In the Nov. 7 issue of The Catholic Spirit, we asked readers if they celebrate their “name day” in a special way, and to tell us how. Below are two responses:
It warmed my heart to see the article regarding the Name Day of the Cecelia MacDonald family in the last issue of The Catholic Spirit.
It brought back memories of many years ago that I remember as a youngster (and that was a long time ago) celebrating our family Name Day. I was at that time a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church (Serbian). (I converted to Catholicism before I was married in 1959.) It was customary at that time that each family select a saint’s day for their Name Day. Our family’s was St. Luke’s, which falls on Oct. 18 on the Catholic calendar.
Name Day was a “huge” celebration for us — like a holiday. It meant spending the day together as a family, perhaps signifying our unity and spirituality. We celebrated with a wonderful dinner and knew we would be together for that day. Granted, we individually had our own birthdays; however this was a family day celebration for St. Luke’s Day. It was neat that we didn’t have to plan anything special or go anywhere, it was just us, our family . . . our St. Luke Name day, doing whatever unfolded for pleasure. How pleasing to see that this is a part of some of the tradition of others.
Thank you for bringing back good memories.
Veda Sirek
I have met some people who were named after the saint on whose feast day they were born. Josephine for her birthday on St. Joseph’s Day, March 19 and Michael for Michaelmas Day on Sept. 29. I am a Michaelene born on March 19 so have honored St. Joseph and St. Michael. I have done a lot with St. Joseph.
Your endearing story about Cecelia made me think more of my namesake day. One year I drove to Des Moines to attend Mass on Sept. 29 with my dad, Michael. Last year I attended Mass on Sept. 29 at St. Michael’s in Duluth. This year on that day I was in Traverse City, Mich. I could not find anything Michael-y so was disappointed. It turned out I sat next to a man formerly from Duluth whose home parish had been St. Michael’s. We talked for an hour after Mass.
I have sought out Michael places like Mont St. Michel in France and St. Michael, Minn., but have not visited on Sept. 29.
Michaelene Zawistowski
St. Thomas More, St. Paul
