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With our Archdiocese, Cathedral and Seminary all under the patronage of the Apostle Paul, and given that we are based in a city named for him, today\u2019s Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul is of particular importance to this local Church. I was privileged to offer Mass at our Cathedral this morning, celebrating both of those great saints but, not surprisingly, asking in particular for the continued intercession of St. Paul for our local Church.<\/p>\n
There used to be a separate feast for St. Paul (July 28) but with the reform of the Roman Calendar in the 1960s the Universal Church returned to the ancient tradition of celebrating Peter and Paul together on June 29.<\/p>\n
While very different in temperament and ministry, the two were inextricably bound together by their martyrdom in the Eternal City. Historically, they have been recognized as the co-patrons of Rome (a real life parallel to the mythical brothers, Romulus and Remus, claimed as the ancient founders of that city). There is a beautiful inscription at the American seminary in Rome that links the two of them: O Roma felix,\u00a0quae\u00a0duorum\u00a0principum es\u00a0consecrata\u00a0glorioso\u00a0sanguine<\/em> (O happy Rome, consecrated by the glorious blood of the two princes [Peter and Paul]).<\/p>\n We need the example of both of those \u201cprinces\u201d in today\u2019s Church. We pray, for sure, for Pope Leo, the successor of St. Peter, but we also need to pray for more evangelistic missionaries like St. Paul.<\/p>\n This past weekend I had a number of encounters with modern missionaries in our Archdiocese. On Saturday evening, we celebrated our annual Archdiocesan Rural Life Mass on a spectacularly beautiful farm outside of Red Wing. We are so indebted here in Minnesota to the role that our rural families have played in passing on the faith from generation to generation\u2014and from neighbor to neighbor\u2014often with the tenacity of St. Paul. It wasn\u2019t so long ago that Catholic farm families came together to start parishes and schools throughout this Archdiocese and we continue to benefit from the foundation that they provided.<\/p>\n I offered Mass yesterday morning in one of those historic rural parishes, St. Agatha in Coates. The church is a gem, and the sense of community strong. They also had the largest breakfast rolls that I have ever seen!<\/p>\n I then went from Coates to St. Peter in Mendota, as the parish anticipated its patronal feast and celebrated the burning of its mortgage, after a very successful participation in the\u00a0Lord, Renew Your Church<\/em><\/a> capital campaign. While the parish is named for St. Peter, St. Paul would have been proud: the pastor, Fr. Steve Hoffman, eloquently spoke about how this historic event would now further enable the parish\u2019s missionary impulse, always keeping the focus on Jesus.<\/p>\n The day ended with a group of high schoolers making a four-day walking pilgrimage in the footsteps of Blessed Solanus Casey. They were still drying out from a soggy morning trek from Stillwater to Lake St. Croix Beach, before heading to Prescott and Big River (the parishes where the young Solanus had belonged). I was inspired by their enthusiasm and loved their stories about the joy of giving public witness as they carried the cross from one point to the next, raising lots of questions in the minds of those they encountered along the way. Please join me in praying for them as they complete their pilgrimage. I\u2019m certainly hoping that at least one of them will be a new Solanus\u2014or perhaps a 21st century Paul of Tarsus. God bless them!<\/p>\n