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VOCATIONS
Click here
for the Calendars for Priests and Future Priests has been compiled by
St. Mathew's Parish Vocation Enrichment Team. Each active priest in our
diocese has at least one day each year reserved for him -- please remember
that priest in your prayers each day. (the calendars may be printed or saved
to your computers)
Our Friars
The friars of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Province of the Third Order Regular Franciscans have ministered at St. Mary’s since 1988, when Fr. Bernardine Smith, TOR, became pastor.
We trace our origins back to 1221, when St. Francis of Assisi wrote his First Letter to the Penitents, in which he presented guidelines for the brothers and sisters of penance who wished to share in his Gospel way of life. In 1447, the Italian fraternities of men were united into a single order by Pope Nicolas V.
Our province traces its American roots to Loretto, Pennsylvania, where in 1847, friars from Ireland founded a boarding school for boys, the future St. Francis University. The province went on to establish the Franciscan University of Steubenville in 1946, missions in India and Brazil, and to minister in parishes in Florida, Texas, South Dakota, West Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina.
Our friars follow the spirit of St. Francis, living the Gospel in fraternity, faithful to our founder’s ideal of adoring God and sharing in His compassion and mercy.
Want more information about the Franciscan Friars, T.O.R. and their province? Interested in a Franciscan Vocation? Want to learn more about the Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH or St. Francis University of Loretto, PA? Click on the links!!!
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Prayer for Vocations
Jesus, our Good Shepherd, bless all our parishes with numerous priest, deacons, men and women in religious life, consecrated laity and missionaries, according to the needs of the entire world, which you love and wish to save.
Assist our pastors and all who life a consecrated life. Guide the steps of those who have responded generously to your call and are preparing to receive Holy Orders or to profess vows. Look with love on young people and call them to follow you. Help them to understand that in you alone can they attain complete fulfillment. To this end we call on the powerful intercession of Mary, mother and model of all vocations. We beseech you to sustain our faith that the Father will grant what you command us to ask.
Amen
~Pope John Paul II |
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