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September 7, 2026
9/11 Memorial Mass to be held at Ste. Rose de Lima Parish
REGIONAL
Staff report
The Tribute in Light installation illuminated over the lower Manhattan skyline is seen from Bayonne, N.J., Sept. 9, 2025, during the testing process before the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. (OSV News photo/Eduardo Munoz, Reuters)
CHICOPEE — A 9/11 Memorial Mass will be held at Ste. Rose de Lima Parish in Chicopee, Friday, Sept. 11 at 6:30 p.m. The parish will be continuing a tradition in the Ludlow and Chicopee Deanery offering a Mass each year on the anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks. This year marks the solemn 25th anniversary which claimed the lives of 2977 people in the U.S.
One what many would remember was a picture-perfect September morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, two out of Boston, one out of Dulles outside of Washington, D.C. and one out of Newark, N.J. The terrorists flew the two planes out of Boston, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City. American Airlines Flight 77 took off from Dulles and crashed into the Pentagon. United Flight 93 crashed into a field in Shanskville, Pa.
In New York, 2,753 people died in the Twin Towers collapse, including 343 firefighters; 37 Port Authority Police and 23 New York City Police Officers, in addition to other first responders at Ground Zero. One-hundred and eighty-four people perished at the Pentagon and 40 people on United Flight 93. That was the last plane to crash. Passengers and crew, who were informed of the terror attacks mid-flight, fought back against hijackers, forcing the plane to crash in the field in Shanksville, rather than the believed target of Washington, D.C.
Ste. Rose de Lima pastor Father Robert Gentile will be the principal celebrant and homilist at the Mass. Members of the police and fire departments will be in attendance. Prayers will be offered for those who were killed and for their families.