August 31
Our Lady of Sorrows, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
On August 31, 1843, 1800 men carried shovels and pickaxes from St. Mary's Catholic Church to a new cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. By evening they had built a fine church there. This amazing project, "the church built in a day," was the brainchild of William Walsh, Bishop of Halifax, like many of his flock a native of Ireland. The next morning, he dedicated the new cemetery to the Holy Cross and its church to Our Lady of Sorrows. Later he furnished the chapel with 16th-century sculptures he had brought from Europe. Those Flemish works—Christ Bearing the Cross, a Crucifixion, and a Lamentation of Christ—now reside in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax. Meticulously crafted fiberglass replicas occupy the cemetery chapel, where mass is celebrated annually on September 15, feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Sources:
 | Holy Cross Cemetery: Halifax, Nova Scotia, www.holycrosscemeteryhalifax.ca/history/chapel.html |
| Canadian Conservation Institute, www.cci-icc.gc.ca/cci-icc/about-apropos/nb/nb29/dis-vit-eng.aspx (photo of restored, repolychromed Lamentation) |
Also commemorated this date:
| The Placing of the Honorable Sash of the Most Holy Theotokos, Greek Orthodox Church. Liturgy commemorates transfer of relic from Cappadocia to Constantinople around the year 400. |
| Maria, Moeder en Middelares van genade, Belgium (Mary, Mother and Mediatrix of Grace). Patronal feast of the Diocese of the Armed Forces and certain parishes and religious orders. |
| Oorzaak Onzer Blijdschap, Tongeren, Limburg, Flanders, Belgium (Cause of Our Joy). Statue crowned, 1890. |
| Notre-Dame des Tables, Montpellier, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France. Town co-patron with St. Firmin. Liturgical feast day. |
| Królowa Podlasia, Hodyszewo, Nowe Piekuty, Wysokie Mazowieckie, Podlaskie, Poland (Queen of Podlasia). Painting crowned, 1980. |
| Matka Boża Kazimierska, Kazimierz Dolny, Puławy, Lublin, Poland. 1500s Annunciation painting crowned, 1986. |
| Matka Boża Pocieszenia, Jodłówka, Rzezawa, Bochnia, Lesser Poland, Poland (Consoling Mother of God). Icon crowned, 1975. Feast last Sunday in August. |
| Nuestra Señora de la Caridad, Loja, Granada, Andalucía, Spain (Our Lady of Charity). Town's patronal feast day. Fair, mass, procession. |
| Nuestra Señora del Buen Viaje, El Tanque, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain (Our Lady of Good Travel). Statue crowned, 2018. Annual fiesta, procession. |
| Caridad del Cobre, Vallehermoso, La Gomera, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Tamargada district. Fiesta on nearest Sunday: mass, procession, concert. |