Phone: 253-535-9477 Fax: 253-535-3637 Address: 757 138th St. South Tacoma, WA 98444
“Serving the Lord is our privilege.”
At a very important time in Jesus’ life, He accepted the services of a young boy. This young boy provided five loaves and two fish for that very momentous miracle with which Jesus launched his teaching on the Holy Eucharist. The Sacred Writers do not tell us the name of the young boy, only His deed, and his act of service. Altar servers also perform a great deed of service.
St. Dominic Savio and another boy, Joseph Bongiavanni, were close companions at St. John Bosco’s Oratory. Together they founded the Immaculate Conception Sodality for the purpose of frequenting Holy Communion. He and Joseph exchanged ideas for a special Sodality for servers before Dominic’s death in 1857. Joseph shortly thereafter formed and served as the first president of an auxiliary of the Blessed Sacrament Sodality, the Knights of the Altar.
Don Bosco recorded in his publication, Catholic Letters, that the new Sodality of the Knights of the Altar served their first Mass on January 31, 1858, on the occasion of the feastday celebration of St. Francis de Sales. January 31 is now the feastday of St. John Bosco himself. Don Bosco celebrated the Mass and officially commissioned the Knights of the Altar in Divine Worship on February 2, 1858.
Why the name Knights? Medieval Knighthood, in the service of manor lords, calls forth such ideals as honor, loyalty, justice, chivalry, and respect for all. In the use of this term, the Altar Server is reminded of his duty to serve the Lord of lords with fidelity and honor, to treat others with respect and justice, and to live a good personal life, defending always the rights of God and His Holy Church. In the names page and squire, the server is reminded again of the years of patient practice and study that went into the training of a knight and should consider with what devotion and perseverance he should attend to his own training in the service of the Altar. The chevalier was a traveling knight, which should remind the server that he should be ever traveling toward his heavenly goal.
PURPOSE OF THE SOCIETY: To form a worthy guard of honor to our Divine Eucharistic King in whose service we willingly assume the dignity and honor of becoming Knights of the Altar;
- To render faithful, reverent, and edifying service to God by assisting His visible representatives, the Bishops and Priests, in offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in all other liturgical and devotional functions;
- To enkindle in the hearts of the faithful whom we represent at the altar, greater piety and devotion by reverently performing the duties of our holy office and by giving good example in our daily lives.
© 2015 St. Mary’s Parish