Happy Holy Days! (Part Three)
Continuing to Catalog Catholicism's Contributions to the (Current) Calendar
MOTHER’S DAY & FATHER’S DAY
Maternal imagery abounds in Catholicism, with scores of nuns and religious sisters bearing the title of Mother1 (Superior or otherwise); the universal Church itself is given the matronly moniker of Holy Mother Church2; and of course there’s mother par excellence, Mary Mother of God, whom Jesus Himself gave to us from the cross when He said to St. John, “behold your mother.”
Saint Joseph, husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus, remains as ever the ideal father figure, embodying all the best attributes of fatherhood from the Old Testament Patriarchs to the Early Church Fathers and all the way through two hundred and sixty-six Holy Fathers—aka Popes—and counting.
While these two celebrations of parenthood were both founded in their secular American forms by Methodists3, Catholics need look no further than the fourth commandment4, wherein we are called by the Lord to “honor thy mother and father.”
INDEPENDENCE DAY
How can the national holiday of a secular country that prides itself on its separation of Church and State and was founded by a collective of anti-monarchy Freemasonic Protestants whose colonial ancestors were anti-Papist Puritans possibly be construed as Catholic?!
Well…it can’t, really, but here’s some fun facts outlining various convergences between Papism and patriotism regardless!
One of the Founding Fathers, Charles Carroll, was a Catholic (a fact which is in and of itself a minor miracle)
The first Catholic archdiocese in the United States was established in Baltimore, Maryland in 1859
The Americas were converted by Catholic conquistadores long before the Pilgrims broke ground at Plymouth
“Into the hands of America, God has placed the destinies of afflicted humanity.” -Pope Pius XII, 1946
THE ASSUMPTION
If you’ve been keeping score, you’ll have noticed that the entries thus far have followed (more or less) a monthly pattern. So assuming (no pun intended) you haven't lost count yet, you’ll see we should be somewhere around August.
But unfortunately, it appears the august octave has drawn the short end of the stick as far as popular American holidays go.
I suppose I could try to make some point about how the titular Caesar Augustus unwittingly paved the way for the eventual Roman Catholic Church—or use the eighth month of the year as an occasion for discussing the role of octaves in the liturgical calendar—but (as already spoiled by the header of this section) I’ve decided instead to talk all about The Assumption.
In the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus, the aforementioned Pope Pius XII solemnly proclaimed:
[B]y the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.
As we’ve seen, Protestant America has been more than happy to commercialize and secularize other Catholic holidays, so I suppose we should be thankful that their well-documented blind spot in regards to the Blessed Mother has had the positive side effect of leaving August 15th intact as a purely Catholic5 occasion.6
LABOR DAY
And so, after finishing His work of creating the heavens and the earth, the Lord blessed Sunday as a day of rest…but the United States government scheduled it on a Monday.
The word “labor” has become dirtier than a mechanic’s greasy gloves, with connotations of mob-enforced union strikes and socialist subversion. But just as the original Catholic meaning of social justice was lost in a sea of blue hair dye, we must remind ourselves that there’s nothing inherently wrong with labor unions—as evidenced by Dorothy Day or the John Paul II-inspired Solidarity movement—provided they operate within the moral parameters of proper Catholic social teaching.
Whether you’re a janitor or a jailer, a farmer or a financier, we are all called to dedicate our work to God, Who sanctifies our blood, sweat and tears as worthy offerings to Him.
Indeed, vocations are venerated in the Catholic Church, the discernment of which is a big part one one’s spiritual journey.
“For also when we were with you, this we declared to you: that, if any man will not work, neither let him eat.” —St. Paul.
But while we must earn our daily bread, man does not live on bread alone, and thus the Lord in His mercy has written leisure into law—and for that we should all give thanks every first Monday of September.
Specifically the ones who have attained some sort of administrative rank or leadership position in their community, such as the world-famous Mother Teresa.
As well as local cathedrals acting as “mother churches” for their particular diocese.
Two (coincidentally unrelated) Methodists in particular: Anna Jarvis for Mother’s Day and Sonora Dodd for Father’s Day.
Yes, dear Protestant readers, you read that number right: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/did-the-catholic-church-change-the-ten-commandments
I shudder to think what decades of secular commercialization would do to a holiday like The Assumption (I can’t help but envision parents driving their kids to the mall to wait in line to meet the Assumption Aardvark who promises to place chocolate chip cookies underneath their pillows if they behave during summer vacation and remember to wear blue on the 15th…)
Eastern Christians refer to the event as The Dormition, which they also celebrate on the 15th of August.