A new tradition for the San Salvador Council for the Feast of the Epiphany.

The brothers of the San Salvador Council will be assisting our Worthy Chaplain, Fr. Casey, with the blessing of chalk to be used in the blessing of parishioners’ houses.

It is a long-held Catholic tradition to bless one’s home on or near the celebration of the Epiphany by using chalk to write a special inscription above the home’s entrance. Unfortunately, this important feast day has begun to become overshadowed by the busyness that regularly follows New Year's and the holiday season. As an important feast day in our faith, celebrating the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God, the San Salvador Council seek to elevate this celebration in the consciousness of South Philadelphia Catholics. As our official home parish is Epiphany of Our Lord, we thought what better location to grow this tradition for our covered parishes for the Feast of the Epiphany?

Our Worthy Chaplain Fr. Casey will be blessing chalk at the 11AM mass at Epiphany of Our Lord. The brothers of the San Salvador council will then be supplying the chalk to the parishioners with instructions to use to bless their homes.

Typically, this blessing is done at the vigil mass the evening before. For our first year (this weekend) we are planning on having the blessing at the Sunday mass (1/5/2025) in the upper church. It is our intention that in future years we will have the chalk blessed during the 5pm Saturday Vigil mass at Epiphany. It will then be taken by our brothers to all of our covered parishes to be distributed at the Sunday morning masses.