Newsletter – 17 March 2024
PARISH NEWS
St Joseph’s Table
Lent is interrupted every year with a few big feasts – St. Patrick (17 March), St. Joseph (19 March), and the Annunciation (25 March, though this year, because it falls in Holy Week, it’s changed to 8 April). These are days to lighten our Lenten fast and celebrate the feast!
St. Joseph’s Day is a big feast in Sicily where I grew up (as big as St. Patrick for the Irish). St. Joseph’s Day is commemorated and celebrated in Italy also as Father’s Day.
Today I would like to share with you a beautiful memory of one of the eldest and popular tradition that it is still celebrated in my home town.
Around the 14th century, Sicily was affected by a terrible drought and famine and the population started praying and begging St. Joseph to help them. With his intercession they survived eating the fava bean (broad beans). It was the only crop that would grow in such harsh conditions. So bountiful the crop became that the famine ended. Sicilians promised St. Joseph to celebrate his day with the “St. Joseph’s Table”, an altar with special foods, flowers and devotional object as their thanksgiving for his help.To this special table are invited a group of poor people to represent the Holy Family, reliving their journey in need of food and shelter. All other attendees must wait until the Holy Family has finished their meal before they are allowed to eat.
“The altar” is traditionally comprised of three ascending tables, or “steps,” representing both the Holy Trinity and the ascent from earth to heaven. At the centre of the last and highest table is a statue of St. Joseph or a picture of the Holy Family.
St. Joseph’s Table is a result of a vow made in the previous year, in which a family promised to build an altar if St. Joseph granted a petition and often it is customary for the family to beg for supplies to build it.
The table is adorned with plants, candles and a various speciality of foods, assorted vegetables dishes, pasta, fruits and dessert. Meat is not part of the meal as this day falls in Lenten season. There are decorative breads formed and baked into the shapes of various Catholic symbols, such as a St. Joseph’s staff, chalice, cross, fish or heart. Some of these breads are not eaten as part of the meal, but later given to the poor with any leftovers, along with any money that guests may have contributed.
Caterina Schifano
In addition to private altars, public altars are traditionally built in the churches or in a public “piazza”.
After many centuries, the St. Joseph’s Table still serves as a reminder that those who have enjoyed some measure of good fortune must share it with those who have less. It is quite fitting, then, that the Solemnity of St. Joseph occurs during Lent, a time of reflection, humility and almsgiving.
Focus of the Week
BINGO NIGHT
Saturday 27 April – 6.30pm
Tickets £12.50 Children £5.
£3 per game book includes 5 score cards.
We would be grateful for any donated prizes which can be left in the parish office.
CANA WEEK SUMMER 2024
28 July – 3 August, Sclerder Abbey, Looe, Cornwall
An opportunity to strengthen your love for each other.
This is a unique six-day guided journey and an opportunity for a couple to deepen their relationship. You will arrive at the abbey and live a simple life; within a safe environment, your children are also looked after with structured activities. You can stay within the abbey or you can pitch up with your tent and wake up to the Cornish coastline.