Upcoming Events

Pastor’s Letter: November 15, 2026

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings and peace to you all this day! Thank you so much for the great feedback on being able to journey through Msgr. Gray’s study of the autobiography of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen. I personally enjoyed it as well! As I mentioned a couple weeks back, I thought we might spend some time with the saints in the weeks ahead. Each year as we celebrate All Saints Day, I am always struck by the thought that there are saints from every part of the world, every family background, age, health conditions, vocations, occupations, etc.…in truth, there really is a saint for each of us! One of the great gifts of those saints is they remind us that we can also live a faithful life in Christ…we also can be faithful in the midst of challenges and persevere in living the love of Christ…we also have been given what we need to walk the path of sainthood!

This week, I thought we’d spend a little time with one of our “great” saints and the only woman saint who is regularly called “Great”: St. Gertrude the Great (1256-1301 AD). According to the Pocket Dictionary of Saints: St. Gertrude, “Of unknown parentage and often surnamed “the Great,” she was placed in the care of the Benedictine nuns at Helfta in Saxony when five and became a pupil and close friend of St. Mechtilde. When older Gertrude became a nun and when 26 had the first of many visions of Christ she was to experience during her lifetime. She became versed in the Bible and the writings of Augustine, Gregory, and Bernard and began to record her supernatural and mystical experiences, a record that eventually appears in her Book of Extraordinary Grace (Revelation of St. Gertrude), together with Mechtilde’s mystical experiences…which Gertrude recorded. She also wrote with St. Mechtilde a series of prayers that became very popular, and through her writing helped..