By Leslie Cooper
The Saint Liborius’ Parish celebrated the Feast of Saint Liborius on Sunday 23 July 2023 with a joyful well attended Festival thanks to the tireless efforts of all involved.
Hosted by Father Stephen Bolling and the St Liborius’ Community group, the Festival commenced with Mass at 10:30 a.m., followed by a procession with a stature of St Liborius through the church and school grounds.
The procession featured the hymn, We Greet You St Liborius, which had been written by past parish priest, Fr Ronan Kilgannon OFM. The children of the Parish had made peacock feathers, and these were carried in the procession.
The procession concluded at the Mary MacKillop Centre as the St Liborius’ statue was placed in the lobby area for all to see as they entered.
As well as being shown as a bishop carrying small stones on a book, Saint Liborius is also shown with the attribute of a peacock, because of a legend that, when his body was brought to Paderborn, a peacock guided the bearers.
Within the tearoom of the Centre, parishioners provided a barbecue, as well as finger food and refreshments to all who attended.
The stadium was transformed into several areas for attendees where there were stalls selling piety items and fun activities could be found, including face-painting for kids.
Items were raffled throughout the day; the Eaglehawk community had donated over a dozen items for the Parish to raffle and these items were appreciated by the Community group members and the parishioners.
The St Liborius’ school launched its ‘Frozen’ video which promoted their upcoming musical production. There was a soccer game and other children’s games throughout the day.
It was a joyful and lovely day. Over one hundred people from the Parish and Eaglehawk community visited the Mary MacKillop Centre where the majority of the festivities took place.
The planners and volunteers from the Parish made this possible with their enthusiasm, generosity and tireless work on the day.
The Eaglehawk community embraced the Festival by attending, but also by donating a variety of items for the raffle. The Festival flyer was advertised within many local businesses and the Facebook Eaglehawk community page was also used to promote the event.
The festival was such a success that Fr Stephen Bolling and the Parish Community Group will work to make this an annual event.
A brief history of Saint Liborius:
- St Liborius was born circa 348 A.D. in what is now Germany during the reign of the Roman Empire. He became the second Bishop of Le Mans, France.
- St. Liborius was bishop for about 49 years and ordained 217 priests, 186 deacons and 93 sub-deacons and other churchmen. He is said to have died on July 23, 397 A.D. with Bishop Martin at his side. He was buried in the Apostle Basilica of Le Mans, beside his predecessor, Julian, the founder of the bishopric.
- Much of the ministerial life of Bishop Liborius covered the second half of the 4th century. By this time, the Roman Empire had ended its persecution of Christianity with Emperor Constantine the Great’s Edict of Milan in the year 313. Freed from persecution, the Christian faith was now free to grow. However, during this time, foreign tribes roamed the land. There was chaos and misery. Bishop Liborius’ Episcopal area had been Christian for some time, but heathen Druids were still active and through their mysterious pagan rites were able to influence the people. So, Bishop Liborius built many churches and celebrated the Eucharist with piety and dignity and the well-trained priests in his diocese finally triumphed over the Druids. Nowadays, we would consider the works of Bishop Liborius and his clergy at the time as primary evangelisation.
- He is said to have healed sufferers from “gravel and allied complaints” and for this reason his feast was introduced by Pope Clement XI, himself a victim who had been cured by the Saint’s intercession.
- Miracles are said to have occurred at his tomb. In 835 Bishop Aldrich placed some relics of his body into an altar in the cathedral and, in the following year, on the instructions of Emperor Louis the Pious, sent the body to Bishop Badurad of Paderborn, a diocese founded in 799 by Pope Leo III and Emperor Charlemagne that had no saint of its own.
- In the year 836 A.D., (9th century), the relics of Saint Liborius were brought from Le Mans, France, to Paderborn, Germany. At this time, relics of the saints were well guarded and venerated in churches and dioceses which had them. The willingness of the diocese of Le Mans to hand over the relics of St Liborius to the diocese of Paderborn was a true act of charity. The event forged a long lasting friendship between the sister cities of Le Mans and Paderborn; it has existed for over 1,000 years to this day.
St Liborius is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Paderborn, Germany, the home diocese of Rev. Fr Henry Backhaus the first priest to minister in the Bendigo goldfields the mid 19th century.
Henry Backhaus (henrybackhausbook.com.au)
