Saint Stephen’s Pig Roast
St. Stephen’s is a Catholic Church in Sacramento, California that celebrates High Latin Mass, where some of the residents here at OLR like to attend. Every year St. Stephen’s Parish provides a large pig roast for the parishioners to celebrate their patron on his feast day!
For those of you who don’t know, St. Stephen is considered the very first martyr in the Catholic Church. He is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles and was one of the first seven deacons appointed by the Apostles to distribute food and charitable aid to the poorer members of the community in the early church. According to Orthodox belief, he was the eldest and is therefore called "archdeacon.” Members of the Jewish synagogues had challenged Stephen's Christian teachings, but Stephen had bested them in debate. Furious at this humiliation, they suborned false testimony that Stephen had preached blasphemy against Moses and God. They dragged him to appear before the Sanhedrin, accusing him of preaching against the Temple and the Mosaic Law. Stephen is said to have been unperturbed, his face looking like "that of an angel.” However, Stephen looked up and cried, "Look! I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!" The crowd could contain their anger no longer and dragged Stephen out to be stoned. The Jewish mob laid their coats down at the feet of a "young man named Saul" (who later became Paul the Apostle). Stephen prayed that the Lord would receive his spirit and his killers be forgiven, sank to his knees, and "fell asleep.”
To read more about St. Stephen check out Catholic Online.
Anyways, about six months ago we had some pigs escape from their pen to head out into the wilderness. While on my (Tyler) maternity photoshoot with my sister, Ali, we saw the pigs had multiplied and had a bunch of piglets! As the pig roast grew closer, Isaiah and Stephenson knew they wanted to participate in the event and so asked my dad (Phil) if they could donate the escaped pigs! “If you can catch them then go for it!” he laughed.
So they began to put grain out in one particular spot in the fields to entice the pigs back… And it worked! One day they spotted the small herd out there and quickly recruited the Whites to help corral them. Success! They now had about 6 seventy-five pound pigs to donate to the St. Stephen’s parish celebration. Once they caught the pigs, the event coordinator was happy to accept the gift!
To help harvest the pigs for the day of roasting, a group of parishioners showed up on the Friday before. Father McWhirter came with them and blessed both the animals and the ranch in thanks for the bounty. Then they roasted the pigs all night long in preparation for the big day.
The event began with a High Mass on Saturday and was quickly followed by the activities of good food, good friends, good play, and an all around good time!
We here at OLR feel so blessed to be a part of community events involving the Catholic Faith and Christian Fellowship. These events are important for a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life, so we pray for more opportunities in the future!
Until next time, God Bless!
Tyler Straight
Oldest Zeiter Kid
OLR Design & Outreach Manager
