The feast of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, our patronal feast, is observed on June 8^th.  The title of Mary as ‘Seat of Wisdom’ is an ancient one, traced back liturgically to the twelfth century, when we find prayers to the Virgin as the ‘Mother of Wisdom’, the ‘fountain of Wisdom’ and, of course, the ‘Seat of Wisdom’.  She is seen not only as the Mother of Christ, Who is Wisdom Incarnate, but also as the prototypical ‘wise Virgin’ herself, who ‘kept all these words in her heart’, in order to ‘teach, recount, and proclaim them to the world’ (cf., Sacramentary for Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary).  

In one of those curious (but never spurious!) links of providence, June 8^th is also the feast of Our Lady of Combermere, the patroness of Madonna House, in Combermere just south of Barry’s Bay.  Our Lady of Combermere is a beloved patroness to so many of us here, and to the founders of OLSWA.  In fact, when OLSWA was still an inchoate dream in the minds of the early founders (yes, way back in the late nineties), an idea was discussed to name the school after Our Lady of Combermere. However, it was decided to choose a different name so as to avoid confusion of the two apostolates. After some prayer and deliberation, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom was chosen.  Little did we know that these two titles of Our Lady share the same feast day, signifying, after all, the spiritual and in many ways practical, link between Madonna House and OLSWA.  

So, let us pray to the Blessed Virgin on June 8^th (and beyond) as Our Lady Seat of Wisdom and Our Lady of Combermere.  We include here the official prayer to Our Lady Seat of Wisdom from the collect for her Mass:  

“All-holy Father, eternal God, in your goodness you prepared a royal throne for your Wisdom in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary; bathe your Church in the radiance of your life-giving Word, that, pressing forward on its pilgrim way in the light of your truth, it may come to the joy of a perfect knowledge of your love.  Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.”  Amen.

 Sedes sapientiae, ora pro nobis!