Lepanto Institute President, Michael Hichborn, recently climbed to the top of Mt. Ararat with a group of friends. While on the summit, he and his group held the first Catholic Mass on the Summit of the Mountain since Noah exited the Ark.

According to Wikipedia, the 13th century missionary William of Rubruck wrote of Mt Ararat that "Many have tried to climb it, but none has been able," indicating that at least until the 1400s, there was certainly no record of anyone ever saying Mass on top of Mt. Ararat.

The Armenian Apostolic Church was historically opposed to ascents of Ararat. Thomas Stackhouse noted "All the Armenians are firmly persuaded that Noah's ark exists to the present day on the summit of Mt Ararat, and that in order to preserve it, no one is permitted to approach it"

In response to its first ascent by Parrot and Abovian, one high-ranking Armenian Apostolic Church clergyman commented that to climb the sacred mountain was "to tie the womb of the mother of all mankind in a dragonish mode".

In other words, it seems that our priest was right when he told us that we were about to celebrate the first True Sacrifice on the top of Mt. Ararat since the time Noah made sacrifice after surviving the Flood.

So, a friend of mine, Father and I built an altar out of snow on the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows.

And then something truly remarkable happened! Remember - NOTHING lives on top of the mountain. No plants, no animals, and no insects. And yet, while Father was vesting for Mass, a bee flew into the tent.

For a bee to fly into the tent and begin buzzing around as Father prepared to celebrate Mass was quite a thing to see – especially since the bee has always been a symbol of Our Lady’s purity.

We had Mass that afternoon, and again the next morning on the Feast of the Transfiguration. At both Masses, I brought all of your intentions to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and thanked Him for this truly historic moment.