Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer

The official name of the Redemptorists is CONGREGATION OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER. The feast of the Most Holy Redeemer is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of July and this year (2016) it falls on the 17th. Though not a public liturgical feast it is an important day for Redemptorists throughout the world.

The Congregation was founded by St. Alphonsus near Naples in 1732, and its purpose is “to follow the example of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, by preaching the word of God to the poor, as he declared of himself: ´he sent me to preach the Good News to the poor´”. Redemptorists, who are just over five thousand in number, carry out their mission in approximately 80 countries around the globe.

Four Redemptorists have been canonised. They are: St. Alphonsus Liguori (feast day is the 1st of August), St. Clement Hofbauer (feast day is the 15th of March), St. John Neumann (feast day is the 5th of January) and the one best known in Dundalk St. Gerard Majella whose feast we celebrate on the 16th of October.

Fifteen Redemptorists have been beatified. They are: Blessed Peter Donders; the 4 Ukrainian Martyrs (Nicholas Charnetsky, Vasyl Velychkovsky, Zenon Kovalyk, Ivan Ziatyk); Gennaro Sarnelli; Metodius Trcka; Kaspar Stanggassinger; Francis Xavier Seelos; the 6 Cuenca/Spanish Martyrs (Javier Jaunarena, Ciriaco Olarte, Miguel Ariz, Julian de Samaniego, Pedro Espejo, Victoriano Lozano).

Just last month in Foggia, Italy, our contemplative Sisters the Redemptoristines celebrated at the beatification of their foundress, Maria Celeste Crostarosa whose feast day is the 14th of September. The Redemptoristines were founded as the ORDER OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER in 1731. Their community in Ireland is on St Alphonsus Road, Drumcondra, Dublin.

There has been a Redemptorist community in Dundalk since 1876, initially in Park Street and at its current location since the 1880s. The foundation stone of St. Joseph´s Church was laid in 1890. Extensive renovations are being carried out in the Monastery at the moment.

In Dundalk the Novena for the feast of St. Gerard Majella is a high point of the year and this year will certainly be no different. The novena begins on the 8th of October and concludes on the 16th. Devotion to the Mother of Perpetual Help is a feature of Redemptorist churches throughout the world. We have just completed a Jubilee Year to mark the 150th anniversary of receiving the original icon from Pope Pius IX in 1866.

The challenges facing the Congregation are enormous throughout the world and we continue to need your support, not least in prayer, to help us to remain faithful to our calling. It will not have gone unnoticed that the number of Redemptorists in Ireland has decreased significantly over the last few decades. Notwithstanding this we continue to believe in our vocation and we invite you to pray that the Lord may bless the Congregation with many good vocations.

With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of Redemption