Happy Feast of Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula!

Our Lady of the Angels, pray for us and for our Archdiocese, on your feast day and always!

The beautiful William Bougereau painting above is found at many sites on the Web.

The following paragraph is from an article by Diana Serra Cary in The Catholic Hearth of July-August 1994:

"In 1769, the Spanish expedition to Upper California, under the command of Gaspar de Portola, arrived at a great plain, well watered by a fine river, on the second of August of that year. For this reason the river was given the name of the Rio Porciuncula (the Spanish spelling). Later, on September 4, 1781, when some forty-eight soldiers and settlers founded a town on this one-time camping site, they gave it the name El Puebla de Nuestra Senora, la Reina de los Angeles del Rio de Porciuncula (The Town of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels of the River of Portiuncula)."

(I should add that, as we know, there are various versions of L.A.'s actual founding name.)

On this great feast day, though, we can learn about the feast (click on this post's title) and we can pray this prayer:

Salutation to the Blessed Virgin
( by Saint Francis of Assisi )
Hail Holy Lady, most holy Queen,
Mary, Mother of God.
Chosen by the Father in Heaven,
consecrated by Him.
With His most beloved Son
and Holy Spirit Comforter,
On you descended and still remains
fullness of grace
And every good.

Hail, His palace and His robe,
Mary, Mother of God.
Hail, His handmaid lowly and pure,
Loving servant of the Lord.
Hail, holy virtues given by God
to all the faithful in the world,
So that no longer we faithless be,
And may become the
servants of the Lord. AMEN.

We can also take this opportunity to remind ourselves anew to always pray to, thank and salute our God-given Guardian Angel and to always pray the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.