Calendar Class of September 29, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Happy Michaelmas Day! Traditionally this was a type of thanksgiving holiday during the end of the harvest and Fall produce market season in northern Europe. It is a time to express gratitude and celebrate the earthly harvest and heavenly graces and guidance from our heavenly protectors, the Archangels. Liturgically, Autumn has a supernatural flavor, which coincides in the north with misty mornings and chilly evenings, silent but for the echo of the hooting owl, a harbinger of death in some mythologies and cultural traditions (see the Etc category below). Yesterday for the Sunday Feast we celebrated harbingers of life- mothers- when we gathered for an early 50th birthday party for me, a surprise gift from our dear friends the Blacks and Divozzos. There was a well laden and well dressed al fresco table, there was music and singing, and there were reminiscences. It was really the best birthday gift possible to hear stories from lifelong friends about my childhood or some fun memory they had from times we spent together (some of which I had never heard before). Every year for my birthday I love to hear my birth story from the woman who knows it best, my mother. I was born just months after the ancestral house burned down to the ground, during construction of the new house. My mother was so worried about the unsecured cupola atop the new house during the thunderstorm that was happening outside while she was in labor, that her anxiety over that distracted her from the labor pains. I was delivered by a midwife named Kate Lord, and so my mother has always quipped that the Lord delivered me. So many special women, some of whom I don't even know, have been harbingers of life for me, and so, on this Michaelmas Day of thanksgiving, I am grateful for them, especially the ladies who threw me my first 50th birthday party of the year.

Liturgical: Monday of the 26th week of the Ordinary Time

Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels

And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

John 1:47-51

Sanctoral: The liturgy celebrates the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, archangels who are venerated in the tradition of the Church. Michael (Who is like God?) was the archangel who fought against Satan and all his evil angels, defending all the friends of God. He is the protector of all humanity from the snares of the devil. Gabriel (Strength of God) announced to Zachariah the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist, and to Mary, the birth of Jesus. His greeting to the Virgin, "Hail, full of grace," is one of the most familiar and frequent prayers of the Christian people. Raphael (Medicine of God) is the archangel who took care of Tobias on his journey.

Angels are pure, created spirits. The name angel means servant or messenger of God. Angels are celestial or heavenly beings, on a higher order than human beings. Angels have no bodies and do not depend on matter for their existence or activity. They are distinct from saints, which men can become. Angels have intellect and will, and are immortal. They are a vast multitude, but each is an individual person. Archangels are one of the nine choirs of angels listed in the Bible. In ascending order, the choirs or classes are 1) Angels, 2) Archangels, 3) Principalities, 4) Powers, 5) Virtues, 6) Dominations, 7) Thrones, 8) Cherubim, and 9) Seraphim.

The Roman Martyrology also commemorates St. Jan of Dukla (1414-1484) who was born in Dukla, Poland in 1414. He joined the Friars Minor Conventual, a religious order who strictly adhered to their rule of poverty and obedience. Though he went blind later in age he was able to prepare sermons with the help of an aide. His preaching was credited in bringing people back to the Church in his province. He died in Ukraine in 1484. Soon after his death, there was an immediate at his tomb and several miracles were attributed to him. On June 10, 1997, he was canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II in a Mass at Krosno, Poland before approximately one million people.

Human: Today is Michaelmas!

The feast day of St. Michael, the archangel and overcomer of the Devil, is a Christian celebration based on the ancient Celtic calendar. Its main importance in people’s lives was that of a seasonal signpost in the year. In the British Isles, crops were harvested and the surplus sold by late September, so this became the time when farmers would pay their yearly rents to landowners. Everyone ate goose at Michaelmas to bring prosperity, and many farmers included “a goose fit for the lord’s dinner” with their rent payments. Great market fairs occurred just before the feast day, and the large crowds these attracted made it convenient to hold elections at this time. Michaelmas is also a “Quarter Day.” The ancient Celtic people divided the year into four major sections, or quarters, and then divided each of these in half to make an eight-part year that reflected the natural progression of the seasons. Foods traditional for Michaelmas include new wine; goose; cakes of oats, barley, and rye; and carrots. Some groups in the United States, such as the Pennsylvania Dutch, have kept Michaelmas, or “Harvest Home,” traditions alive.

Natural: Michaelmas Traditions-- of special mention is the St. Michael Bannock from Scotland, roast goose and stuffing from Britain, waffles from France, and roast duck from Germany or France, gnocchi from Italy. Blackberries, apples and carrots also play a large role on this feast in various countries.

Try to find the Michaelmas daisy, a purple aster, to use for decoration. It also comes in other colors, including white, but purple is the most popular. It usually blooms in late summer until October. The official name is Aster novi-belgii, but is also known as New York aster. If you find plants or seeds to plan for next year's garden. This site has photos and gardening information for the Michaelmas daisy.

Folklore in the British Isles suggests that Michaelmas day is the last day that blackberries can be picked. It is said that when St. Michael expelled Lucifer, the devil, from heaven, he fell from the skies and landed in a prickly blackberry bush. Satan cursed the fruit, scorched them with his fiery breath, and stamped and spat on them, so that they would be unfit for eating. A traditional Irish proverb says:

On Michaelmas Day the devil puts his foot on the blackberries.

If you have access to blackberries, make this the last picking and eating. Perhaps make a blackberry pie? See Michaelmas Pie for a great recipe.

Etc.: Owls as Harbingers of Death

Italian: Passo (step / move)

Passo is a masculine noun that refers to steps, rhythm, and movement – both in literal walking and in a wider, figurative sense.

Quote: St. Michael the Archangel,

defend us in battle.

Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,

and do thou,

O Prince of the heavenly hosts,

by the power of God,

thrust into hell Satan,

and all the evil spirits,

who prowl about the world

seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

O glorious prince St. Michael,

chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.

My favorite arrangement of the prayer set to chant.