Ian MacGill was sent the following article from Ireland and felt that it is appropriate to our parish.  It is written by Fr Owen Gorman.

“Has the Church officially ‘dropped’ St Philomena?  Renowned American theologian Dr Mark Miravalle examined this question in a recent booklet*.  He explains that despite her removal from the liturgical calendar in 1961 and her omission in 2001 from the revised Roman Martyology, this not an official rejection of her status as a saint

After all, popular devotion to this martyr has received papal approval over the years and the devotion may continue with Church sanction in our own day.

Viewing the 1961 decision to remove St Philomena from the calendar, Miravelle explains that this was a ‘liturgical directive and not an ecclesial declaration that St Philomena was no longer a saint.’  Similarly, the decision in 2001 to omit her from the Martyology in no way implies that she is being discarded.

Miravelle explains: “the Roman Martyrology does not constitute a comprehensive compilation of every saint and martyr recognised by the Church,” and was never meant to be such.

The modern devotion to St Philomena began in 1802.  During excavations in the Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome, the remains of an early martyr were discovered under three funeral titles bearing the inscription (when rearranged): “PAX TECUM FILUMENA” (Peace be with you Philomena).

MARTYR.

An engraved palm branch on one of the titles together with a broken glass vial of blood indicated that the remains were those of a martyr.

Following a request by the Bishop of Nola, the sacred remains were transferred to the Mugnano on August 10 1805 where they have been ever since.  In the following years the number of miracles which resulted from praying to Philomena was vast, including the cure of Venerable Pauline Jaricot, founder of the Society for the Propogation of the Faith.

The cure of Jaricot finally convinced Pope Gregory XV1 to allow popular devotion to Philomena to be raised to the status of public liturgical veneration.

St John Vianney, the parish priest of Ars in France, attributed all the miracles in his parish to St Philomena.  He repeatedly spoke of having apparitions of the saint and directly attributed his own miraculous cure from grave illness to her powerful intercession.”

* ‘Present Ecclestial Status of Devotion to St Philomena’ is published by Queenship publishing.