St. Mary of Victories Chapel

08/31/2026

Please pray for new vocations and for our seminarians, sisters and lay leaders.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1ESgafLXEx/

08/30/2026

Happy Sunday, everyone. May God bless you in the coming week and always.

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08/29/2026

TRIVIA AND FY26 FINANCIAL SUCCESS INFO

Hello Friends, we are in the final drive to sign up tables for Trivia Time at St. Mary of Victories after the 11 am Mass on Sept 20! It seemed to be a good time to share a brief update about successes and challenges.

As you know, we are a lay volunteer operated and self funded chapel of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and are making every effort to keep going strong and true to Jesus and his victorious mother. The Archdiocese has been incredibly generous to us in times of emergency with the boilers and roof damage under our insurance program in excess of $100k.

But the operating expenses, although they are modest, are the responsibility of our community. Everyone who works at SMV is a volunteer, including many tradesmen who help keep this venerable old church going.

This past fiscal year FY26 (July 2025 to June 2026) we finally made it in the black after three years of increasing performance and kept our small savings stable. This was due to a lot of generous donors, tons of volunteer time, and sometimes uncomfortable belt tightening! Congratulations to all of us!

But, we still need your help as we enter into another fiscal year if we want the results to be the same or even better in FY27! And the trivia event is our largest fundraiser of the year. Its small but extremely important to the budget, and enables us to focus on the most important mission of St. Mary of Victories, faithfully spreading the Gospel through the beauty of the Catholic faith, reverent liturgy and devotions.

If you can't sign up to join the trivia game (and enjoy free soda and snacks) please spread the word, say a prayer, or make a small donation. All of this takes pressure off of our all volunteer team for the second part of the year!

We are also in need of volunteers to help us man events and participate in planning activities.

Let's band together with small measures of devotion to keep SMV alive into our 184th year!

http://trivia.smov.info

Normal donation site...

http://donate.smov.info

Spread the word!!

Ave Maria!

In Their Hearts,
Jim Hooper, OHT
Director
SMV
[email protected]

08/27/2026

It is not too late to sign up for a table for trivia! Come and enjoy an afternoon of fun.

08/25/2026

08/20/2026

Are any of you an engineer or architect? We need official sign off on some plans (or advise us how to make the plans acceptable), so that a building permit can be issued. Please reach out to me (Jim Hooper) privately if you can assist, [email protected].

08/20/2026

Happy 1026th Birthday to Hungary! 🎂🇭🇺❤️🤍💚

08/15/2026

Third Sunday Mass tomorrow at 11 am will be held in the hall due to the heat. Prayer books, music, bulletins, the beautifully appointed altar are all set up and waiting. Hope to see you all there!

Following Mass, pastries, donuts and other goodies will be served!

And if you aren't able to come this time, please remember us in your giving this weekend. All donations are tax deductible and go towards the operation and upkeep of the church. The online collection basket is at

http://give.smov.info

Thank you!!

This donation will help us keep historic St. Mary of Victories operating. All gifts are tax deductible. Thank you!

08/15/2026

Our Lady, hope of our homeland!
Our holy Virgin Mother, our holy Virgin Mother,
O, do not forsake us!

Excerpt from a Hungarian Hymn

A few notes: Nagyasszonyunk literally means "our Great Lady," a distinctly Hungarian Marian title tied to St. Stephen's dedication of the kingdom to Mary as Magna Domina Hungarorum — Great Lady of the Hungarians. Szűzanyánk combines "virgin" and "our mother," so "our Blessed Virgin Mother" captures it well. And el ne hagyj is an imperative with no stated object; "do not abandon/forsake" with "us" implied by the collective plea of the preceding lines.

The image is a Byzantine-style crowned Theotokos with the Christ Child.

Amen.

08/15/2026

Thank you to the Blue Army for hosting a beautiful event today. Around 50 were in attendance for the tour of the church and Mass in the hall. Captured some beautiful photos of the liturgy.

Ave Maria.