Posted on by Deacon Nick

The Glorious Month of October

October is my favorite month. In what other month of the year can you kick through leaves, watch post-season baseball and cheer high school football? October is glorious. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what Ray Bradbury has to say about October:

First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys. Not that all months aren’t rare. But there be good and October Leavesbad, as the pirates say. Take September, a bad month: school begins. Consider August, a good month: school hasn’t begun yet. July, well July’s really fine: there’s no chance in the world for school. June, no doubting it, June’s best of all, for the school doors spring wide and September’s a billion years away.

But you take October, now. School’s been on a month and you’re riding easier in the reins, jogging along. You got time to think of the garbage you’ll dump on Old Man Prickett’s portch, or the hairy-ape costume you’ll wear to the YMCA the last night of the month. And if it’s around October twentieth and everything smoky-smelling and the sky orange and ash gray at twilight, it seems Halloween will never come in a fall of broomsticks and a soft flap of bedsheets around corners. — Something Wicked This Way Comes

In addition to beautiful autumn leaves, moderate temperatures, and baseball playoffs, October brings with it some towering models of faith for us to contemplate. If there’s a month with more outstanding saints than October, then I’d be mighty surprised. October celebrates some of the greatest saints in Catholic history, which is another reason it’s my favorite month of the year:

  • St. Therese of Lisieux – the Little Flower, whose simple piety influenced so many that she was named a Doctor of the Church; October 1
  • The Guardian Angels – “to light and guard, rule and guide;” October 2
  • St. Francis of Assisi – perhaps the most beloved saint in the world; October 4
  • St. Faustina – the mystic whose devotion to divine mercy led to Divine Mercy Sunday
  • Our Lady of the Rosary – commemorating perhaps the most widespread Catholic devotion; October 7
  • St. Teresa of Avila – Spanish mystic, author of The Interior Castle and The Way of Perfection, another Doctor of the Church; October 15
  • St. Luke – author of the longest gospel and Acts of the Apostles; his gospel emphasizes prayer and the caring for the poor; October 18
  • St. John of Capistrano – the saint whose namesake mission church in California receives the cliff swallows back from migration each year; October 23
  • Sts. Jude and Simon – two of the Twelve, apostles of Jesus; October 28

Which feast is your favorite? I’ve set up a poll in the left sidebar, so be sure to cast your vote.

October has also inspired some magnificent poems:

Finally, here’s a beautiful video set to U2’s “October”:

4 Replies to “The Glorious Month of October”

  2. I hate to monopolize your comments, well not really or I wouldn’t be doing it. But your links remind me of a favorite Autumnal song which applies to my marriage as much as the Season.

    Oh it’s a long, long while
    from May ‘till December
    And the days grow short
    When you reach September.
    When the Autumn weather
    turns the leaves to flame
    One hasn’t got time
    For the waiting game.

    For the days dwindle down
    To a precious few…
    September…November…
    And these few precious days
    I’ll spend with you.
    These precious days
    I’ll spend with you.

    taken from September Song, by Kurt Weill

  3. And this:

    It was the time of year just after the summer’s gone
    When august and september just become memories of
    songs

    To be put away with the summer clothes and packed up in the attic for another year

    Indian Summer, Dream Academy

  4. Thanks for the link to your reflections on October, especially this: “I stepped out one morning to pick up the paper, stepped out into a perfect muted Fall morning: gently grey sky, leaves past their prime; cool, damp air.”

    Thanks, too, for the songs you shared. I’ll have to look for them in the iTunes store. I have an iTunes playlist called “October” that I listen to this time of year with some of the following albums and songs:

    Moondance and Down the Road by Van Morrison

    Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting by Sting (Though I actually prefer the Eva Cassidy version of “Fields of Gold”)

    October Road by James Taylor

    Autumn by George Winston

    “Forever Autumn” by Justin Heyward

    “This is October” by Ceili Rain

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