The final days of August will be exciting ones at two institutions in our diocese each celebrating 100-year anniversaries under the patronage of St. Mary.

This Tuesday, Aug. 25, OSF St. Mary Medical Center in Galesburg culminates a yearlong observance of its centennial. Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, will be principal celebrant of a 5 p.m. Mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. And as a story in this issue relates, the bishop will be at St. Mary’s Parish in DePue on Sunday, Aug. 30, for a 4 p.m. Mass to help that faith community give thanks to God for 100 years of blessings.

OSF St. Mary’s Medical Center began in the former home of a local judge in 1909. The first DePue church was a frame structure built in another part of that town. Their founders couldn’t have imagined how the seeds they planted with their sacrifices would grow and evolve.

We congratulate all who have or had a role in the missions of OSF St. Mary’s Medical Center and St. Mary’s Parish. Celebrate with them this week if you can. — Thomas J. Dermody