The month of November is dedicated to remembering all the faithful departed (All Souls). On November 1st, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints which is a holy day of obligation. On Nov. 2nd, the Catholic Church celebrates the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, also known All Souls Day. It is a holy day set aside for remembering, honoring, and praying for our deceased loved ones.
An ad from the Denver Catholic Register in 1902 describes activities planned at Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery for All Souls Day that year. The Catholic faithful from around the Diocese gathered at Mt. Olivet and participated in a solemn procession around the cemetery, praying for the dead buried there. There was also a blessing of the graves and Fr. Cornelius O’Farrell gave a special sermon. It is interesting to note that a round trip train ticket from Union Station to Mt. Olivet was only 25¢!
May you have a blessed and spiritually fruitful month of November!
The annual Bring Them Home Mass and Committal Service will be held at Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery chapel on November 2, 2023 (All Souls Day) at 11:00am.
Cremated remains must be registered by October 25, 2024 for the Mass and Committal Service.
The Bring Them Home Mass and Committal Service is held on All Souls Day (November 2nd) and is an opportunity for those with the cremated remains of loved ones at their residence to bring them to Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery and lay them to rest in a sacred burial space, at no cost.
Every person, being made in the image and likeness of God, deserves to be buried in a dignified and sacred burial space. In fact, the burial of the dead is one of the Corporal Acts of Mercy (Tobit 1:16-18).
“Following the most ancient Christian tradition, the Church insistently recommends that the bodies of the deceased be buried in cemeteries or other sacred places. […] By burying the bodies of the faithful, the Church confirms her faith in the resurrection of the body, and intends to show the great dignity of the human body as an integral part of the human person whose body forms part of their identity. […] Furthermore, burial in a cemetery or another sacred place adequately corresponds to the piety and respect owed to the bodies of the faithful departed who through Baptism have become temples of the Holy Spirit and in which “as instruments and vessels the Spirit has carried out so many good works.” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Instruction “Ad resurgendum cum Christo,” October 25, 2016.)
As a ministry of the Archdiocese of Denver, Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services (CFCS) of Colorado offers a unique program that allows, at no charge, the placement of cremated remains in our Crypt of All Souls. This service is available to anyone of any faith who has cremated remains that they want permanently interred within the consecrated grounds of the Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery.
Crypt of All Souls
If you were not able to participate in the annual Bring Them Home Mass, our Crypt of All Souls ministry program has a committal service every month.
As a ministry of the Archdiocese of Denver, Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services (CFCS) of Colorado offers a unique program that allows, at no charge, the placement of cremated remains in our Crypt of All Souls. This service is available to anyone of any faith who has cremated remains that they want permanently interred within the consecrated grounds of the Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery.
Highlights of the Program
Free placement in the Crypt of All Souls located in Ascension Mausoleum at Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery
A committal service from the Order of Christian Funerals
A permanent recordation of interment
Open to all funeral homes
Open to all faiths
Below are the future dates for the committal service and interment in the Crypt of All Souls:
September 17th, 2024 marked the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata, wounds similar to that that of Jesus Christ physically manifested on Francis’ body. On October 4th, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. So, this is a fitting time to reflect on St. Francis as an example of the Christian way life.
St. Francis is often associated with the love of animals and all of God’s creation. However, it was not Francis’ love of animals that put him on the path to sanctity. Rather, it was Francis’ love of Jesus Christ and his complete dedication to metanoia that allowed him to fully cooperate with God’s grace and conform himself so closely to Jesus, our Savior.
Metanoia is a Greek word meaning the ongoing conversion of heart or to realign one’s heart to God. In the Bible, it is translated as conversion or penance. In the Old Testament, to repent or convert is expressed as to return to the Lord (1 Sam 7:3), lift one’s eyes to heaven (Dan 4:34), and turn one’s face to God (Dan 9:3). In the New Testament, metanoia is expressed by John the Baptist when he proclaims, “Repent! (Convert! Do Penance!), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 3:2). Conversion requires one to become a disciple of Christ, believing in the Gospel (Mk 16:16).
Concerning the significance of St. Francis’ embracing of metanoia in the early thirteenth century, Fr. Raffaele Pazzelli, T.O.R. explains, “The biblical sense of metanoia (penance) was fully rediscovered, accepted, and lived by St. Francis.” So, St. Francis lived his life in a way that pointed others back to the original Gospel message. St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor of the Church, explains, “There are three reasons why St. Francis is to be accounted as chosen by God and of well-tried virtue: his perfect observance of the Law and Gospel, his indomitable zeal for the Christian faith, and his exceedingly fervent love of the Crucified Savior.”
So, when we think of St. Francis of Assisi, whether on his feast day or when we see his statue next to a bird bath, we are encouraged to reflect on our own journey of metanoia, which involves taking up the Cross of Christ, daily, (Lk 9:23) and continually realign our heart to God, for the Kingdom of God is at hand (Mt 3:2).
May you have a blessed and spiritually fruitful month of October!
The Month of September is Dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows
The month of September is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, whose memorial the Church celebrates on September 15th. Devotion to the sorrows of the Virgin Mary dates from the twelfth century, when it made its appearance in monastic circles under the influence of St. Anselm and St. Bernard.
The 7 Sorrows of Mary
1) The Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:34-35)
2) The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-21)
3) The Loss of Jesus for Three Days (Luke 2:41-50)
4) The Carrying of the Cross (John 19:17)
5) The Crucifixion of Jesus (John 19:18-30)
6) Jesus Taken Down from the Cross (John 19:39-40)
7) Jesus Laid in the Tomb (John 19:39-42)
May you have a blessed and spiritually fruitful month of September!
Servant of God Julia Greeley’s Love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Fr. Blain Burkey, O.F.M. Cap.
Below is a transcript the the video:
Involvement in the Sacred Heart of the, she was, she commanded the church there at that Sacred Heart church, and the Jesuits were running that church and that the ocean is Sacred Heart was promoted strongly by the Jesuits true should not the, they weren’t the only ones I mean there’s actually Franciscan Saints before there were Jesuits, who had talked about the sacred heart, but they did promote that and did have some Jesuit Scholastics that had started the apostleship prayer which it was very… very well known in my lifetime in my childhood we used to get these little leaflets every month and have material about a Saint, like there’s thirty different Saints they would give you information about and also it was encouraging prayer to the Sacred Heart and parish preparation of the in souls in the Sacred Heart.
Every month those things come out and she went all over town delivering them and she couldn’t read or write so somebody had to tell her what… what was in there and you know that somebody told us that she had walked with a limp but we didn’t know the strength of that until after she was disinterred and they found it are covered with arthritis.
She didn’t write about anything she couldn’t write but she left us her message by her actions. A remarkable thing about it is this she goes doing all this stuff for and helping very group of people that enslaved her and left her blind and so forth and she had reason to be bitter but there was no indication anywhere.
The whole devotion to Sacred Heart has to do with the mercy of Jesus and I think that’s the program for life right there.
Under the cover of night servant of God Julia Greeley was seen distributing clothing, firewood, and even a mattress to those in need. Not only generous but sensitive as well Julia considered how the recipients might feel accepting these items from a woman of color at the turn of the last century.
What inspired her charity?
Nothing less than a heart beating in time with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She collected dresses for girls who did not have the means to purchase their own for a school dance. She donated her original burial plot at Mount Olivet to a man who was to be buried in a Potters field. Each month she walked all over Denver distributing Sacred Heart league pamphlets to every Firehouse in the city even though she herself could not read.
The Sacred Heart depicted by Christ’s heart and flames burning with love for humanity kindled a fire in Julia’s own heart Pope Leo the 13th said: “There is in the Sacred Heart the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love in return.”
Julia’s daily actions revealed the heart of God on display throughout the streets of Denver. Father Blaine Burkey biographer and advocate for Julia’s cause for canonization suggests that one of the secrets of her own spirituality was surely to place all her day’s activities into the Secret Service of the Sacred Heart.
Julia Greeley was conditionally baptized at Sacred Heart parish in Denver just two months after it opened, after that she attended mass and received the Eucharist daily. The Jesuits who ran the parish called her the most enthusiastic promoter of a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus they had ever seen.
Perhaps the divine result of her deeply authentic devotion Julia died on the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 7th 1918. As the date of this feast is tied to Pentecost and varies from year to year it is a beautiful gift that we celebrate the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 7th this year as well.
Julia’s remains are no longer at Mount Olivet cemetery they were transferred to the cathedral basilica of the Immaculate Conception as part of her cause for canonization. Nevertheless, we are honored to be a part of her history.
Whether under the cover of night or the light of day may we all be motivated by the compassionate and merciful Sacred Heart of Jesus revealed through Denver’s Angel of charity Julia Greeley.
August is Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The month of August is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The physical heart of Mary is venerated (and not adored as the Sacred Heart of Jesus is) because it is united to her person and is the seat of her love (especially for her divine Son), virtue, and inner life. Such devotion is an incentive to a similar love and virtue.
This devotion has received new emphasis from the visions given to Lucy Dos Santos, oldest of the visionaries of Fatima, in her convent in Tuy, in Spain, in 1925 and 1926. In the visions Our Lady asked for the practice of the Five First Saturdays to help make amends for the offenses committed against her heart by the blasphemies and ingratitude of men. The practice parallels the devotion of the Nine First Fridays in honor of the Sacred Heart.
On October 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII made a solemn Act of Consecration of the Church and the whole world to the Immaculate Heart. Let us remember this devotion year-round, but particularly through the month of August.
May you have a blessed and spiritually fruitful month of August!