April 24, 2015 — Catherine’s Baptism

Dear William, Daniel, Catherine, (and Michael & Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),

Today, let’s talk about Catherine’s Baptism.

Catherine was baptized on June 15, 2014, at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.

: Catherine with Parents Stephanie and Richard, and Godparents Audrey Storm and Tony Guzman

: Catherine being held by Father Patrick Riffle; Stephanie, Richard, Audrey & Tony

: Dziadek Pawel, Babcia Krysia, Rysiu, Stephanie, Catherine, Godmother Audrey, Godfather Tony, Grandma Maureen & Grandpa Bill

Of course, given who they are, Catherine’s parents could not resist for too long:

Rysiu, Stephanie, Pawel, Catherine, Krysia, John, Daniel & Malgosia

After church, we celebrated at Catherine’s home, with family and friends.

God Bless Catherine

There are more pictures from the event HERE.

We previously discussed the concept of “Imieniny,” as to William — HERE and as to Daniel — HERE — so, now, let’s talk about Catherine’s Imieniny —

Saint Catherine, painting by Bernardino Luini; located at the National Art Museum of Azerbaijan

Catherine’s Patron Saint is Saint Catherine of Alexandria; and her feast-day is celebrated on November 25th.

She was born c. 282 A.D. and died (was executed and became a martyr) c. 305 A.D. She lived and died in Alexandria, Egypt.

Heavy rock

Wow! That last paragraph is HEAVY!!!

“c. 282 A.D.” has TWO abbreviations — “c.” and “A.D.” — “c.” is an abbreviation for the Latin word “circa,” which means “approximately.”

“A.D.” is an abbreviation for the Latin words “Anno Domini,” which mean “In the year of the Lord.” That means that the first Christmas was in year 0 A.D. (more precisely, our Lord Jesus Christ was born in the year 0 A.D.). So, today, we live in the year 2015 A.D. — that means that it has been 2,015 years since Jesus Christ was born.

By the way, the years BEFORE Jesus Christ was born are stated as “B.C.,” so, 10 B.C. means 10 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

The next thing to focus on is “executed and became a martyr” — there are two HEAVY words here: “executed” and “martyr.”

A person is executed when someone with power over them kills them. Some people believe that the government may execute people when they do VERY bad things; others believe that NO-ONE should execute anyone for any reason.

A “martyr” is a person who dies for their beliefs. Depending on a person’s point of view, martyrs can be considered crazy or evil people; or heroic or saintly people. Saint Catherine was executed because she would not give up her belief in Jesus Christ — and for that reason, many people consider her a Saint.

Alexandria, in Egypt, in Africa

The last thing I want to focus on is “Alexandria, Egypt.” Alexandria is a big city is the country called Egypt, which is in the continent called Africa.

Now, let’s see a short movie about Saint Catherine: