Honoring Name Days

Angel window at
Saint Scholastica Convent,
taken by Sister Nancy Bauer

In our monastic community, we honor name days every day because usually at least one sister is named after the specific saint of the day. For example, my name day is December 27, which is the Feast of John, beloved apostle of Jesus, even though it might be logical that since my first name is “Mary Jane” that I would want to honor our Blessed Mother on a Feast of Mary. However, I chose my second name because that was the name I had at home. I was “Jane” or “Janie.” Since Jane is a diminutive of John, I chose the feast of John the Evangelist.

Apparently, the honoring of name days is somewhat widespread in a Catholic world because my family of origin practiced this custom, especially within my mother’s family. Her youngest brother was Joseph, and therefore the relatives all gathered at his house on March 19 to help him celebrate his patron, St. Joseph.

On my Uncle Tony’s name day in January, we again gathered to celebrate him. It was a wonderful custom to keep up with cousins and close relatives that my relatives imitated from Grampa, my mother’s dad. He was named Paul and had a brother named Peter, and therefore on the feast of Peter and Paul in late June, we drove to his farm and got together with aunts, uncles, cousins and even neighbors. Everyone brought food so we could have a huge feast as well as spend a great part of the day together, playing games (such as horseshoe), catching up on family gossip, or trying out smoking behind the barn.

It was great fun. I loved knowing I had a huge extended family besides my immediate siblings. The same celebration extended to my father, Michael, as my mother’s spouse. Thus, the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel was a great feast for me and my family. I loved the picture of the Archangel, superior among other angels leading the battle against Satan. He was a hero and extremely good guy!

Even though this is one of those delightful family memories, one realization I have had as an adult woman in a religious community is that the feast and feasting was patriarchal. Never did we celebrate my Mother’s sister, Aunt Fern (Veronica), for example, who was one of the women whose kindness to Jesus on the way to Calvary is remembered through his beloved face imprinted on the cloth she used to wipe his face.

So, when is your name day and how will you celebrate?

Mary Jane Berger, OSB