By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Homily by Archbishop Thomas Wenski at Mass with the Friends of the Seminary of St. Vincent de Paul. Oct. 16, 2026.
Once again, this seminary community is pleased to welcome a goodly number of our friends to this Mass, and to the Gala banquet that follows. Thank you! Thank you for your support of this seminary.
Today the universal church celebrates the feast day of St. Hedwig of Polish Silesia, Jadwiga – as we would say in Polish.
And, on this feast day, in 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected to the papacy – and he always said it was Divine Providence that he was elected Pope on the feast day of this Polish saint.
Jadwiga was a duchess who entirely rejected the trapping of earthly status to serve the poor. In the gospel Jesus warns against the “yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy”, the desire to perform righteousness for public prestige or human approval. Jadwiga lived the exact opposite; she hid her wealth and walked barefoot to remain close to the marginalized
The gospel reading weaves a beautiful tapestry of courage, humble service, and the overarching providence of God. Courage, humble service, trust in God’s providence: these qualities are found in the life of St. Hedwig but also in the lives of St. John Paul II and of St. Vincent de Paul, the patron of this seminary. Courage, humble service, trust in God’s providence also define the two people whom we honor tonight with the St. Vincent de Paul Award.
John Paul II began his pontificate with the historic, echoing cry: "Be not afraid!" This perfectly mirrors Jesus' command to his disciples: "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more." Facing down oppressive regimes during his life, John Paul II lived out the fearless trust Jesus calls for in this passage.
You, friends of the seminary, support the efforts of this seminary’s board and faculty to form future priests, future shepherds who also must stand before the world and speak Christ's truth without fear or shame.
Jesus says, therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.
The seminary is where future priests go "into the dark" of quiet study, prayer, and deep formation so that they can eventually go out into the light and boldly proclaim the Gospel from the rooftops. Your investment in this seminary, as its friends, is helping to shape courageous, authentic hearts rather than superficial hypocrites.
The climax of tonight’s Gospel passage (Luke 12:6-7) focuses on the sparrows and the numbered hairs of our heads. Jesus tells us that no one is forgotten by God. The Father Dustin Feddon, of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, and the director of Joseph House, a reentry program for recently released prisoners, and Doctor Anthony Dardano, a valued volunteer at this seminary and a medical ethicist are our two recipients of the St. Vincent de Paul area. We honor them this evening precisely because they choose to act, with courage and humble service as the hands and feet of God’s providence. By serving those whom society forgets or discards, like Saint Jadwiga, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. John Paul II, before them, they prove to the poor that they are indeed "worth more than many sparrows".
