Amazing Catechists

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September Feast Days to Celebrate in your Parish and Home

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September is dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary!  This month, we have rounded up our favorite posts on the September dedication to the Seven Sorrows and other September Feast Days. We also have tips for Catholic parents and catechists and a free religious education curriculum resource.

Read on for some favorite articles from the Amazing Catechists archives as well as some fun posts from around the web!

September is Dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary

The September dedication in the Catholic church is to the Seven Sorrows of Mary. The feast day for Our Lady of Sorrows is September 15th. In her honor, here is a past post dedicated to our Blessed Mother’s Seven Sorrows.

Ease Your Burdens and Find Hope through the Seven Sorrows of Mary

In the post, Annabelle Moseley explains the Seven Sorrows of Mary and gives lots of wonderful resources for praying through the Seven Sorrows and praying the Seven Sorrows Chaplet. She also explains how journeying with Mary in her pain helps ease our pain!

More September Feast Days

September is filled with lots of feast days to celebrate! Get to know a new saint this month or celebrate one of your favorite saints in your home and parish!

St. Hildegard Feast Day Science Lesson for Kids – September 17th

September 17th is the Feast of St. Hildegard! Learn about this incredibly talented and special Doctor of the Church with a fun science experiment, and check out a new St. Hildegard cookbook from Sophia Press!

Keys and Eyeballs

September 21st is the feast of St. Matthew the evangelist. Read this informative (and entertaining!) post on the 4 evangelists and how to remember and teach important facts about each of them. Chrsitian Leblanc also explains how to recognize each of them (as well as other saints) when they are represented in pictures and statues.

Padre Pio and the Cross; Glorifying God in Our Bodies

The feast of St. Padre Pio is on September 23rd. Learn about this amazing saint in this post by Msgr. Bob Batule.

What I Learned (as a mother) from St. Padre Pio’s Spiritual Daughter

The Catholic Church really is a trove of treasures waiting to be fdiscovered and enjoyed. There are more saints than I could ever read about in this life, and even more holy people who literally walked with saints who have so much wisdom and inspiration to offer.

Here are 4 things that I learned from reading a new book, Padre Pio’s American Daughter by Susan de Bartoli from Sophia Institute Press, about St. Padre Pio’s spiritual daughter, Mary Pyle.

Catechetical Sunday

Celebrate Catechetical Sunday

Catechetical Sunday was started in 1935 to celebrate catechists! It falls on the third Sunday in September (September 20th in 2026). In this post, Deanna Bartalini gives lots of great ideas for celebrating this day with your catechists.

Praying with Children

Five Steps for Mentoring Kids in Prayer

In this article, Brandon Harvey provides tips for catechists to lead and encourage children in prayer in their religious education classes.

Free Family Faith Formation Curriculum

Virtues in Practice – Free Curriculum — from the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia

Read about the FREE Virtues Curriculum from the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, and how Jennifer Fitz suggests using it with your mom’s group. This curriculum is also fantastic for co-ops and parish religious education programs.

Helpful links from around the web:

  1. September Feast Day Recipes
  2. More about St. Hildegard of Bingen (Feast Day: September 17th)
  3. Awesome printable feast day calendar stickers to add to your new school calendars and planners
  4. The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8th
  5. Free St. Padre Pio Lesson Plan

This post originally appeared on amazingcatechists.com on 9/22/2024, and was updated 8/24/26.

Catholic Feasts and Saints of the Week for September 14th -20th

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Welcome to the third edition of Saints of the Week! Today, I have 7 Saints for you to share with your students and children. Their Feast Days fall during the week of September 14th-20th. Each Saint will have the:

  • dates of birth and death (when available)
  • patronage
  • Link to their resource or story page
  • associated virtues

I tried to choose Saints from different countries, time periods, and with various vocations. Feel free to swap out other favorite Saints this week if you wish! This is just a guide that follows the Liturgical Year Feast Days. Please let me know if you would like any other resources for these guides, and I will try my best to add them for you. I kept these guides very open-ended so that you can tailor them to your students.

Be sure to visit this post for more information on our Saints of the Week Guides. And, if you’re new at Amazing Catechists, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter (in the sidebar) so that you never miss an issue of Saints of the Week!

9/14: Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Feast)

Feast Day: September 14

Quick Facts:

  • Celebrated to commemorate the finding of the True Cross by St. Helena
  • In the 4th century, St. Helena traveled to the Holy Land to search for the True Cross. She found 3 separate crosses, and in order to determine which one was the true cross, she touched each one to an ill woman. Two of the crosses had no effect on the sick woman, but when the third was touched to her, she was miraculously healed! Thus, St. Helena was convinced that she had indeed found the True Cross that Christ had been crucified on. Later, Constantine also directed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to be built.
  • The Church began celebrating this feast in 335

Link to full story

Ways to celebrate:

9/15: Our Lady of Sorrows (Memorial)

Feast Day: September 15

Quick facts:

Highlights the 7 sorrows that Mary experienced in her life:
• The Prophecy of Simeon over the Infant Jesus (Luke 2:34)
• The Flight into Egypt of the Holy Family (Matthew 2:13)
• The Loss of the Child Jesus for Three Days (Luke 2:43)
• The Meeting of Jesus and Mary along the Way of the Cross (Luke 23:26)
• The Crucifixion, where Mary stands at the foot of the cross (John 19:25)
• The Descent from the Cross, where Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms (Matthew 27:57)
• The Burial of Jesus (John 19:40)

Link to full story

9/16: Pope St. Cornelius (martyred 251)

Feast Day: September 16

Patronage: against earache, earache sufferers, epileptics; against epilepsy, against fever, against twitching, cattle, domestic animals

Quick facts:

  • 21st Pope
  • had to establish himself as pope against the anti-pope

Link to full story

Virtue: Faith, Fortitude

9/17: St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

Feast Day: September 17

Patronage: musicians, writers, esperantists, philogists

Quick facts:

  • a Doctor of the Church
  • mystic, scientist, visionary, writer, herbalist, composer
  • 10th child born to a noble family
  • traveled across Europe and preached against schismatics

Link to full story

Virtues: Justice

Idea to celebrate the feast:

St. Hildegard Feast Day Science Lesson for Kids

9/18: St. Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663)

Feast Day: September 18

Patronage: air crews, Air Forces, air travelers, flyers, aircraft pilots, aviators, flyers, astronauts, paratroopers, students, school children, test takers

Quick facts:

  • born in a stable
  • received ecstatic visions
  • became a priest
  • could barely read or write
  • levitated and floated

Link to full story

Virtue: Joy, faith

More Patron Saints of Students and Educators

9/19: St. Januarius of Naples (Martyred c. 304)

Feast Day: September 19

Patronage: against volcanic eruptions, blood banks

Quick facts:

Link to full story

Virtue: Faith, charity

9/20: St. Eustachius (Martyred 188)

St. Eustachius having a vision of Jesus while hunting

Feast Day: September 20

Patronage: difficult situations, fire prevention, firefighters, hunters, huntsmen, hunting, torture victims; against torture, trappers

Quick facts:

Link to full story

Virtues: Faith, fortitude, and courage

 

 

God’s Mother, Our Mother

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Too often I need to remind myself that in my struggles I must turn to Jesus first, for He is my greatest consolation.

On this Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, I’m especially reminded of Mary’s suffering as she stood at the Cross of Jesus. How could she give the violence of her sorrow to her dying Son while He endured His own agonizing Passion?

Mary viewed her Son’s suffering with intense grief, yet in it she saw our salvation. Our Lady’s sorrows are embodied in the prediction and fulfillment of today’s Gospels; first, in Simeon’s prophesy of a sword piercing her heart, and second, in Jesus’ words to her and the beloved apostle, John, “Behold your son.” (John 19:26) “Behold your mother.” (John 19:27)

When Jesus gave Mary to John, He gave her to us as well. Now we, as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, share God’s Mother as our own – a Mother whose obedient and loving heart was pierced for the deliverance of our souls.

Elizabeth

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