Edmonton: St. Matthew Parish Celebrates Our Lady

(Edmonton, AB – October 24) – On the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Fr. Sathiaseelan "Sathia" Kulandaisamy, SDB, introduced the Living Rosary to St. Matthew Parish. One of the parishioners donated a new statue of Mary earlier in the year, another parishioner donated a wonderful live rose bush from her garden, and a third parishioner shopped at numerous locations and picked up unique candle holders. The individual beads were lit as parishioners each took their turn praying a portion of the Rosary in their language of origin. There were parishioners ranging from ages eight to over 80 in attendance in a wide variety of languages and cultures from throughout the world.

The Living Rosary remained lit during the Holy Mass that followed. It was the first time St. Matthew Parish had been introduced to the Living Rosary, and the response was unanimously in favor of celebrating all future Marian Feasts in this same manner.

Saturday, October 15, marked the 105th Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima. Fr. Sathia introduced the Rosary Rally to St. Matthew Parish by stepping up to be their First Rosary Rally Captain. With Fr. Sathia's personal experience of being introduced to Canada with a Rosary Rally in the snow and cold, the 70 parishioners and guests in attendance started off pleased to be only wearing light winter jackets in the still colorful rose and flower garden. The banners and prayer program provided by CanadaNeedsOurLady.org made it easy for all participants to know where the rally was held and actively participate.

Many parishioners stayed behind to pay personal homage to Our Lady, as well as take photos of the beautifully decorated Marian Statue. St. Matthew Parish's Rosary Rally was one of over 770 public Rosary rallies held on this date around Canada.