Monthly Newspaper • DIOCESE OF BRIDGEPORT

DANBURY—The fifth and final day of the Greater Danbury Eucharistic Procession culminated on All Souls Day with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Frank J. Caggiano at St. Peter Cemetery.

“On this All Souls Day, we come here to pray for all the dead, those known to you, those who are buried here in this cemetery, neighbors, friends, relatives, all those who have passed away in all the centuries of human life,” said Bishop Caggiano at a Mass that was attended by more than 200 people under a tent in the midst of the cemetery.

Bishop Caggiano shared his experience of his mother’s passing more than a decade ago and how he found the beginning of his healing the next day as he celebrated Sunday Mass as the pastor of St. Dominic Church in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

“I remember right before I was going to pick up the consecrated host, when the priest fractures it as a sign of that which the Lord has done for us, my mind heard with a voice that was not my own, ‘Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood shall live in me.’”

Bishop Caggiano shared those words of comfort with all those gathered at the Lake Avenue Extension cemetery.

“We come here not to mourn, but to celebrate,” Bishop Caggiano said. “All of us, despite our broken hearts, despite the tears, we may continue to shed for those whom we have lost … we come here to celebrate that our Lord is victor over death.”

Click here for Father Caggiano’s homily video and transcript

The bishop said all who believe in Christ receive the seeds of eternal life at the altar of God. It is a mystery, he said, “A mystery for which there are no words to describe.”

“On this All Souls Day we end our Eucharistic pilgrimage today, at this very celebration and the procession to follow, for Jesus has visited the living, now he comes to visit the dead for he is master of both, and he calls both to life,” said Bishop Caggiano.

Following the Mass, the faithful processed behind the Eucharist walking throughout the cemetery, singing religious songs and bringing the Eucharistic Lord to the faithful departed. There were two processions, a shorter one and a longer one that stopped at different places in the cemetery for outdoor Adoration.

“We will walk among the dead to whisper to them that they are dead for a time, they sleep for just a season, but they will live because they ate of His body and drank of His blood and know that He will keep his promise that they shall never die forever,” the bishop said.

Geri Schneider, a parishioner of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Ridgefield, who attended the All Souls Mass and Eucharistic Procession afterwards with her daughter and granddaughter, said it is important to remember the faithfully departed.

“We pray for the people who don’t have others to pray for them,” Schneider said.

Nelva Sari, a parishioner of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Danbury said this public display of faith in action is necessary.

“The Eucharistic Procession is very important because not many people believe in God,” said Sari, who attended the Mass and procession with her three young children aged five months to five years. “It’s important for our children to be a part of this so someday, they can pass it on to their kids.”

By Kathy-Ann Gobin

Photos by Amy Mortensen