Ballyfermot Assumption Parish

08/06/2026

08/06/2026

Know anyone called Colman? It’s his feast day today. There are two; Colman of Dromore today, and Colman of Cloyne in October. So we pray for all the Colmans we know, and especially our friends in the Diocese of Dromore. 🙂🙏

06/06/2026

Happy Feast of Corpus Christi! Join us to celebrate the feast with Sunday Eucharist at 7pm (Sat Vigil), 9.30am or 11.30pm on Sunday at https://assumptionballyfermot.ie/parish-tv/. Click on images below for mass text, reflections and children’s worksheet. 🙂🙏

06/06/2026

St Jarlath (445-550) - Patron of Tuam - 6th June.

Know anyone called Jarlath? It’s his feast day today. Pray for him, and the people, and Church, of the Diocese of Tuam.🙂🙏

Very little is known of Jarlath (in Irish Iarfhlaith). His first foundation was in Cloonfush near Tuam. Later he founded a monastery in Tuam. He is said to have taught Brendan of Clonfert and Colman of Cloyne. Jarlath is the abbot-bishop associated with the Archdiocese of Tuam that includes parts of the counties of Mayo, Galway and Roscommon.

He became a disciple of St Enda. The monasteries he founded, first at Cloonfush and later at Tuam were renowned for their scholarship and learning.

However, Jarlath is regarded as the founder and patron saint of the Archdiocese of Tuam in Galway, Ireland. From the second syllable of his name, fhlaith, meaning “lord”, it could be taken that he came from a wealthy family; the meaning of the first syllable is unknown.

Jarlath is said to have studied under Benen (Benignus), a disciple of St Patrick, and under St Enda at Aran Isalnd. The Féilire of Aengus tells us that he was noted for his mortification, fasting, and prayer. He own first monastic foundation was at Cloonfush, some miles east of Tuam. Among his disciples there were Brendan of Clonfert and Colman of Cloyne.

While Jarlath was travelling in his chariot west from Cloonfush, the wheel of the chariot broke. A prophecy of Saint Brendan of Clonfert had foretold that this place where the wheel of the chariot would break would be the place where he would meet death. So Jarlath decided to found another monastic community here. From this incident, the chariot wheel has become the symbol of the town of Tuam.

The diocese was established by the twelfth-century synods of Rathbreasail and Kells, and subsequently became an archdiocese absorbing into it two other medieval dioceses: Annaghdown and Mayo.

Jarlath died around 550. His feast is on 6th June. Below is a picture of St Jarlath’s Window, Tuam Cathedral. 🙏

06/06/2026

Saint Norbert- Saint of the Day for June 6
(c. 1080 – June 6, 1134)

Saint Norbert founded the order with the most difficult name to pronounce and spell—Praemonstratensians. Perhaps that’s why they go by the name of Norbertines. But this order was anything but hard to appreciate when it comes to the work they did. They were very effective in converting heretics and reconciling enemies.

Saint Norbert’s Story

In the 12th century in the French region of Premontre, Saint Norbert founded a religious Order known as the Praemonstratensians or the Norbertines. His founding of the Order was a monumental tasks: combating rampant heresies—particularly regarding the Blessed Sacrament, revitalizing many of the faithful who had grown indifferent and dissolute, plus effecting peace and reconciliation among enemies.

Norbert entertained no pretensions about his own ability to accomplish this multiple task. Even with the aid of a goodly number of men who joined his Order, he realized that nothing could be effectively done without God’s power. Finding this help especially in devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, he and his Norbertines praised God for success in converting heretics, reconciling numerous enemies, and rebuilding faith in indifferent believers. Many of them lived in central houses during the week and served in parishes on weekends.

Reluctantly, Norbert became archbishop of Magdeburg in central Germany, a territory half pagan and half Christian. In this position he zealously and courageously continued his work for the Church until his death on June 6, 1134.

Reflection

A different world cannot be built by indifferent people. The same is true in regard to the Church. The indifference of vast numbers of nominal faithful to ecclesiastical authority and essential doctrines of the faith weakens the Church’s witness. Unswerving loyalty to the Church and fervent devotion to the Eucharist, as practiced by Norbert, will continue immeasurably toward maintaining the people of God in accord with the heart of Christ. 🙏

05/06/2026

Saint Boniface - Saint of the Day for June 5
(c. 675 – June 5, 754)

Saint Boniface was an English Benedictine monk who made it his life’s mission to convert the Germanic tribes to Christianity. He found it was no easy task and ended up giving his life for the cause. Boniface was martyred on June 5, 754.

Saint Boniface’s Story

Boniface, known as the apostle of the Germans, was an English Benedictine monk who gave up being elected abbot to devote his life to the conversion of the Germanic tribes. Two characteristics stand out: his Christian orthodoxy and his fidelity to the pope of Rome.

How absolutely necessary this orthodoxy and fidelity were is borne out by the conditions Boniface found on his first missionary journey in 719 at the request of Pope Gregory II. Paganism was a way of life. What Christianity he did find had either lapsed into paganism or was mixed with error. The clergy were mainly responsible for these latter conditions since they were in many instances uneducated, lax and questionably obedient to their bishops. In particular instances their very ordinations were questionable.

These are the conditions that Boniface was to report in 722 on his first return visit to Rome. The Holy Father instructed him to reform the German Church. The pope sent letters of recommendation to religious and civil leaders. Boniface later admitted that his work would have been unsuccessful, from a human viewpoint, without a letter of safe-conduct from Charles Martel, the powerful Frankish ruler, grandfather of Charlemagne. Boniface was finally made a regional bishop and authorized to organize the whole German Church. He was eminently successful.

In the Frankish kingdom, he met great problems because of lay interference in bishops’ elections, the worldliness of the clergy and lack of papal control.

During a final mission to the Frisians, Boniface and 53 companions were massacred while he was preparing converts for confirmation.

In order to restore the Germanic Church to its fidelity to Rome and to convert the pagans, Boniface had been guided by two principles. The first was to restore the obedience of the clergy to their bishops in union with the pope of Rome. The second was the establishment of many houses of prayer which took the form of Benedictine monasteries. A great number of Anglo-Saxon monks and nuns followed him to the continent, where he introduced the Benedictine nuns to the active apostolate of education.

Reflection

Boniface bears out the Christian rule: To follow Christ is to follow the way of the cross. For Boniface, it was not only physical suffering or death, but the painful, thankless, bewildering task of Church reform. Missionary glory is often thought of in terms of bringing new persons to Christ. It seems—but is not—less glorious to heal the household of the faith.

Saint Boniface is the Patron Saint of Germany. 🙏

03/06/2026

Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, martyrs - Saint of the Day for June 3 (d. between November 15, 1885 – January 27, 1887)

Today we celebrate the 22 martyrs of Uganda, Saints Charles Lwanga and Companions. Their stories are set in the court of a chief who did not share their faith. Even though they were pages in his court, their faith meant more to them than his approval and support.

Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions’ Story

One of 22 Ugandan martyrs, Charles Lwanga is the patron of youth and Catholic action in most of tropical Africa. He protected his fellow pages, aged 13 to 30, from the sexual demands of the Bagandan ruler, Mwanga, and encouraged and instructed them in the Catholic faith during their imprisonment for refusing the ruler’s demands.

Charles first learned of Christ’s teachings from two retainers in the court of Chief Mawulugungu. While a catechumen, he entered the royal household as assistant to Joseph Mukaso, head of the court pages.

On the night of Mukaso’s martyrdom for encouraging the African youths to resist Mwanga, Charles requested and received baptism. Imprisoned with his friends, Charles’s courage and belief in God inspired them to remain chaste and faithful.

For his own unwillingness to submit to the immoral acts and his efforts to safeguard the faith of his friends, Charles was burned to death at Namugongo on June 3, 1886, by Mwanga’s order.

When Pope Paul VI canonized these 22 martyrs on October 18, 1964, he also made reference to the Anglican pages martyred for the same reason.