Our annual parish festival, now on the first Saturday of every August (this year, August 2), is held in honor of our holy patron, St. Stephen the First Martyr. The festival coincides with the Feast of the Finding of the Relics of St. Stephen, which commemorates one of the most remarkable events in the early centuries of the Church. The discovery of the relics of our holy patron was a great source of encouragement to the early Church that was suffering the collapse of the Roman Empire under internal pressures and Gothic incursions (many thought the world was ending). His relics were solemnly presented all over the Christian world, and everywhere many miracles – even the dead brought back to life – were experienced by the faithful. St. Augustine shares a number of great miracles personally known to him, and then concludes that if he were to attempt to catalogue all of the miracles attributed to the relics, he should never be able to stop writing. Other Fathers of the Church also relate to us miracles attributed to the relics.
The parish festival includes an on-site roast of several pigs (hence the name), dinner, and a couple hours of square and line dancing. The schedule is: Solemn Votive Mass of the Finding of the Relics of St. Stephen at 3 pm, dinner at 5 pm, followed by dancing in the field under a giant tent. There will be a parish fundraising rummage sale in classroom 3 and generally we have a chili cook-off, as well. It is a great evening to meet new people in the parish, especially if you are volunteering in some capacity! I hope to see you all there.
Pig Roast: Rummage Sale. Kindly bring new, next to new, clean, vintage, antique, or expensive treasures to Classroom 3. Please no clothes (except new), large furniture or equipment, computers or TV’s. N.B. Some we will save for the auction in Oct.
Pig Roast: Chili Cook-Off. Join us for the fourth annual Chili Cook-Off during the Pig Roast celebrations. Prizes awarded to the first three places!
