Monday 2 July 2012

St Lazarus Triumphs over the Weather

 Our Grand Prior in Great Britain, the Much Honoured Baron of Fetternear, Martin Thacker, declares the Garden Party open.

Under the auspices of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, members of the Order and parishioners here  organised a Garden Party in the parish grounds yesterday for our local hospice, which the Order has adopted as its "at home" charity for this year.  (Internationally, we are linking up with the Archbishop of Colombo in Sri Lanka, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith to support the work of SUROL, which works for the relief of those suffering from leprosy.)  The hospice here shares its name with us, although dedicated to St Catherine of Sienna rather than St Catherine Labouré.

The weather here has been dreadful for a couple of weeks now and continues so today but the sun came out for the Garden Party yesterday afternoon - in fact, just as our Grand Prior, the Much Honoured Baron of Fetternear, Martin Thacker, declared it open, the sun burst forth.  Perhaps St Lazarus is a good patron to pray to for fine weather!


The good thing is that it ensured an excellent turnout and we raised £1,000 for the Hospice to add to the £600 the Order gave them earlier in the year.  Thank you to members and Companions of the Order and to the many parishioners here who helped out and supported the event. Thank you also to those brave souls who travelled by coach from Yorkshire & Loughborough!


 Mass in Latin was offered beforehand for those who had travelled by Fr Mark Lawler, Chancellor of the Priory of Great Britain
 


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