Marching with the saints in Clinton

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

CLINTON – Bearing large statues and banners of saints, people streamed through downtown to the church, where they were urged to be proud of being Catholics.
On Oct. 30, the Sunday before All Saints’ Day, St. John, Guardian of Our Lady Parish held its second annual All Saints’ Procession, which also drew clergy and laity from other parishes, and religious sisters and brothers.
St. John’s pastor, Father James S. Mazzone, ordered the life-sized statues and 3x5-foot banners around All Saints’ Day in 2020. The town board of health asked them not to hold a procession that year, because of concerns about the coronavirus, he said, so banners were blessed on the church lawn and statues were blessed inside the church.
Last year and this year the procession was held from St. John the Evangelist Church through the nearby streets and park, and back to the church, where eucharistic adoration was held.
Father Mazzone said he and Father Julio R. Granados, associate pastor, sent posters about the event to every parish in the diocese, and personal invitations to every pastor. More parishes were represented than last year, he said.
He said Father John L. Larochelle, pastor of the new Divine Mercy Parish in Blackstone, asked whether St. John’s had a Divine Mercy image that his people could carry in the procession. Father Mazzone said he thought that was a great idea, and had them carry a banner St. John’s uses for Divine Mercy Sunday. Divine Mercy Parish brought a busload of people.
After the procession, during adoration, Father Mazzone gave a brief reflection, noting that saints are worthy of imitation and that they praise God and care for souls on earth. He encouraged listeners to ask for the saints’ intercession.
It was a happy day to process in honor of the saints and adore Jesus, he said. He asked the congregation of a few hundred people to “raise the roof” singing the closing song, “to be so proud of being Catholics, honoring our saints and all we hold sacred.”
“The joy of being Catholic” was in the heart of Patricia Horrigan, of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Westborough, afterwards.
“When you saw all those heroes and heroines ...” she said. “Most of them gave their lives for the Lord. We’re just so blessed to have this faith. … I was here last year. I loved it. I wouldn’t miss it.”
“It was beautiful,” Beverly Starmer, who lives near St. John’s, said after coming out to watch the procession.
She said she’d seen the statues outside the church and wondered what they were for.
Mark Lombard, who was with her, said this was the first time he saw the procession, he liked it, and he hopes they do it again.
Paul and Denise St. Jean, of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Hopkinton, said they learned about the procession the previous night. Mrs. St. Jean said it was nice to be part of it.
Anne Hougham, of St. John’s, said she helped carry a banner and overheard men in front of her with a statue say, “It’s like carrying the cross.” But at least there was more than one of them to bear the weight.
“They were offering it up, because they could never imagine carrying the cross just by themselves,” she said.
Children, some of them dressed as saints, were also in the procession with their families.
The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Harvard reported that they had 18 sisters and eight brothers there.
Among priests there were Father J. Sebastian Sanchez, administrator of St. Richard of Chichester Parish in Sterling, and Father Henry Ramirez, administrator of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Winchendon, both of whom once served at St. John’s. Father Thomas M. Tokarz, pastor of neighboring St. Joseph the Good Provider Parish in Berlin, came too, and said he’d told his parishioners to do so.

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