St. Francis in Atlanta Celebrates Its Patronal Feast

Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Church, our parish apostolate in Mableton, Georgia, celebrated the feast of Saint Francis on January 29th. Fr. Joel Keifer, FSSP, assistant pastor of St. Francis, offered the Solemn High Mass assisted by Rev. Mr. Douglas Anderson as Deacon and Fr. Mathew McCarthy, FSSP, pastor of St. Francis, as Subdeacon.

The joy of celebrating the patronal feast is a high point for a parish each year, and it was made even more joyous this year with the physical presence of Saint Francis. His relic now resides on the alter, immediately to the Gospel side of the Tabernacle.

Saint Francis was known for his tireless devotion and zeal for souls, and was a man who effected the bringing back to the Church of over 40,000 French Calvinists.  An endless source of spiritual advice on devotion, here is but one piece of advice:

Devotion is simply that spiritual agility and vivacity by which charity works in us or by aid of which we work quietly and lovingly. Just as it is the function of charity to enable us to observe all God’s commandments in general and without exception, so it is the part of devotion to enable us to observe them more quickly and diligently. Hence a person who does not observe all God’s commandments cannot be held to be either good or devout. To be good one must have charity, and to be devout, in addition to charity one must have great ardor and readiness in performing charitable actions.

Enjoy pictures of the Mass, and many thanks to Owen Berry for the lovely pictures of the day.