Author: Bryan Boyle

Just a reminder that our monthly First Friday Mass in honor of the Sacred Heart and enrolled members of the Purgatorial Society will be held in the Shrine tomorrow, November 6, at 6:00 PM.

We hope to see you there!

In preparation for the upcoming Advent and Christmas seasons, your Shrine has updated the Calendar of Events, always accessible from the home page menu, Ministries Calendar of Events, to reflect the devotions and activities being held in the Shrine.

Please be sure to check the Calendar for the times of the various devotions we will be offering during the coming 2 months.

The Church’s senior tribunal, which handles all matters of the internal forum and indulgences, the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary (SPA), has issued a decree concerning the annual opportunity to gain indulgences for the souls in Purgatory in time of COVID.

Right now the decree is only in Latin, Italian, and German.

In effect, because of COVID-19, the SPA has extended the indulgence in the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum (conc. 29, §1) for the whole month of November.

The plenary indulgence granted for visiting a cemetery to pray for the dead from 1-8 November is extended to other days of the month as the faithful choose.

The plenary indulgence for 2 November for the faithful who visit a church or oratory and recite an Our Father and the Apostles Creed can be transferred to the previous or following Sunday or to All Saints or even on another day of November as the faithful choose.

The elderly or sick or those who for some reason cannot leave their dwelling, even because of a government lockdown, can also obtain the plenary indulgence, provided that they are completely detached from sin and have the intention of fulfilling as soon as possible the three usual conditions of sacramental confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions designated by the Pope. They obtain the plenary indulgence by praying before an image of the Lord or the Blessed Virgin pious prayers for the dead such as Lauds and Vespers from the Office for the Dead, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, or other prayers for the dead, or meditate on a Gospel passage proposed by the Liturgy for the Dead, or do a work of mercy by offering their pain and discomfort to God.

The SPA strongly urges priests lavishly to provide the Sacrament of Penance and Communion for the infirm.

The SPA reminds about the document of 19 March 2020 about the Sacrament of Penance in time of pandemic.

The SPA warmly invites all priests to celebrate Holy Mass three times on 2 November 2020 in accordance with the 1915 Apostolic Constitution Incruentem altaris of Pope Benedict XV.

The decree was signed on 22 October, the Feast of St. John Paul II.

It is a work of Mercy to pray for our beloved dead.

The Shrine downstairs has always been a place of quiet, contemplation, and peace, and your Society is endeavoring to maintain this space as a place of refuge from the noise and chaos of the world.

To that end, having obtained the Tabernacle from Holy Cross parish, which closed the day before our final parish Mass on November 25, 2018 at St. Anne’s, we’ve located it, front and center, in the Shrine sanctuary:

Please be aware that, with the Tabernacle now front and center in the Shrine, the entire Shrine central space is in the presence of our Lord. Catholic tradition and practice is that reverence should be shown to the Lord in the Tabernacle: genuflecting before entering and upon leaving a pew, a respectful silence while in His presence, and maintaining proper decorum in dress and activities is always required, as befitting being in the presence of the Son of God.

The Sanctuary space itself, marked by the velvet ropes around the rear and the altar rail in the front, should be respected as a limited access area; please refrain from entering the Sanctuary itself unless part of a liturgical activity since this space is now sacred with the presence of our Eucharistic Lord in the Tabernacle.

We hope that these changes prove beneficial to you, and we welcome you to the ongoing improvements and changes to the Shrine to further our mission of returning St. Anne Shrine to its proper place as a destination of Catholic devotion in the Fall River Diocese.

A structure, a landmark, a notable destination such as our Shrine is a perfect subject for photography … and even more striking are those captured by drone pilots.

This high-resolution photograph, courtesy of Azor Aerials, was taken recently and posted on other social media sites. Joao Medeiros, who took the photo, is a supporter of St. Anne Shrine, and graciously gave permission for the Society to use this photo here. Thank you, Joao!