Dusty Feasts

The Feast Day of Saint Pope Gregory I (3 September) celebrates the late 6th and early 7th century pope who is usually given the epithet “Gregory the Great.”

His papacy saw a great expansion of Church authority in the midst of Western Rome’s collapse, Gothic tribal invasions, and plague. He countered the Arian and Donatist heresies, was a prolific and influential writer, and is considered to be one of the four Latin Church Fathers.

+ Includes a traditional Armenian feast day recipe: The Gregorian Cocktail. It consists of a mixture of vegetables and sauces.

Dusty Feasts

The Feast Day of St. Joseph of Arimathea (31 August) celebrates the 1st century Jewish Biblical figure who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion. He is identified in the Gospel accounts as a wealthy disciple of Jesus and as a member of the Sanhedrin.

He is the subject of numerous stories and legends, which developed in particular during the Middle Ages. He is also the patron saint of undertakers and funeral directors.

The Didache: The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Book Review)

The Didache (Book Review)

Dated by a majority of scholars to the first century, and perhaps earlier even than some of the books of the New Testament, the Didache was an early Christian document providing instruction to the newly formed Church.

Dusty Feasts

Dusty Feasts: Saint Augustine of Hippo (28 August) was a 4th and 5th century theologian and philosopher. He is generally regarded as one of the most influential philosophers in the history of the Western world, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period.

He is the namesake and patron of numerous locations. He is also a patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, philosophers, and sore eyes.

Dusty Feasts

Dusty Feasts: Saint Rose of Lima (23 August) celebrates the first canonized saint of the Americas. She was a a 16th and 17th century Spanish member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Lima, Peru, Spanish Empire, who became known for both her life of severe penance and her care of the poverty stricken of the city through her own private efforts.

Included is a feast day recipe for Mazamorra Morada (Sweet Peruvian Purple Corn Pudding)

Dusty Feasts

The Feast of Saint Stephen I (16 August), a 10th and 11th century Hungarian King, wo is remembered for the establishment of the Christian Kingdom of Hungary and the conversion of the Magyar people to Christianity. He is also remembered for creating a stable political structure and promoting national unity, which laid the foundation for Hungary’s development as a nation.

He is a patron saint of Hungary, kings, masons, stonecutters, stonemason, bricklayers, and as a protector against child death.

Dusty Feasts

The Feast Day of Saint Maximilian Kolbe (14 August) celebrates the 19th and 20th century Polish friar, priest, saint, and martyr.

He is best remembered for volunteering to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II. Prior to his death, he had been active in promoting the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, founding and supervising the monastery of Niepokalanów near Warsaw, operating an amateur-radio station (SP3RN), and founding or running several other organizations and publications.

He is a patron saint of prisoners, drug addicts, families, journalists, amateur radio operators, the pro-life movement, and people with eating disorders.

Dusty Art

Cristo della Minerva by Michelangelo

+ One of the artist’s most famous sculptures, this piece was a second attempt after the first effort found a dark vein in the marble mid project. The second version is a masterpiece and received particularly extravagant praise for its sculpting of the Lord’s knees.

Dusty Feasts

The Feast Day of St. Pope Pontian and St. Hippolytus of Rome (13 August) celebrates a pope and an antipope who reconciled after deep theological differences and ultimately suffered martyrdom together.

Dusty Feasts

The Feast Day of St. Clare of Assisi (11 August) celebrates the 11th and 12th century Italian saint who founded the Order of Poor Ladies (later renamed the Order of Poor Clares.) She is known for several miracles, the most famous being the miracle during the Saracen invasion in 1240, where she held the Blessed Sacrament and caused the attackers to flee in fear. Other miracles include multiplying loaves of bread for her sisters and healing the sick through her prayers.

She is a patron saint of several things, including eye disease, goldsmiths, laundry, television, bicycle messengers, good weather, needleworkers, remote viewing, extrasensory perception, fertility, Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, and Obando, Bulacan.