August 31 - St. Aidan

For more information on this seventh century Irish monk, see Saint-a-day.

August 30 - St. Pammachius

See Saint-a-day for more information on this contemporary of St. Jerome.

August 29 - Beheading of John the Baptist

For more information regarding this feast day, see Saint-a-Day.

August 28 - St. Augustine

See Saint-a-day for more information about this founder of the Augustinian order.

August 25 - St. Louis, King of France, events

For more information on this saint and king of France, see Saint-a-Day.

The official commemoration of today's saint is celebrated today at the Old Cathedral. Here's more information and related events from the St. Louis Review:

"St. Louis, Roi
A Mass in French and English will be celebrated at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica, Lindell Boulevard and Newstead Avenue in the Central West End, at 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27, to mark the feast day of St. Louis, the 13th century French king and patron of the St. Louis Archdiocese. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke will be principal celebrant. Members of St. Louis-Lyon Sister Cities Inc. and Societe Francaise of St. Louis will attend and are inviting the general public to jon them. Call S.P. Sutera at (314) 862-4282, for information. The formal observance of the feast of St. Louis remains Aug. 25; a plenary indulgence will be granted those who attend Mass that day at the cathedral basilica. "

Aug. 25 - Msgr. Roland Vonder Haar

I found this notice yesterday. Monsignor Vonder Haar grew up in St. Boniface parish. I am not sure if his family was the Vonder Haars of the 400 block of Davis St., though. This family resided there for many years. The home no longer exists. After an electrical fire in the early 1990s, the home was torn down and is now the yard of a neighboring home.


Monsignor Roland A. Vonder Haar

Vonder Haar, Monsignor Roland A. born November 1, 1920 in St. Louis, MO passed away on August 16, 2006, at his home in El Paso, TX at age 85.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph H. Vonder Haar and Rose Schneiders Vonder Haar and his sisters, Elvera Winkelmann, Laverne 'Nonnie' Vonder Harr and Doris Zahn; he is survived by his brother Virgil H. Vonder Haar; many nephews, nieces, grand-nephews and nieces, great-grand-nephews and nieces and cousins.

Monsignor Vonder Haar at-tended St. Boniface Catholic Grade School in St. Louis, the St. Louis Cathedral Latin School, St. Louis Prep Seminary and Kenrick Seminary. He was ordained April 4, 1948 by the Most Reverend Joseph F. Ritter.

His first assignment was assistant pastor at St. Patrick's Cathedral in El Paso, TX. He was assigned pastor of Our Lady of Peace Church in Alpine, TX where he helped found the first Credit Union there. He was then transferred to St. Vincent de Paul Church in Silver City, NM. In 1961 he returned to El Paso to become the first Rector of St. Charles Borremeo Minor Semi-nary. In 1963 he became pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church and remained there until 1981.

During this time Monsignor Vonder Haar was instrumental in the founding of the Child Cri-sis Center of El Paso, the first Crisis Nursery in the State of Texas. His final assignment was St Genevieve Church in Las Cruces, NM. He remained in the Las Cruses Diocese until he re-tired in 1989. He returned to El Paso, served as Assistant Chaplain at William Beaumont Army Hospital and he continued to minister to the community of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church even until his last months of his life. His life was always one of service and generosity to oth-ers.

Services: In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Child Crisis Center of El Paso, 2100 N. Stevens, El Paso, TX 79930. Visitation at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, August 25 at St. George Church in Affton prior to a Funeral Mass at 10:00 a.m. Burial at Mount Olive Cemetery in Lemay. (Arrangements by JOHN L. ZIEGENHEIN & SONS 314-352-2600

August 24 - St. Bartholomew

See Saint-a-Day for more information about today's early follower of Jesus.

August 23 - St. Rose of Lima, final Marian Peace Mass

See Saint-a-Day for more information on today's Peruvian saint.

Don't forget...

Final Marian Mass

After 16 years, the final Marian Peace Mass will be celebrated at 7:45 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25, at St. Matthias the Apostle Church, 800 Buckley Road in Lemay.

Father David Wichlan, pastor of St. Rita Parish in Vinita Park, will be the celebrant at the Mass. Confessions, rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy will begin at 7 p.m.

A social hour will be held in the school building after Mass.

Aug. 22 - Important St. Louis Review information

If you are a subscriber to the St. Louis Review and you were in St. Boniface parish, you may receive a letter saying "Dear Former Review Subscriber".

I received one today because my current parish was not listed on file with the St. Louis Review, even though I sent in my check during the regular subscription period in January.

To resolve this, I called them up at 314-792-7500 and they corrected the database for me immediately.

August 22 - Mary, Our Queen

For more information on today's feast day, see Saint-a-Day.

August 21 - St. Pius X

See Saint-a-Day for more information on today's saint.

Make a difference:

Shop for a Cause, the shopping benefit to help Our Little Haven center for abused and neglected children, will be Saturday, Sept. 16. Donate $5 to Our Little Haven and receive 20 percent off all purchases at Macy’s (formerly Famous-Barr). For more information and to donate, call, (314) 533-2229, ext. 232, or access www.ourlittlehaven.org.

August 18 - St. Jane Frances de Chantal

See Saint-a-Day for more information on this saint, founder of the Order of the Visitation and contemporary of St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul.

August 17 - Blessed Joan Delanoue

See Saint-a-day for more information on this 17th century French woman from Saumur.

August 16 - St. Stephen of Hungary

For more information on today's 11th century saint, see Saint-a-day.

August 15 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

See Saint-a-day for more information on today's holy day.

Marian-related sites of interest on the internet (via cardinalspellman.org)
How to Pray the Rosary (with other languages) www.rosary-center.org/howto.htm
Information on the rosary and other Catholic subjects of interest: http://www.zenit.org/english/

August 14 - St. Maximilian Kolbe

For more information on today's World War II Polish saint, see Saint-a-Day.

August 11 - St. Clare of Assisi

See Saint-a-day for more information on today's saint, foundress of the Poor Clares religious community.
St. Clare of Assisi parish in Ellisville is the current home of former St. Boniface pastor, Fr. Rico Garavaglia.

For more information on the Poor Clares in St. Louis, see the Contemplative Nuns page at archstl.org.

August 10 - St. Lawrence

See Saint-a-day for more information on today's famous Roman martyr.

Congratulations to my STB 1983 classmate Tom Ryan on his recent engagement. Tom and his fiancee Susie Schmitt will be married at the St. Stephen's chapel (formerly St. Mary and Joseph church).

August 9 - Blessed John Rieti

For more information on this Italian holy man, see Saint-a-day.

August 8 - St. Dominic

See Saint-a-day for more information on today's founder of the Dominican order of priests and religious.

STB Class of 1977 Reunion information

Class of 1977 members, mark the date:

Saturday, Sept. 9, 2006 at Red’s Eighth Inning,6412 Michigan Ave., from 6 PM—1 AM. Dress is casual.

Bring old photos or memorabilia.

Cash bar. Call Chris Krumm (number removed) for details.

August 7 - St.Cajetan

For more information on this saint from Vincenza, Italy, see Saint-a-day.

August 4 - St. John Vianney

For more information on today's saint, also known as the Cure of Ars, see Saint-a-day.

August 3- St. Peter Julian Eymard

See Saint-a-day for more information on today's saint.

August 2 - St. Eusebius

For more on this Sardinian saint, see Saint-a-day.

August 1 - St. Alphonsus Liguori, in the news

See Saint-a-day for more information about today's saint, the founder of the Redemptorist order.

In the news:

From Our Sunday Visitor (via catholic.org)
Onward, Christian soldiers
Catholic chaplains in the military