St Martin Magazine - February 2024

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On Sunday 11 February, we celebrate the great feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and our cover for this month shows the grotto at Massabielle. In keeping with the celebration Ray Hughes writes about the hymn most associated with this holy place – the Loudes Ave (The Bells of the Angelus). Fr Gerard Timoner OP (the Master of the Dominican Order) will celebrate Mass in St Saviour’s Church, Dominic Street, Dublin 1 at 11am. This Mass will begin the celebrations of the arrival of the Dominican Order in Ireland some 800 years ago (1224 – 2024). Fr. John Harris OP continues the theme in an article in which he writes about the unique dynamic between Our Lady and Bernadette, and how different the experience was for the young girl when compared with her ordinary life encounters. This in turn leads on to a consideration of the meaning of human freedom. Fr Aelred Magee OCSO writes about Mary’s role as the Mother of God and shows how it is her very humility which makes her great. 2024 is a leap year and in ‘Echoes’ Pat Hope explains in depth why it is that an extra day is added to the calendar every four years. Mabel Tolkien (the mother of the creator of The Lord of the Rings) is our famous convert and the much-maligned Catholic Queen of England, Mary Tudor is featured in ‘It Happened This Month’. On page 36 you will find an update on the student priests of the Dominican Order written by our editor Fr John Walsh. This month marks the beginning of celebrations for the 800th anniversary of the Dominicans in Ireland; to mark this there is the first in a series on Irish Dominican martyrs. We celebrate St Brigid’s feast day with lovely gifts in our Special Offers section. Choose from St Brigid cross and chain from Carrick Silverware, reed cross brooches handcrafted in Ireland or cross pins available in Silver and Antique Gold Finish.