One can only wonder if Msgr. Delvecchio knew as he shook the hand of Pope John Paul II that he was shaking the hand of a future Saint of the Church. One thing was for sure, John Paul knew of Msgr. Delvecchio and his accomplishments. Msgr. Francis Delvecchio was not made monsignor at the request of the Bishop of Brooklyn, as is usually the case, instead he was made monsignor directly by the Holy Father John Paul II. Furthermore, when the Bishop of Brooklyn at the time demanded that Msgr. Delvecchio retire as pastor of Sacred Hearts-St. Stephen, it was the Holy See (the Vatican) that wrote to the Bishop to remind him of the rightful age of retirement allowing Msgr. Delvecchio five more years as pastor.

Today may be Friday the 13th, but it also May 13th - the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

The Following are the three secrets which were revealed by Our Lady

The first secret

"Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror."

The second secret

You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."

The third secret,

"After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!' And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, Religious men and women going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, Religious men and women, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God."

Publication: Brooklyn Eagle;

Date: Aug 24, 1868;

Section: None;

Page: 3

This Saturday, May 14th ,2011 at 11am, Confirmation will be celebrated once again at St. Stephen Church.

When Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, few people in Europe had any firsthand knowledge of leprosy (Hansen's disease). By the time he died at the age of 49, people all over the world knew about this disease because of him. They knew that human compassion could soften the ravages of this disease.

Forced to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm, Joseph entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary six years later, taking the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr. When his brother Pamphile, a priest in the same congregation, fell ill and was unable to go to the Hawaiian Islands as assigned, Damien quickly volunteered in his place. In May 1864, two months after arriving in his new mission, Damien was ordained a priest in Honolulu and assigned to the island of Hawaii.

In 1873, he went to the Hawaiian government's leper colony on the island of Molokai, set up seven years earlier. Part of a team of four chaplains taking that assignment for three months each year, Damien soon volunteered to remain permanently, caring for the people's physical, medical and spiritual needs. In time, he became their most effective advocate to obtain promised government support.

Soon the settlement had new houses and a new church, school and orphanage. Morale improved considerably. A few years later he succeeded in getting the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by Mother Marianne Cope (January 23), to help staff this colony in Kalaupapa.

Damien contracted Hansen's disease and died of its complications. As requested, he was buried in Kalaupapa, but in 1936 the Belgian government succeeded in having his body moved to Belgium. Part of Damien's body was returned to his beloved Hawaiian brothers and sisters after his beatification in 1995.

Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009.

When Hawaii became a state in 1959, it selected Damien as one of its two representatives in the Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.

The season of Easter begins at the Easter Vigil. But before that, the week previous to Easter is called Holy Week; it begins with Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday). On Passion Sunday the Church celebrates Christ’s riding into Jerusalem on a road strewn with cloaks and leafy branches (Mark 11:8; cf. Matthew 21:8, Luke 19:36, John 12:13), as he set about to accomplish his paschal mystery. The week culminates with the Triduum (a Latin word for a three-day period) that includes Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter itself.

Easter is such a special time that it continues not just for the eight days of the octave of Easter (all celebrated as solemnities of the Lord), but for 50 days (including Sundays and counting Easter Sunday itself) of the season of Easter. The season of Easter comes to a close, and Ordinary Time returns, on the Monday after Pentecost Sunday (from the Greek pentekoste, fiftieth day) on which we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-13).

The liturgical color of the season of Easter is white, symbolizing purity and joy. Red, the color of passion, is used on Passion (Palm) Sunday and Good Friday. Red, symbolizing fire, is also used on Pentecost Sunday.