I am the wheat of Christ, ground by the teeth of beasts to become pure bread."

October is the Month of the Holy Rosary, and St. Helena's Church held a Missionary Living Rosary in the parish parking lot on Friday, October 13. About 100 people gathered for the event, and the living rosary, which was made out of colored balloons was released following the Hail Holy Queen.

St. Helena's celebrates the canonization on Sunday, October 15 by Pope Francis of the third Piarist saint, St. Faustino Miguez, Sch.P., a botanist, a researcher of the medical properties of plants, and the founder of the Calasanctian Institute of the Daughters of the Divine Shepherd.

For the third year, the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe spent a week here at St. Helena's, and many people had an opportunity to ask for the intercession of Our Blessed Mother for their particular needs.

John Leonardi came into this world in 1541, the youngest of seven children born to middle-class parents in the Tuscan region of Lucca Italy. From childhood, he manifested a desire to seek solitude and to give himself to prayer and meditation. At age 17, he began his ten-year study to become a certified pharmacist's assistant at Lucca.  Afterwards, he studied for the priesthood and was ordained in 1572. He first dedicated himself to the Christian formation of adolescents in his local Lucca parish. He also gathered a group of laymen about him to work in hospitals and prisons. Leonardi worked with this group to spread devotion to the Blessed Mother as well as devotion to the Forty Hours and spreading the message of the importance of frequent reception of the Eucharist. He became interested in the reforms issued by the Council of Trent, and he proposed a new congregation of secular priests to convert sinners and restore Church discipline. In 1583, his association, which became known as the Lucca Fathers, was recognized by the bishop of Lucca with the approval of Pope Gregory XIII. In 1595, the congregation was confirmed by Pope Clement VIII, who then appointed him to reform the monks of Vallombrosa and Monte Vergine. He assumed the name of "Giovanni of the Mother of God" as his religious name. This foundation received approval from Pope Paul V on January 14, 1614, when the pope, encouraged by the cardinal protector Giustiniani, issued a Papal decree approving the union of the Lucca Fathers with the Piarists and their founder St. Joseph Calasanz.  This union would last only until the beginning of 1617 when Paul V would issue another decree making the Piarists their own separate religious congregation. Civic leaders in Lucca opposed the establishment of a new religious order and acted to stop its formation. While ultimately ineffective, their efforts forced John Leonardi to spend most of the remainder of his life outside Lucca, with special exceptions granted by its government under the influence of the Pope. In 1621, his community would formally be designated Clerks Regular of the Mother of God. John was aided by both his spiritual director St. Philip Neri and by St. Joseph Calasanz. The final Rule of his institute was published in 1851. Two houses of the Clerks of the Mother of God were opened when he died and three others were opened during the seventeenth century. John died in Rome on October 9, 1609 from the great plague, which he contracted while ministering to those stricken by the influenza epidemic. He was venerated for his miracles and religious fervor, and in 1603, along with Cardinal Vives, he founded the seminary for the Propagation of the Faith for the philosophical and theological training of missionary Priests. His memory was held so high in the Holy City that Pope Leo XIII had his name placed in the Roman Martyrology and ordered the Roman clergy to celebrate his Mass and Office, an honor which is otherwise strictly limited to beatified Popes.

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament was born as Helena Kowalska, in Glogowiec, Leczyca County, north-west of Lódz in Poland on August 25, 1905. She was the third of 10 children to a poor and religious family. Faustina first felt a calling to the religious life when she was just seven-years-old and attended the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. After finishing her schooling, Faustina wanted to immediately join a convent. However, her parents refused to let her. Instead, at 16-years-old, Faustina became a housekeeper to help her parents and support herself. In 1924, Faustina experienced her first vision of Jesus. While at a dance with her sister, Natalia, Faustina saw a suffering Jesus and then went to a Cathedral. According to Faustina, Jesus instructed her to leave for Warsaw immediately and join a convent. Faustina packed her bags at once and departed the following morning. When she arrived in Warsaw, she entered Saint James Church in Warsaw, the first church she came across, and attended Mass. While in Warsaw, Faustina approached many different convents, but was turned away every time. She was judged on her appearances and sometimes rejected for poverty. Finally, the mother superior for the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy decided to take in Faustina on the condition that she could pay for her own religious habit. Working as a housekeeper, Faustina began to save her money and make deposits to the Convent. On April 30, 1926, at 20-years-old, she finally received her habit and took the religious name of Sister Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament and in 1928, she took her first religious vows as a nun. Over the next year, Faustina traveled convents as a cook. In May 1930 she arrived in Plock, Poland. Soon after, she began to show the first signs of her illness and was sent away to rest. Several months later, Faustina returned to the convent. On February 22, 1931, Faustina was visited by Jesus, who presented himself as the "King of Divine Mercy" wearing a white garment with red and pale rays coming from his heart. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world. In her diary, Faustina writes: "In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, 'paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You.'" Faustina also describes during that same message, Jesus explained he wanted the Divine Mercy image to be "solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy." Faustina, not knowing how to paint, asked around her Plock convent for help but was denied. It wasn't until three years later, in 1934, that the first painting of the image was created by Eugene Kazimierowski. In 1932, Faustina returned to Warsaw. On May 1, 1933 she took her final vows in Lagiewniki and became a perpetual sister of Our Lady of Mercy. After taking her vows, Faustina was transferred to Vilnius, where she met Father Michael Sopocko, the appointed confessor to the nuns. During her first confession with Sopocko, Faustina told him about her conversations with Jesus and his plan for her. Father Sopocko insisted she be evaluated by a psychiatrist. Faustina passed all the required tests and was determined sane, leading Sopocko to support her religious efforts. Sopocko encouraged her to start keeping a diary and to record all of her conversations with Jesus. Faustina told Sopocko about the Divine Mercy image and it was Sopocko who introduced her to Kazimierowski, the artist of the first Divine Mercy painting. According to Faustina's diary, on Good Friday, April 19, 1935, Jesus told her he wanted the Divine Mercy image publically honored. On April 26, 1935, Father Sopocko delivered the very first sermon on the Divine Mercy. In September 1935, Faustina wrote about her vision of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, used to obtain mercy, trust in Christ's mercy and to show mercy to others. During the following year, Faustina attempted to set up a new congregation for Divine Mercy, but was reminded that she was perpetually vowed to her current order and sent back to Warsaw. She reported Jesus said to her, "My Daughter, do whatever is within your power to spread devotion to My Divine Mercy, I will make up for what you lack." In 1936, Faustina fell ill again. She moved to the sanatorium in Pradnik, Krakow and continued to spend most of her time in prayer. In July 1937, the first holy cards with the Divine Mercy image were created and Faustina provided instructions for the Novena of Divine Mercy, which she reported was a message from Jesus. Throughout the rest of 1937, the Divine Mercy image continued to be promoted and grow in popularity. Faustina's health significantly deteriorated by the end of 1937. Her visions intensified and she was said to be looking forward to the end of her life. On October 5, 1938, Faustina passed away. She was buried on October 7 and currently rests at the Basilica of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland. Her entire life, in imitation of Christ's, was to be a sacrifice - a life lived for others. At the Divine Lord's request, she willingly offered her personal sufferings in union with Him to atone for the sins of others. In her daily life she was to become a doer of mercy, bringing joy and peace to others, and by writing about God's mercy, she was to encourage others to trust in Him and thus prepare the world for His coming again. Her special devotion to Mary Immaculate and to the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation gave her the strength to bear all her sufferings as an offering to God on behalf of the Church and those in special need, especially great sinners and the dying. The message of mercy that Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; her diary, Divine Mercy in my Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to the Divine Mercy. In 1965, Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla, who would later become Pope John Paul II, opened up the first investigations into Faustina's life and virtues. He submitted a number of documents on her life to the Vatican and requested the official beatification process to start. One of his documents noted the case of Maureen Digan of Massachusetts. In March 1981, Digan reported she was healed from Lymphedema after praying at Faustina's tomb. She explained, while there, she heard a voice saying "ask for my help and I will help you," and her pain stopped. After returning to the United States, five different doctors all reported she was healed with no medical explanation. In 1992, the Vatican declared Digan's case miraculous. St. Faustina Kowalska was beatified on April 18, 1993 and canonized on April 30, 2000, both by Pope St. John Paul II. Her feast day is celebrated on October 5 and she is the patron saint of Mercy.

Francis Xavier Seelos was born in Fussen, Germany, in 1819. Expressing his desire for the priesthood since an early age, he entered the diocesan seminary of Augsburg after completing his studies in philosophy. Upon learning of the charism and missionary activity of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, he decided to join and go to North America. He arrived in the United States on April 20, 1843, entered the Redemptorist novitiate and completed his theological studies, being ordained a priest on December 22, 1844. He began his pastoral ministry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he remained nine years, working closely as assistant pastor of his confrere St. John Neumann, while at the same time serving as Master of Novices and dedicating himself to mission preaching. In 1854, he returned to Baltimore, later being transferred to Cumberland and then Annapolis, where he served in parochial ministry and in the formation of the Redemptorist seminarians. He was considered an expert confessor, a watchful and prudent spiritual director and a pastor always joyfully available and attentive to the needs of the poor and the abandoned. In 1860, he was a candidate for the office of Bishop of Pittsburgh. Having been excused from this responsibility by Pope Pius IX, from 1863 until 1866 he became a full-time itinerant missionary preacher. He preached in English and German in the states of Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. He was named pastor of the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he died of the yellow fever epidemic caring for the sick and the poor of New Orleans on October 4, 1867, at the age of 48 years and nine months. The enduring renown for his holiness which the Servant of God enjoyed occasioned his Cause for Canonization to be introduced in 1900 with the initiation of the Processo Informativo . On January 27, Your Holiness declared him Venerable, decreeing the heroism of his virtues.