Brother Augustine Rohde, O.F.M.

Perhaps it was growing up in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming or coming from a family with five brothers and four sisters that contributed to Brother Augustine Rohde's easy-going manner. Or maybe it's the confidence that comes from answering God's call.


Brother Augustine describes how events kept falling into place as he was trying to decide what to do with his life, the notion that "God was trying to tell me something." When Augustine announced at age 26 that he would be joining the Capuchins as a brother, no one who knew him seemed very surprised. Continued prayer and reflection led to a ministry of nursing for the Province of Mid-America.

"Health care runs in my family, as I like to say. My maternal grandmother was a country doctor for half a century, and my mother was a medical records librarian. One sister is a nurse and another an inspector of medical laboratories." Still, entering nursing school at Fort Hayes State in Kansas the age of 33 made him "a little nervous. As I studied for a nursing degree, I was reminded that the spiritual side of a person is so important in their overall well being...by helping others, the poor and the sick, I am helping Jesus, and/or being Jesus to them." After 12 years of service to the people of Hays and Victoria, Kansas, Brother Augustine arrived in Denver in 2007 to care for the medical needs of friars, and to assist Catholic Charities and the needy of Sacred Heart as a nurse. His joyful demeanor, as well as his nursing skills, are a great gift to the needy people of Denver.

Tres Reyes Magos

The evening of January 6 found families and their children hurrying to Sacred Heart Church for the arrival of the three kings. The celebration of the three kings, or wise men, is popular in Europe and Mexico and varies a bit from place to place. The evening begins with the reading of the beautiful scriptures and is followed by the arrival of the wise men. The kings first pay homage to the Christ Child in the manger and then are seated as the children ask questions: "Who are you seeking?" and "How did you know this is the child you are looking for?" The wise men answer solemnly and then the children are rewarded with small gifts.

December Happenings

19 December during the 9:45 and 11:45 AM Masses there will be the anointing of the sick.

Las Posadas   20, 21, 22 and 23 December at 7:00 PM in the church

Christmas Masses   24 December at 10:00 PM (bilingual) 

                                      25 December at 10:00 AM (English)

1 January Mass will be at 12 noon (bilingual).

6 January at 7 PM we will have the celebration of los tres reyes 

(the three kings) for the children with goodies afterwards.

Bake sale

The aroma from the Sacred Heart bake sale invited parishioners and passers by in from the cold November wind on Sunday, November 21. Cookies, cakes, bread, green chili and tamales - who could resist!

top photo, Atreya and Michael survey the selection.
middle photo, Joanna and Cindy handle ticket sales. Anthony seems interested in the money.
bottom photo, Rose and Virginia greet the customers.

Dia de los Muertos

More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish landed in what is now Mexico, they encountered Aztecs practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death. Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, natives saw it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it, believing the dead come back to visit and share in the celebration. In their attempts to convert native people to Catholicism, the Spaniards tried to kill the ritual. But like the old Aztec spirits, the ritual refused to die. To make the practices more Christian, the Spaniards moved it to coincide with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (November 1 and 2), which is when it is celebrated today.

As it is known today, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, was celebrated at 10:30 am on Saturday, October 30th, at Sacred Heart Church with Mass as well as a traditional Dia de los Muertos altar. Everything on the altar has significance.

1. Photos of saints that hold a particular importance to the congregation sit on the altar.
2. Candles are present and families light them to honor the dead.
3. Pan de Muertos, Bread of the Dead, will be eaten by the dead when they visit loved ones.
4. Flowers, particularly marigolds, symbolize the shortness of life.

The Mass was celebrated by the children and parents in religious education classes. Afterward, everyone enjoyed a delicious meal of homemade chili, burritos and dessert.

Top photo, traditional altar for Día de los Muertos

Middle photo, Ramon Quezada explains the Aztec origins and symbolism behind each item

Bottom photo, David Solano and Sonya Simental cook up green chili for the feast. All photos Mary Lou Egan

Works by David Morones

As you enter Sacred Heart Church, you will notice the work of David Morones. According to a December 19, 2002 article in Westword, David walked into Sacred Heart asking then pastor, Father Marcus Medrano, if he would baptize his children. Father Medrano said. "David walked in one day, wanted to know if I could baptize his kids," Medrano remembers. "Apparently he went somewhere else and they gave him a hard time, so I said sure. In my office, he saw a drawing, and he said he could do that. It was lucky." Medrano had been looking for someone to paint the Ascension of Mary on a wall high above the altar, but couldn't afford an established religious artist. Morones, who lost a leg in an industrial accident and had an ill-fitting prosthesis, hadn't been able to find work and was willing to paint for very little money. Morones spent the next six months on a scaffold near the church ceiling, creating his portrait of Mary. Morones also painted scenes from Christ childhood that grace the entryway - the Virgin baking bread, Jesus learning carpentry skills from Joseph.

Father Medrano has retired from Sacred Heart but the paintings recall his special relationship with a gifted artist.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart

There are 15 churches in Colorado named for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, reflecting a devotion that is centuries old. General prayers to the Sacred Heart were popular in Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries, but specific devotions became even more popular when St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a Visitation nun, had a personal revelation involving a series of visions of Christ as she prayed before the Blessed Sacrament. She wrote, "He disclosed to me the marvels of his Love and the inexplicable secrets of his Sacred Heart." Promises were made to those who would consecrate themselves to His Sacred Heart, chiefly, "to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months, the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in His disgrace, not without receiving their sacraments."

The devotions attached to these promises include:

• Receiving Communion frequently
• First Fridays: going to Confession and receiving the Eucharist on the first Friday of each month for nine consecutive months. Many parishes offer public First Friday devotions
• Holy Hour: Eucharistic Adoration for one hour on Thursdays ("Could you not watch one hour with me?"). Holy Hour can be made alone or as part of a group with formal prayers.