TV Picks 08.04.19

The Assumption is celebrated on Aug. 15.

The ceiling fresco of Assumption of Virgin Mary in the Church of Santuario del Santissimo Crocifisso by Gersam Turri (1927-1929).
The ceiling fresco of Assumption of Virgin Mary in the Church of Santuario del Santissimo Crocifisso by Gersam Turri (1927-1929). (photo: Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock.com)

SUNDAY, Aug. 4, 2pm, live

Mass of Thanksgiving With the Knights of Peter Claver

EWTN Atlanta hosts the opening Mass of the 104th Annual National Convention of the Knights of Peter Claver and of the 89th Annual National Convention of the Knights’ Ladies Auxiliary. Named for St. Peter Claver (1580-1654), the Knights are a mainly African American lay Catholic group.

 

SUNDAYS, Aug. 4, Aug. 11, 8pm

Amazing Dogs

SMITHSONIAN CHANNEL This series’ final episodes cover canines in the Americas (Aug. 4) and Africa and Asia (Aug. 11). Advisory: Predation scenes.

 

MONDAY, Aug. 5, 5:30pm, 2:30am

They Might Be Saints: The Martyrs of La Florida

EWTN This episode employs interviews and visits to historic sites as it tells the story of 86 Apalachee Native Americans and Spanish Dominican, Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries whom Huguenots, the British Army, slave-hunters and Creeks subjected to atrocities and martyrdom in Florida between 1549 and 1761. A re-air from 2018.

 

TUESDAY, Aug. 6, 10pm

Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

EWTN Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, custos of the Holy Land, will preside at this pontifical Mass, with a procession to the Descendentibus Chapel after. Tape-delayed.

 

TUESDAY-THURSDAY, Aug. 6-8, live

Knights of Columbus 137th Supreme Convention

EWTN An EWTN Preview Show will air at 10am Tuesday. Following at 10:30 will be the Knights’ Opening Mass, and at 2:15pm will be the Opening Session. At 9am Wednesday will be a Votive Mass for Persecuted Christians, and at 9am Thursday the Mass for All Deceased Knights of Columbus will be celebrated.

 

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 7, 6pm

The Shop Around the Corner

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES Ernst Lubitsch directed this 1940 romance about two bickering shop employees in Budapest who have no idea they are each other’s idealized pen pals. Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart star.

 

WEDNESDAYS, Aug. 7, Aug. 14, 9pm

Nova: The Planets

PBS The final installments of this five-part PBS-BBC series are “Saturn” (Aug. 7) and “Ice Worlds,” about Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (Aug. 14). Zachary Quinto narrates.

 

TUESDAY-THURSDAY, Aug. 13-15, 5:30pm

Beacons of Light

EWTN An original documentary miniseries focuses on five Catholic communities in modern France that represent hopes for the universal Church. Each explores a specific Christian lifestyle that is a rejuvenation of an ancient way of life.

 

THURSDAY, Aug. 15, live

Solemnity of the Assumption

EWTN At 8am in the chapel in Irondale, Alabama, the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word will celebrate the Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At noon the Solemn Mass of the Assumption will take place in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Dan Engler writes from
Santa Barbara, California.