Old Mission Santa Barbara
November 14, 2017
 
The six novices currently participating in the OFM Interprovincial Novitiate all received their habits in a service attended by friars from around the province (of St. Barbara) and across the country at Old Mission Santa Barbara on Tuesday, November 14.  The friars’ chapel at historic Old Mission served as the venue for the 45-minute ceremony of investiture, which was live streamed  to enable friars, friends, and well-wishers outside the area to witness the event.   The prayer service involving novices from the Holy Name and St. Barbara provinces respectively took on a distinctly interobediential flavor as well, with the presence of confreres from the nearby  Conventual and Capuchin Franciscan novitiate programs. 
 
The six men represent both Holy Name and Saint Barbara provinces:   Jason Damon (HNP), 23, from Buffalo, New York;  Luis M. Rosado (HNP), 46, from Puerto Rico;  Troy Hillman  (HNP), 24, of Olean, New York;  James LaGrutta (HNP), 28, of  Goshen, New York; Michael Lomas (SB), 29, from San Jose, California; and,  Antonio Luevano (SB), 28, of San Bernardino, California.   Minister Provincial David Gaa and  Vicar Provincial Martín Ibarra represented the St. Barbara province, while  Provincial Vicar Larry Hayes and Friar Michael Blastic represented the Holy Name province.  Michael is a member of the novitiate team along with Novicemaster Friar Jeff Macnab (SB) and Sister Susan Rosenbach, SSSF.
 
Reflecting upon the inner meaning and purpose of the habit in his remarks, Michael Blastic reminded all present that for St. Francis and for ourselves “the habit, that is the poor clothes the brothers wore—must not get in the way of being who you truly are—a brother of the human race. . . . (It) should not get in the way of letting your body be your ‘tongue’”.  Michael further reflected that, through the writings of biographer Thomas of Celano, we learn that Francis changed his clothes on at least nine different recorded occasions—each event signaling a significant threshold in the course of the saint’s ongoing conversion.  Recalling the last wishes of Francis that his body be left lying naked on the ground upon his death, Michael concluded that “for Francis, the poor clothes—what would become the habit—needed to become transparent in order to reveal what they covered—a poor simple man who had nothing of his own, a man who spent his entire life becoming a lesser and smaller person... (who) identified himself as ‘brother Francis’”.
 
A reception and dinner hosted by the novitiate team and friars at the Old Mission followed the mid-afternoon ceremony.  And yes, the newly invested novices got to do the dishes.
 
Photos:
Please note.  A large array of photos taken by Friar Dick Tandy OFM will be available through “Dropbox” after Monday, November 20. 

In the meantime, the attached photo is for your use should you need a photo immediately.
 
Photo caption:
(l to r)  Novices Antonio Luevano (SB), James LaGrutta (HNP), Jason Damon (HNP), Michael Lomas (SB), Troy Hillman (HNP), and Luis M. Rosado (HNP).  Photo:  Charles Talley ofm