Together in Spirit

Browsing Pastor's Notes - Fr. Bill Deziel

The Feast of St. Agnes and the Pallium    

This past Tuesday, January 21, we celebrated the Feast of St. Agnes. She was a virgin and martyr who was perhaps just 12 years old when she was beheaded during the Roman persecutions in 303 A.D. Her unwavering faith and courage inspire us all to this day!

One of the Church’s traditions is to shear sheep in Rome on her feast day to make palliums for the archbishops throughout the world. Here our Archbishop Bernard Hebda can be seen wearing a Pallium at Mass. It’s the white collar cloth with crosses on it that drapes down in the front and back.

Palliums are presented in Rome to the new Archbishops each year on the Feast of the Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul - June 29th. The connection between the Feast of St. Agnes and the palliums may be simply that her name is very similar to agnus in Latin which means lamb. The pallium symbolizes unity with Rome and the special role that archbishops have in overseeing a region. All the dioceses of Minnesota and North and South Dakota constitute the region served by Archbishop Hebda. He’s the only bishop in the region who can wear a pallium. Next time you’re at Mass see if you can spot the pallium.

God bless you!

Fr. Deziel

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