Join us this evening as Bishop Frank Caggiano celebrates a special memorial Mass for the Knights of Columbus of the Long Island Chapter at 8pm in our church. 

History of Knights of Columbus from their website.

Thanks to the efforts of Father Michael J. McGivney, assistant pastor of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven and some of his parishioners, the Connecticut state legislature on March 29, 1882, officially chartered the Knights of Columbus as a fraternal benefit society. The Order is still true to its founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity.

The Knights was formed to render financial aid to members and their families. Mutual aid and assistance are offered to sick, disabled and needy members and their families. Social and intellectual fellowship is promoted among members and their families through educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war relief and public relief works.

The history of the Order shows how the foresight of Father Michael J. McGivney, whose cause for sainthood is being investigated by the Vatican, brought about what has become the world's foremost Catholic fraternal benefit society. The Order has helped families obtain economic security and stability through its life insurance, annuity and long-term care programs, and has contributed time and energy worldwide to service in communities.

The Knights of Columbus has grown from several members in one council to more than 14,000 councils and 1.8 million members throughout the world.

Maria Ambrosino was born in Monte di Procida Italy to Ciro and Filomena. She immigrated to America making Carroll Gardens her home and eventually settling on 4th Place. Along with her husband Tommaso a Longshoreman, she raised her Three Children Lucy, Onofrio and Philomena. She was the proud grandmother of four and great-grandmother to two. Maria could always be found at morning Mass lectoring in Italian as well as on Sundays. She was a woman of great faith and devotion. She especially held devotions to Our Lady of the Assumption (Patron of her home town) Madonna Del Arco (in whose name she sent charitable contributions back to Italy) and St. Padre Pio whom she felt a special connection. She will remain for all of us a true foundation stone of our parish. Always willing to give, even when she did not have much herself. She was a person of class and strength, determination and faith. She was present representing the parish at many diocesan events and always present for parish pilgrimages. She will be missed by her family and parish - but most of all by her friends with whom she shared in the breaking of the bread everyone morning.   

A wake for Mrs. Ambrosino will be held on Thursday and Friday from 2-5 & 7-9 at Scotto Funeral Home. Her Funeral Mass will be on Saturday at 10am at Sacred Hearts-St. Stephen Church. The Family has asked that donation be made to the parish instead of sending flowers.  

L'eterno riposo dona loro, o Signore,
e splenda ad essi la luce perpetua.
Riposino in pace. Amen.

March 17th is a big day for Irish Catholics as it is the feast day of Ireland's patron Saint, St. Patrick.

St. Patrick also holds a special place in the stain glass of our church. Located on the Gospel, or Blessed Mother, side of the Church, directly in the middle is a large stain glass window of Saint Patrick. Many may wonder why a window of St. Patrick would be so prominently placed in the church of the First Italian Parish of Brooklyn. To answer this question one has to be reminded that while Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary parish was established as Brooklyn first Italian Parish in 1882, St. Stephen Parish was established by the Irish in 1866. The current Sacred Hearts-St. Stephen church building was designed by Irish born Brooklynite Patrick Keeley for the Irish parish in 1873. As patron of Ireland St. Patrick was given a place of prominence across from the patron of the parish, St. Stephen, located on the opposite side of the church. 

Although the fire of 1951 in the church destroyed much of the stain glass, Msgr. Delvecchio decided to repair the stain glass window of St. Patrick among others, as a reminder of the parish church's history. Msgr. likewise had Patrick's image painted in the top of the nave among the Saints and the Popes.  

The fans of Sacred Hearts - St. Stephen parish are in for a real treat this season on NET!

The popular NET show City of Churches http://netny.net/cityofchurches/ spent March 17th filming at our historic church. Nick, the host of City of Churches, went on a full tour with Father Sansone, which will take views from 1866 to today. Assisting with historic photos and facts from the Sacred Hearts-St. Stephen Archive, the show will document the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens and Columbia Street and the role that the parish has played in their development. Viewers will also learn about the history and architecture of St. Stephen church building and get a once in a lifetime glimpse of the view from the top of the tower!   

No air date has yet been announced - but we will pass it along when we find out.

A special thank you to the crew who put their full effort into making the show the best!

Below is a copy of the Memorare written by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton between 1804-1820.

Memorare, from Latin "Remember", is frequently misattributed to the 12th century Cistercian monk Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, apparently due to confusion with its 17th century popularizer, Father Claude Bernard, who stated that he learned it from his own father. Trusting his charges to the care and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Fr. Bernard employed the Memorare extensively in his work of evangelization to great effect. At one time he had more than 200,000 leaflets printed with the Memorare in various languages dso he could distribute the leaflets wherever he felt they would do some good.

However, we know that the Bernard family did not create the prayer since years earlier the prayer is documented as being used by St. Francis de Sales. The de Sales family were members of the minor nobility and staunch Catholics, but St. Francis de Sales fell victim to the religious turmoil of his age which tormented his soul. The torment of despair came to a sudden end as he knelt in prayer before the statue of Our Lady of Good Deliverance at the Church of St. Etienne des Gres in Paris, saying the Memorare. Francis credited the Blessed Virgin with saving his from falling into despair or heresy; he recited the Memorare day after day, and she did not leave him unaided.

It is believed that teh Memorare first appeared as part of a longer 15th century prayer, "Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria." Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria is a rather long prayer that appears in a number of printed books and manuscripts from the last quarter of the 15th century and onwards. It appears in such works as the Hortulus Animae (15th cent.), the Antidotarius Animae (a5th cent.) of Nicholas de Saliceto (Cistercian abbot of Bomgart, near Strasbourg), and the Precationum piarum Enchiridion, compiled around 1570 by Simon Verepaeus. The Memorare is an integral part of the text in each case. Exactly when the Memorare was extracted from this longer prayer has not yet been determined, but it likely occurred in the later part of the 16th century, around the time of Fr. Bernard and his father.

Since the later part of the 16th century several variants of the Memorare have appeared. The exact wording of the prayer stabilized during the 19th century, to that which we recite at the end of Mass in the parish, and was first indulgenced by Pope Pius IX in 1846. The church continues to grant a partial indulgence to the faithful who recite the Memorare.  

Sacred Hearts-St. Stephen parish's devotion to the blessed mother has been long standing, however it has been under the pastorship of Fr. Anthony J. Sansone that the Memorare prayer has become our parish prayer of devotion to the blessed mother.