Weekly Photo Round-Up: The Parishes of Curran, Plantagenet and Wendover - St. Stanislaus Kostka

Parish Cemetery of St. Paul, Plantagenet

Last week had a large number of encounters (at schools, nursing homes, meetings of parish representatives) in the parishes of St. Paul (Plantagenet), St. Luc (Curran), St. Benoit Labre (Wendover) and St. Leon le Grand (Treadwell). All four villages are located along Highway 17 and are close to the watershed of the South Nation River.

A bear-pit Q&A session with some members of the senior student body of Ecole Secondaire Catholique de Plantagenet



They are all pastored by Abbe Luc Ricard who will soon turn 75, and faces retirement and return to his family roots in the Diocese of Joliette with serenity and anticipation. He is an affable priest, much at home with one and all, so we (Abbe Daniel Berniquez, my episcopal vicar and I) also visited homebound persons and those who care for them.

Photographs from the Treadwell parish were featured on this blog earlier, on Tuesday of this week when the Church celebrated St. Leo I (the Great). Herewith a photo essay on the other three parishes.


Paroisse St-Paul, Plantagenet

Le Pavillion on the uppper level of Ecole Secondaire Catholique de Plantagenet, which serves students in Grades 7 and 8 (junior high school); students come from several of the parishes and even beyond

The sacristy of St-Paul's church offers a striking background for the parish leaders' photo



Following a songfest at Centre Quatre-Saisons, Plantagenet, a residence for intellectually-challenged adults, we pose for a photo

An assembly at Ecole St-Paul, Plantagenet

The Golden Age Club hosts the clergy for the monthly supper, though the visitors skip out before Bingo begins


Paroisse St-Luc, Curran

Greeting the residents of the Centre Nursing St-Luc, Curran

Meeting members of the parish council, administrative (finance) and other committees

Abbe Luc Ricard on the left, with the Delisles, a couple celebrating 60 years of marriage in 2010 and still living in their family home




Paroisse St-Benoit Labre, Wendover

The kindergarten students welcome Mgr Terrence to Ecole St-Joseph

Quadriplegic Marc Pilon has worked for ten years in rehabilitation programs after a diving accident and is a hero to many for his enthusiasm

Our student assembly at Ecole St-Joseph, Wendover

Confinement to a wheelchair does not mean idleness but all kinds of creativity in the Lamoureux household

Next week the Parish Visitation moves on to the parishes of St.- Victor in Alfred and St.-Thomas, Lefaive, parishes which, guided by a Fidei donum priest, Abbe Titus Ndala, cooperate with these four parishes which are geographically close.

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JESUIT NOVICE SAINT STANISLAUS KOSTKA

St. Stanislaus Kostka is not to be confused with the other well-known St. Stanislaus who was an 11th century
Polish bishop and martyr.

St. Stanislaus Kostka was born in Poland in 1550 and died in Rome on August the 15, 1568 at the age of eighteen. His father was a Polish senator and his family was a part of the Polish nobility.

Young Stanislaus was very devoted to his studies and to prayer. At the age of 14 he was sent along with his older brother Paul and Dr. John Bilinski, a traveling companion, to study at the Jesuit College in Vienna.

At 16, Stanislaus was struck with a serious illness. During that illness, he received Holy Communion from a vision of his patron Saint Barbara, who appeared to him surrounded by a contingent of angels.

He also reported of a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who asked him to become a Jesuit. Upon his recovery, he began to pursue his calling to a religious life.

Stanislaus' family did not support his decision to become a Jesuit, because they saw that way of life as inappropriate for noble class.

Because of this opposition, Stanislaus traveled on foot from Vienna to Augsburg Germany where he was taken in by the Jesuit provincial St. Peter Canisius.

When a month had passed he was sent to Rome to petition the order’s general, St. Francis Borgia. St. Francis later accepted him into the Jesuit order in 1567 at the age of 17.

Meanwhile, his brother Paul and Dr. Bilinski were searching for Stanislaus to try to make him change his mind. In time, the boys’ father learned where Stanislaus was and wrote him threatening to have the Jesuits suppressed in Poland, if he did not come to his senses.

Stanislaus held firm, writing his father that he would obey him in anything except to contradict the will of God. Soon after, he entered the novitiate, where he remained for nine months. During this brief time Stanislaus led a life of continual prayer.

Finally his fragile constitution got the best of him and he died at the age of 18, on August 15, the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady.

St. Stanislaus is considered to be the patron saint of youth, young students, Jesuit novices and seminarians. He has also been invoked for broken bones, heart palpitations and serious illness. His tomb is to be found in the church of Sant’ Andrea del Quirinale in Rome.

Young Fr. Karol Wojtyła, later to become Pope John Paul II, would often stop to pray there during his doctoral studies in Rome. St. Stanislaus Kostka’s feast day is today, November 13.

Best feast day wishes to all Jesuit Novices on this special day!