Our own Fr. Alex concelebrated the Papal Mass for the World Day of the Poor in Rome on November 17, 2019.

D’Alzon November 21, 2019

Next year 2020 will mark the 175^th anniversary of the founding of the Assumptionists. Today we recall the day our founder, Emmanuel d’Alzon, died…November 21, 1880. Let me say a word about him. Born in 1810 to a distinguished family in southern France, his whole life consisted in taking profound, life-shattering risks.

First of all, there were the not inconsequential risks he took by virtue of shunning the aristocratic status of his family and the powerful fortune that he would inherit, a fortune that would easily establish him as a man of noble standing and public influence. I was never more impressed with the extraordinary legacy that d’Alzon turned his back on than I did in 2010 when leading a pilgrimage in his footsteps on the occasion of the bicentennial of his birth. On that pilgrimage we found ourselves one day standing on the terrace of the once stunning chateau of Lavagnac where d’Alzon spent his childhood and where he would return regularly throughout his life….described, by some, as the Versailles of the southern France.

Reflections from Fr. Dennis Gallagher, Provincial of the Assumptionists North American Province

Autumn in New England has two distinct phases. The first half of the season tops the popularity charts with its show of color, cooler temperatures and crisp apples. For many, the second half of the season is less winning, with steely gray skies, trees stripped bare, and dread for what is to come.

For a good part of my life, this was pretty much my take on fall, as the brightness of October gave way to the chill of November’s shorter and darker days. A palpable sadness settled into me. I wanted to hibernate. Drawing close to someone for warmth and comfort was not an option, so I was left to saying, in the words of that great philosopher, Bill Parcells, “it is what it is.”