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Ushers
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(201) 261-3366
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Friendly, Helpful, Courteous
St. Peter the Apostle ushers help
provide a welcoming touch for our parishioners and visitors, helping them
to get oriented, find a Sunday School class, or find a seat in our
liturgies.
Who are these people
dressed up at the back of the church?
They
greet you with a smiling face when you arrive for mass. They assist you in
finding a seat. They collect the offerings during mass. They even help you
find your way around the church.
These people are commonly
known as Ushers.
The ushers are a group of
individuals whose goal is to exemplify and extend the hospitality of St.
Peter’s.
If you are thinking about
becoming an Usher, please contact St. Peter’s
Patron Saint of Ushers
JULIAN the Hospitaller
Known as Julian the Poor, his
Feast day is on February 12. Julian was a noble layman; friend and
counselor to the king, he was married to a wealthy widow. A stag he was
hunting predicted he would kill his own parents. Julian moved far away to
avoid his parents, but they found him, and came to make a surprise visit.
His wife gave them her and Julian's bed; Julian killed them, thinking they
were his wife and another man.
As penance, he and his wife traveled to Rome as pilgrims seeking
absolution. On his way home, to continue his penance, he built a hospice
beside a river, cared for the poor and sick, and rowed travelers across
the river for free.
Once, after having helped many, many travelers, Julian gave his own bed to
a pilgrim leper who had nearly frozen to death. When they had him safely
settled, the man suddenly revealed himself to be an angel. The visitor
announced that Christ had accepted Julian's penance; the angel then
disappeared.
Immensely popular in times past; scholars today think the story is likely
to be pious fiction, mistaken for history.
Julian the Poor is the patron of
boatmen,
circus workers,
ferrymen,
fiddle players,
hospitality,
hotel
and
innkeepers,
jugglers,
knights,
pilgrims,
shepherds,
and
travelers.
Julian is often represented as carrying a leper through
a river; ferryman; hart; holding an oar; man listening to a talking stag;
oar; stag; with Jesus and Saint Martha as patrons of travelers; young
hunter with a stag; young man killing his parents in bed; young man
wearing a fur-lined cloak, sword, and gloves; young, well-dressed man
holding a hawk on his finger.
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