BLESSING OF CHALICE FOR REV. HUNTER LAROCCA
It is not every day a newly ordained priest gets to use his personal chalice at his Mass of Thanksgiving on the same day a saint is canonized! But that is exactly what happened for Rev. Hunter LaRocca.
A few months before Father LaRocca’s ordination, Father Whitney Miller — the first priest ordained for the Diocese of Lake Charles in 1980 — offered then-Deacon LaRocca a chalice that had been given to him by his Domestic Church Circle. Still in the market for one at the time, LaRocca was happy to be on the receiving end of Father Whitney’s generous offer.
It so happened that the patron saint for that particular Circle was then-Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, and engraved at the bottom of the chalice was “St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, Pray for Us” in anticipation of his September 7, 2025, canonization.
To tie it all together, on the same day as Father LaRocca’s Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving, Pope Leo XIV canonized Frassati in Rome. He went from Blessed to Saint just hours before Father LaRocca used the personal chalice gifted to him by Father Whitney Miller.
“If that is not divine providence!” exclaimed LaRocca. “I am deeply grateful to Father Whitney. Now that the chalice has fallen into my hands, every time I use it, I will think of that. I will always treasure it.”
On September 4, Bishop Glen John Provost blessed this very special chalice and the paten that Father LaRocca is now using as a priest. This rite, involving prayers and an anointing with holy chrism, dedicates the vessel exclusively for the sacred use in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Morris LeBleu
