Halloween and our Prioress’ Feast Day

At our annual Halloween party on the eve of All Saints Day, we are usually visited by a troop of saints from above. This year was no exception, and we had quite the array of heavenly visitors, including the prophet Elijah who drove into the party in a working fiery chariot! Our Lady seems to have bilocated for the occasion, appearing as both Our Lady of Sorrows and as a vision St. Dominic had of Our Lady with the entire Order under her mantle. Two Dominican saints made an appearance - St. Margaret of Hungary and St. Vincent Ferrer, and Siena (our dog) arrived as St. Francis of Assisi! St. Elizabeth of Hungary, the aunt of our Dominican saint, Margaret of Hungary, along with levitating St. Teresa of Avila and St. Jane de Chantal rounded out the saints of the evening.

Elijah and his fiery "chariot"

St. Teresa of Avila levitating in ecstasy

Our Lady of Sorrows

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Our Lady with all the Dominican Saints under her mantle

Suddenly he (St. Dominic) was rapt in spirit before God and saw Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin sitting at his right. … As blessed Dominic looked around, he could see religious of all the orders but his own before the throne of God. He began to weep bitterly … Our Lord asked him, “Why are you weeping?” Dominic said, “I am weeping because I see all other orders here but there is no sign of my own.” The Lord said to him, “Do you want to see your Order?” Dominic answered, “Yes, Lord.” Then Our Lord, putting his hand upon the shoulders of the Blessed Virgin, said to blessed Dominic, “I have entrusted your Order to my Mother.” Then the Blessed Virgin opened the cape that covered her and spread it out before blessed Dominic. It seemed vast enough to cover the entire heaven and, under it, he saw a large multitude of his brethren. Then, prostrating himself, blessed Dominic gave thanks to God and to Blessed Mary.

—From the Narration on the Miracles of Saint Dominic by Blessed Caecilia

St. Jane de Chantal

St. Margaret of Hungary

One of just a few canonized nuns of the Order, St. Margaret was well known for her penances, including that of wear lice-ridden clothing!

St. Vincent Ferrer - the "Angel of Judgment"

St. Francis of Assisi!

Then, on November 3rd, we celebrated the feast day of our prioress, Sister Mary Martin, whose patron is St. Martin de Porres, a cooperator brother of the Order of Preachers from Lima, Peru. We open the celebration by singing a song creatively written for the occasion - usually a spoof on one of the hymns we sing - and greet Sister one by one to wish her a happy feast day. Then the fun begins! Sister Rebecca entertained us with some beautiful oboe music, and Sister Mary Veronica provided a very fun and interactive trivia game (one of the rounds involved identifying breakfast cereals!). In the afternoon, the Novitiate Sisters sang a trio of songs for the celebration. And of course, it wouldn’t be the prioress’ feast unless we closed out the day with Bingo!