Remembering St. Anthony Mary Claret in Brgy. Dalongue, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan: Commemorations and Celebrations in the Year 2015

Remembering St. Anthony Mary Claret 

in Brgy. Dalongue, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan:                 

Commemorations and Celebrations in the Year 2015

By: Romano M. Bulatao

President, KCI – Pangasinan Chapter

On May 2, 2015, the people of Brgy. Dalongue, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan, celebrated their annual barangay fiesta. This particular event was attended by Romano M. Bulatao, President of KCI-Pangasinan Chapter, and he represented the Kapatirang Claretiano Incorporated, and the Claretian Congregation – Philippine Province. The barangay folks, young and old were gathered together in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and they also participated in other activities at the chapel where St. Anthony Mary Claret is the patron saint. The mass was presided by Fr. Jonathan Dulay, the assistant Parish Priest of the Holy Family Parish, Sta. Barabara, Pangasinan.

After the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, the people of Brgy. Dalongue culminated the said event with an agape. Different kinds of food were served and the residents and other visitors enjoyed the various food prepared. The community of Brgy. Dalongue helped one another and indeed, they were nourished by the “fruit of the earth, and work of the human hands.”

Aside from the barangay fiesta of Dalongue, there are two (2) other important occasions that the faithful of Brgy. Dalongue are celebrating, namely: the fiftieth (50^th) year or golden anniversary of the statue of St. Anthony Mary Claret, which was made on April 23, 1965; and the sixty-fifth (65^th) year anniversary of the sainthood of St. Claret, who was canonized on May 7, 1950. It is for this reason that Romano M. Bulatao has requested Fr. Dulay to bless again the statue of St. Claret in honor and in thanksgiving to our dear Father Founder St. Anthony Mary Claret.

The sole copy of the Novena Prayer for St. Anthony Mary Claret which was written in Pangasinan language on September 30, 1950, will also turn sixty-five (65) years old towards the end of 2015. Through the collaboration of the KCI-National, KCI-Pangasinan Chapter, Claretian Publications, Holy Family Parish, with the endorsement of the Claretian Congregation - Philippine Province, and the kind approval of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan, may the reprinting of the said Novena for St. Anthony Mary Claret be realized this year.

May the spirit of St. Anthony Mary Claret continue to inspire us all, so that together, we may help God’s people, particulary in Brgy. Dalongue, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan. CARITAS CHRISTI URGET NOS!