Diaconate Ordinations: March 30th, 2019

The nine men who were recently ordained to the subdiaconate at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary will soon advance to the diaconate, the last stage before their priestly ordinations. His Excellency the Most Reverend Joseph Perry, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, will come to the seminary to confer the ordinations during a Solemn Pontifical Mass on Saturday, March 30th, at 10 am. All are welcome to attend.

In addition to closely assisting the priest at the altar, one of the particular offices of the deacon is to chant the Gospel, and hence during the ceremony each of the ordinandi lays his hand on the book of the Gospels presented to him by the Bishop. Historically, deacons were also entrusted with the distribution of goods to the poor; indeed, a complaint about the neglect of certain widows in these distributions gave rise to the installation of the first seven deacons, ordained by the Apostles themselves (Acts 6:1-6). One of these seven was the Church’s first martyr, St. Stephen, and among the early saints we find other examples of holy deacons, such as the illustrious St. Lawrence, who famously distributed the Church’s treasures among the poor to prevent their confiscation by the persecuting authorities.

Please pray for these seven subdeacons and the two from the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer as they prepare for their diaconate ordinations!

The 2019 diaconate ordinandi for the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter: