BOSTON, Mass. — David Convertino celebrated a Memorial Mass on Nov. 28 at the friars chapel of St. Anthony Shrine on Arch Street for deceased family members and friends of donors. The Mass was well attended by both friars and donors living in the Boston area. Jennifer Galea, director of worship and music ministry, provided the music.
Friends of St. Anthony Shrine Street submitted names of the deceased whom they wanted to memorialize. These names were entered into a Book of Remembrance, which was used during Mass.
Also during the Mass, David blessed a Vatican icon of Our Lady of Sorrows (shown in photo) and announced the upcoming opening of a special chapel dedicated to Our Lady at the Shrine. Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel will be a place of quiet reflection for grieving family members and friends of the deceased. It will also be used for wakes for the homeless of Boston who are buried through the Shrine’s Lazarus Program, a special ministry that buries the “unwanted dead.”
After the Mass, the friars invited attendees to cocktails and dinner in the friars dining room.
Comments of the guests included the following:
–“Thank you so much for doing this for us. It was very comforting.”
— “The music was spectacular. What a wonderful way to honor our dead.”
The friars are planning to make the Memorial Mass for family members and friends of donors an annual event at the Shrine during November, the month of All Souls.
Diane is director of development for St. Anthony Shrine.