Peace is the precondition for all good and holy things.
From St. Peter's.
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From St. Peter's.
Beyond Politics
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From Romania: Ceremony in Honor of the Blessed Vladmir Ghika, Priest and Martyr
Several days ago we reported on the Beatification of Mons. Vladimir Ghika, a priest martyred by the Communist regime of Romania in 1954. Our reader Viviana Dimcev has sent some pictures of a ceremony held afterwards, at which an icon of him was blessed, and the following description of the event.
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August 31st was a great day for Catholics in Romania. In the morning, the Holy Mass of Beatification of Mons. Vladimir Ghika was celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Amato; about twenty bishops, two-hundred priests of both the Latin and Byzantine rites, and eight-thousand faithful attended.The Greek-Catholic Vicariate of Bucharest has also posted a flickr album with almost 200 photographs from the event at St. Basil's. Our thanks to Viviana Dimcev for providing the links and information.
In the afternoon, at the Greek Catholic Vicarial Church of St Basil in Bucharest, H. E. Bishop Mihai Fratila, Greek Catholic Vicar of Bucharest, presided over a ceremony in the Byzantine Rite, during which he consecrated the icon of Blessed Vladimir Ghika, painted by the Rome-based Ukrainian Greek Catholic artist Ivan Karas.
The blessing of the icon was followed by the chanting of the Akathist Hymn of the new Blessed. A special guest was Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, in whose diocese Mons. Ghika was active before returning to his native country. All the members of Catholic Bishop Conference in Romania (of both Latin and Byzantine rites) attended. The well-known French writer, Fr. Daniel Ange, was also present. At the end of the ceremony, the faithful venerated the icon and the relics of Blessed Vladimir Ghika.
The event held a special significance for the Greek Catholic community in Bucharest, since the Church of St. Basil was built with the contribution of Blessed Vladimir Ghika, a bi-ritual priest held in great esteem by the Greek Catholic Church. He also gathered there a community of students in the years before World War II, lecturing to them and involving them in charitable works. In 1948 the church was confiscated by the Communist authorities and handed over to the Orthodox Church. It was only in 2006 that the Greek Catholic community regained the church. So it may be said that the Blessed Vladimir Ghika was coming home again.
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| The new icon of Blesed Vladimir Ghika, Priest and Martyr. |
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| St. Basil's Greek Catholic Church in Bucharest |
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| A reliquary of Blessed Vladimir. |
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| This and the pictures that follow are of the ceremony at which the icon of Vladmir Ghika was blessed by Bishop Fratila, as described by Mrs. Dimcev above. |
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Singing opportunities for Catholic children around the world
Following my recent request for information on Catholic Children's Choirs, I have received information on the following choirs in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Please notify me of any errors/changes, and if you have a choir which has not yet been listed, please send me information at ccole@newliturgicalmovement.org. I will update this post accordingly.
UNITED STATES (State alphabetical)
SURPRISE, AZ
St. Clare of Assisi: a new children's choir for students in grades 3-8, forming on the west side of the Diocese of Phoenix Arizona. The choir will specialize in Gregorian chant and sacred music. Contact is Director of Music Matthew J. Meloche mmeloche@diocesephoenix.org
SACRAMENTO, CA
St Stephen the First Martyr Church: boys and girls are taught Gregorian chant and theory, modern notation and classic repertoire, theory and solfege. Choir is directed by Jeffrey Morse, a distinguished Chant expert and fine musician who many will know from CMAA Colloquiums. Contact Jeffrey Morse moravocis@mac.com
NORWALK, CT
St Mary's: Director of Music David Hughes, a key CMAA figure and leading Catholic musician has a huge music programme involving a number of choirs with excellent opportunities for children. Contact David Hughes music@stmarynorwalk.netWebsite
CHICAGO, IL
St John Cantius: The Holy Innocents Choir has nearly 100 children. Gregorian Chant and modern notation are taught, as well as catechesis. Rehearsals on Saturdays, sings at OF and EF Masses, Propers and Ordinaries; polyphonic mass settings; motets and hymns. Also occasionally sings the Divine Office with the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. Contact Director Br. Chad McCoy, SJC, email holyinnocentschoir@cantius.orgWebsite
TOPEKA, KS
Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church: Schola Cantorum founded three years ago as an "after school choir school." 25 choristers and 8 probationers (lower parts are choral scholars from the local university) directed by Lucas Tappan. The Schola sings every other week for the sacred liturgy as well as for concerts and tours. This year the students will be recording their first CD. Contact Lucas Tappan ltappan@mphm.comWebsite
ELLICOTT CITY, MD
Regina Caeli Schola Cantorum: a Gregorian Chant class for children grade 3-8. Rehearsals on Mondays. Contact the Director Mia Coyne miacoyne@gmail.comWebsite
PASADENA, MD
St Jane Frances de Chantal: Parish Children's Choir for children grade 3-8, rehearses on Wednesday evenings and sings for Sunday 10am Mass. Gregorian Chant and Hymns. Director Mia Coyne miacoyne@gmail.comWebsite
CAMBRIDGE, MA
St Paul's, Harvard Square: home to the renowned St Paul's Choir School, one of two Catholic Choir Schools in the USA. Musical boys in 3rd grade should apply for entry at 4th grade. Contact John Robinson, Director of Music 617-868-8658 jrobinson@choirschool.netInformationWebsite
LEMAY (ST. LOUIS), MO
St Martin of Tours: a new children's choir focusing on Chant and polyphony directed by Mary Pentecost, weekly rehearsals (Thursdays) and singing at a monthly Mass. Auditions for children in Grades 3-12. Contact Mary Pentecost (314) 544-5664 InformationWebsite
HELENA, MT
Cathedral of St Helena: The St Cecilia Choir for boys and girls aged 7-15 sings once a month at the 11am Mass with weekly rehearsals on Tuesdays. Website
RALEIGH, NC
A new youth schola (12+ years old) directed by Dr. Patricia Warren to compliment Schola Vox Clara, a Schola which serves the Extraordinary Form in the Diocese of Raleigh. Weekly rehearsals to sing for one EF Mass per month to start. Mixed voices, and gentlemen with both unchanged and changed voices are welcome. No prior choral experience is necessary. Contact Dr. Patricia Warren,
Director, Schola Vox Clara pwarren@christeluxmundi.org
NEW YORK, NY
St Catherine of Siena: home of the Manhattan Catholic Children's Choir for children aged 8-14, directed by Julie Woodin. Contact jwoodin@stcatherinenyc.orgInformationWebsite
SALT LAKE CITY, UT
Madeleine Cathedral: The Madeleine Choir School, a superb Cathedral Choir directed by Gregory Glenn with vocal training from Melanie Malinka, both inspirational musicians who are well-known to those who have attended the Colloquium the past two years in Salt Lake. Website
CHARLES TOWN, WV
St James the Greater: a number of children's choirs - Sacred Heart Choir for Kindergarten-Grade2, Saint Cecilia Choir for girls grades 3-8, Saint Gregory Choir for boys grades 3-8, Archangelus Chorale for high school students and Holy Trinity Ensemble, and auditioned choir for grades 5-12. Contact Director of Music Gary Penkala liturgy@stjameswv.orgWebsite
MILWAUKEE, WI
Basilica of St Josaphat: a new children's choir is being formed. Contact Christopher Berry Director of Music berryc@archmil.orgWebsite
The American Federation of Pueri Cantores Website
EUROPE
PARIS, FRANCE
Notre Dame de L'Assomption 1er: Les Petits Chanteurs de Passy for boys and girls aged 8-14. Rehearses Fridays and Saturdays, sings polyphony with adult back row. Contact contact@petits-chanteurs-passy.frWebsite
Saint-Eugène - Sainte-Cécile 9e: Les Petits Chantres de Sainte-Cécile, a new choir for children launches at the end of September 2013. Rehearsals on Saturday afternoons. Contact the Director, Clotilde de Nedde clotildedenedde@gmail.comFacebookWebsite
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
London Oratory SW7: The London Oratory Junior Choir for boys and girls aged 8-16 directed by Charles Cole. Three rehearsals per week and two services including the Sunday 10am Mass. Also sings for the Royal Ballet's productions at Covent Garden. Contact oratoryjuniorchoir@gmail.comInformationWebsite
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Traditional Liturgy and the Shaping of the Self
The chief purpose of the whole external worship is that man may give worship to God. Now man’s tendency is to reverence less those things which are common, and indistinct from other things; whereas he admires and reveres those things which are distinct from others in some point of excellence. Hence too it is customary among men for kings and princes, who ought to be reverenced by their subjects, to be clothed in more precious garments, and to possess vaster and more beautiful abodes. And for this reason it behooved special times, a special abode, special vessels, and special ministers to be appointed for the divine worship, so that thereby the soul of man might be brought to greater reverence for God. (Summa theologiae I-II, q. 102, a. 4)
If the Mass, as we celebrate it, is a reflection of who and what we already are or what we already think and feel, it will not unsettle us; it may even cause our mental habits to ossify. When “inculturation” is carried too far, it ends up being accommodation to the pure present, which, in the today’s world, is likely to be a culture of suburban narcissism.
In the spiritual life, peace comes to us through a relentless reshaping of the self. For this reshaping to occur, one does not need liturgical shock tactics, techniques for social consciousness-raising, or novelties to fabricate occasions for lay involvement. Quite the contrary: these things remain at a superficial level and do not penetrate into the murky depths of the soul where the first origins of desire and aversion faintly shimmer.
Good liturgy does not, in and of itself, set people in the right direction. More is required: a clergy devoted to prayer and zealous for souls, adequate catechesis for the people, hearts ready to receive the seed of the word. Liturgy has been done well at many places and in many historical periods, but at some places and in some periods it has produced what seem negligible good effects in the faithful. There is no magical recipe for success, but there is an instrument, namely, traditional liturgy, that we neglect at our peril, at the risk of a deadening of our sensitivity to the sacred and the transcendent. It is a congenial context for representing and assimilating the richness of the Christian mystery.
The Mass, in its hieratic formalism, is the optimal school of prayer. One would only need to add that all the aspects of liturgy have to be taken into account for this schooling of the Christian heart: the ritual, the music, the architecture, must evoke the distinctively sacred and shadow forth the mysteries of faith, and must do so with a searing intensity of seriousness.
It isn’t as if saints are a guaranteed product of solemn liturgy. Formal, beautiful liturgy might be spiritually empty, while a threadbare liturgy could be the vehicle through which God sanctifies souls. Nothing argued here would require a complex liturgy, but only one which is taken seriously, a motivation quite compatible with simplicity and poverty. As Fr. John Baldovin acknowledged in a 2002 article in Antiphon, seriousness is, in a sense, the key question for the liturgy—the seriousness of purpose revealed in a spirit of adoration, in earnest pleading, signs of sacred dignity, augmentations of otherness and the proclamation of an ungraspable intimacy.
We are asleep and we must be awakened. It was with a keen instinct for spiritual realities that our forefathers, over many centuries, gently built up a liturgy that challenges our minds and hearts at every turn, confronting us with the known in the unknown, the unknown in the known, the impenetrable, inscrutable, and ineffable in the melismas of jubilation and the silences of searching prayer. I am grateful to countless saints and to the Holy Spirit, their guide, for having bequeathed even to us, in the desert of modernity, a liturgy that is inexhaustibly rich and profound, ever more life-giving, younger and fresher, as the worshiper comes to know it. And I am grateful to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI for having liberated this treasure of the Catholic Faith, “so that thereby the soul of man might be brought to greater reverence for God.”
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Photos of Completed Chalice and Paten Commissioned by New Anglican Ordinariate Parish in Beverly Farms, MA
Earlier in the summer I mentioned, here, that the newly created parish of St Gregory the Great in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts had commissioned a chalice and paten in a traditional English design. I am please to report that the vessels have been completed and were consecrated this past weekend. The artist, Vincent Hawley sent me these photographs of the completed works. He tells me that both the chalice and paten are solid Sterling silver and the inside of the chalice is gilded in 24K gold. The chalice is 7'' high with bowl diameter of 6'' and the paten is 9.5'' in diameter. It took 4 sq. feet of silver sheet, around 1mm thick, to create them. The chalice has two engraved insriptions and three medallions, a chi-rho, Christ and St Gregory. The paten has an engraved dedication on the back. The technique used to create them is 'hand-raising'.
The chalice bears two inscriptions: 'This is my blood shed for you and for many', and the second is 'Holy Gregory pray that all may drink of this cup'. The paten carries the dedicatory inscription engraved around the underside of its rim: 'These vessels were given to the greater Glory of God in thankfulness for the establishment of St Gregory the Great parish and the ordination of its first pastor, Jurgen Liias, through the generosity of its people in September MMXIII. Exodus XXV:I-IX'. The scripture cited is 'The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the people of Israel that they take for me an offering; from every man whose heart makes him willing you shall receive from them...let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. According to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of its furniture, so shall you make it.''
Vincent can be contacted through his website vwhjewelry.com or directly on email info@vwhjewelry.com.
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The chalice bears two inscriptions: 'This is my blood shed for you and for many', and the second is 'Holy Gregory pray that all may drink of this cup'. The paten carries the dedicatory inscription engraved around the underside of its rim: 'These vessels were given to the greater Glory of God in thankfulness for the establishment of St Gregory the Great parish and the ordination of its first pastor, Jurgen Liias, through the generosity of its people in September MMXIII. Exodus XXV:I-IX'. The scripture cited is 'The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the people of Israel that they take for me an offering; from every man whose heart makes him willing you shall receive from them...let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. According to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of its furniture, so shall you make it.''
Vincent can be contacted through his website vwhjewelry.com or directly on email info@vwhjewelry.com.
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Treasures of the Patriarchal Chapel in Lisbon
The Portuguese blog Semper Idem has a nice post with photographs from an ongoing exposition of liturgical objects from the Royal and Patriarchal Chapel of Lisbon. Some of these objects show the traditional triple tiara worn by the Patriarchs of Lisbon, essentially identical to the Papal tiara, but obviously without the Papal keys. The Patriarch also used the ostrich feather fans which are usually seen in photographs of the old Papal liturgy. Here are just a few of the photographs.
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Anglican Ordinariate Priestly Ordination and Mass of Thanksgiving
Recently, in Melbourne, Australia, Bishop Elliott ordained another priest for the Anglican Ordinariate. Congratulations to the Rev. Richard Waddell, who was ordained. He will now be leaving to study Canon Law in Rome. There are pictures of both the ordination at St Patrick's Mentone, as well as his Mass of Thanksgiving, which he celebrated at the Community of Bl. John Henry Newman.
I am also told that this was a historic situation: while the Mass of Ordination was celebrated according to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the Mass of thanksgiving was the very first use of the Interim Liturgy of the Anglican Ordinariate in Australia.
Readers will note well that the Mass of ordination was celebrated ad orientem, as well as the use of the Episcopal gloves.
I am also told that this was a historic situation: while the Mass of Ordination was celebrated according to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the Mass of thanksgiving was the very first use of the Interim Liturgy of the Anglican Ordinariate in Australia.
Readers will note well that the Mass of ordination was celebrated ad orientem, as well as the use of the Episcopal gloves.
Ordination
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| Rev. Mr. Richard Waddell processing into the church to be ordained |
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| Incensation of the altar |
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| The celebrant and other ministers seated for the proclamation of the readings |
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| The deacon proclaiming the gospel |
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| Bishop Elliott listening to the deacon proclaim the gospel |
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| The ordinandi proclaiming his intent |
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| Making the final promise |
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| Prostration and Litany |
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| Laying on of hands |
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| Anointing of hands, after being vested in priestly stole and chausable |
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| All the ministers in place for the canon |
Mass of Thanksgiving
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| Preparing for the Mass of Thanksgiving |
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| Incensing the altar |
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| Introductory Rites |
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| Confiteor |
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| The subdeacon proclaiming the epistle |
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| Consecration |
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| Recessional |
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EF Confirmations in England
We have just received some photographs from the FSSP Apostolate in Reading, England. On Saturday August 3, H.E. Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth in England conferred the sacrament of Confirmation in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The ceremony took place at St, William of York Church in Reading, Berkshire, and was organized by the priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, who have been serving daily in that church for the last five years. After consecrating sacred vessels to be used for the Holy Mass, Bishop Egan confirmed 12 candidates, assisted by Fathers Armand de Malleray and Matthew Goddard FSSP, and seminarians of the order. He then gave Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament with the Litanies of the Sacred Heart, and met with the families for refreshments afterwards. Fr. John Chandler, Diocesan Master of Ceremonies, attended in choir. Three years ago, Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton was the first English bishop to confer the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Extraordinary Form in his own cathedral. As of last Sunday (September 8) Bishop Egan has introduced a regular EF Sunday Mass in his cathedral in Portsmouth.
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A Tribute to the Decision to Be a Priest
I heard an excellent homily last week, delivered by a young priest who spoke with passion and energy. It was clearly his own take on how the Gospel reading for this daily Mass spoke to him. He crafted it to offer lessons to us. It was beautiful, but that wasn’t what struck me. What moved me most this day was the very existence of this man and his vocation. I had a sudden and overwhelming sense of gratitude.
I’ll try to explain why.
There were only about ten of us in attendance. He crafted that homily for us. It required that he read ahead of time and think hard. He had clearly done some additional reading on the topic. He probably spent some time in prayer. Then he delivered it and could only hope that people would listen and learn from what he said. He does this every single day. And he will do this the whole of his life.
I have some sense that people take this skill for granted. For my part, I marvel at it. If someone asked me to stand up and say something intelligent about the day’s readings, I would sweat it out and probably flop. Most people would. And yet we somehow assume that the talent to do this is built into the genetic code of a priest—and if he ever fails, he will certainly hear about it.
Not only that, everyone in the parish assumes that the priest should be there at every instant to serve us in every conceivable way—on our terms. Maybe we will be faithful or maybe not. Maybe we will lean on the priest only in hard times, or in big ceremonial occasions like weddings and baptisms but otherwise pay no attention whatsoever.
We are happy to lose interest in the Catholic faith for months, years, or decades. This is a luxury afforded to the laity. But we believe that when we are ready, the priest will be there with all the answers, with a forgiving heart, and welcoming arms. He will hear our confession, happily, and rejoice in our return. He will baptize our children, marry them later, and be there when our lives have fallen apart. We can lose the faith at will; he, on the other hand, must never waver, else we will be scandalized and cry hypocrisy.
He is a servant to a much greater extent than other callings. He is called upon to understand—and fully explain and even solve—our troubles, issues, difficulties, struggles, failings, sins, and to comprehend and care about the endless details of our lives, to the precise extent to which we share them and call upon his intervention. In the confessional, he is (contrary to myth) not a judge but a dispenser of the grace of God’s forgiveness and comforting love.
Meanwhile, no one really ever asks us to understand his failings. Far from it: we imagine ourselves in the position of being his judge, never dispensing forgiveness but more commonly suspicion, detraction, and calumny. Catholics themselves are severe enough in this respect, but the rest of the world is ever more disapproving of the priesthood itself. His very existence is a provocation to debate every issue from the existence of God to the meaning of life. He is a lightening rod and yet must act nonchalant about this fact, going about his business as if to ignore the suspicions and doubts all around him.
Read full article
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Dominican Rite Masses in the California Bay Area
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| Dominican Rite Mass at St. Albert the Great Priory |
EAST BAY
Saint Albert the Great Priory (Dominican House of Studies), Oakland CA Chapel Entrance: 6172 Chabot Road, Oakland CA 94618
Dominican Missa Cantata (Immaculate Heart), First Saturdays, 10 a.m:
Oct. 5, Nov. 2 (All Souls Mass), Dec. 7
Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley CA
2301 Vine St, Berkeley, CA 94708
Dominican Low Mass, third Thursday of the month, 5:15 p.m:
Sept. 19, Oct. 17, Nov. 21, Dec. 19
Carmel of the Holy Family of Jesus Mary and Joseph, Canyon CA
Off Pinehurst Road, Canyon, CA 94516 (directions below at *)
Sunday (Missa Cantata), normally Extraordinary Form Roman (times vary) Dominican: third (9:30 a.m.) and fourth (10 a.m.) Sundays of the month: Sept. 15, 22; Oct. 20, 27; Nov 17, 24; Dec. 15, 22
Weekdays (Low Mass), mostly Extraordinary Form Roman (times vary) Dominican: Tuesdays and Fridays, 7:45 a.m., most weeks:
Sep. 13, 17, 20, 24, 27; Oct. 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 29; Nov. 1, 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, 22, 26, 29; Dec. 3, 6; 10, 13, 17, 20, 27
SAN FRANCISCO
Star of the Sea Church, San Francisco CA
4420 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco 94118
Dominican Low Mass, 6:30 p.m:
Oct. 4 (Fri.), 7 (Mon.), Nov. 6 (Wed.), Dec. 12 (Thu.), Dec. 17 (Tue.)
Dominican Missa Cantata (or possible Dominican Solemn Mass)
Dec. 8, Sunday, 11 a.m. (Immaculate Conception)
Dec. 18, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. (Rorate Mass, Advent Ember Day)
Those attending these Masses may wish to purchase their own copies of the Dominican Rite Pew Booklet with the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin and English. One may do so at Dominican Rite Publications.
Elsewhere in the Western Dominican Province, the traditional Dominican Rite is celebrated regularly at: Holy Family Cathedral (weekly), Anchorage AK, Holy Rosary Church (monthly), Portland OR, and Blessed Sacrament Church (quarterly), Seattle WA. Contact these churches for specific dates and times.
*How to find Canyon Carmel, which has no street number and is on a private road: from Canyon U.S. Post Office (99 Pinehurst Road), go north about one half mile to “McClosker Farm Road” on right (easy to miss); take this mostly gravel road up to the right turn onto “Old Home Farm Road,” which is signed for “Carmel.” It ends in the parking lot of the monastery.
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Adeste Fideles and other treasures at St Edmund's College, Ware
The College boasts a beautiful Chapel, one of two buildings in the Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster designed by Pugin, the other being the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury in Fulham. In a side chapel is the relic of St Edmund:
The College has a rich variety of treasures including these papal objects and relics of Pope Pius IX, a collection of mitres including a metal one which was worn by Bishop Challoner, and the cassock which Cardinal Odescalchi wore at the conclave of 1676 at which he was elected Pope Innocent XI.
The College Museum also contains this unusual curiosity: a cabinet which opens out to reveal a concealed altar:
When I recently visited the College with a pilgrimage group from Uxbridge led by Fr Nicholas Schofield, the highlight for me was a musical treasure: the 'Wade' Manuscript, a book of music compiled by John Francis Wade and first used in the Chapel of the English College, Douay in France in 1760. Wade produced beautiful books of chant, which were widely used by English Catholics and he is credited as being largely responsible for a revival in English plainchant usage. There are only four copies of the Wade Manuscript in existence, two of which are at St Edmund's. The manuscripts contain the original copies of Adeste Fideles which is thought to have been composed by Wade. (Choir directors will be delighted to see the definitive proof that there is no passing note between the final two notes of 'Angelorum'.) A Jacobite Catholic, his manuscripts were filled with covert political imagery which would have been recognisable only to Stuart supporters. Adeste Fideles, which for many at the time doubled as a birthday ode to Bonnie Prince Charlie, contains a word play in which Regem Angelorum (King of the Angels) in fact has a double meaning: Regem Anglorum (King of the English), following the wordplay established by St Gregory the Great when he famously encountered the English slave boys in Rome declaring them 'non angli sed angeli'. The name 'Bethlehem' was a common Jacobite code word for England and the 'faithful' were those loyal to the true King and the true Faith. Pupils from St Edmund's will soon be going on a trip to Douay where they will sing the Adeste from the original Manuscript.
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Festival of Our Lady of Walsingham
A reader sends this information about a festival for Our Lady of Walsingham:
Perhaps if readers know any additional information, they could post in the comments below.Solemn High Mass and Procession on Saturday 28th September 2013, 11 am. Celebrant: the Bishop of Portsmouth, Rt. Revd. Philip Egan.
Kleine Orgelmesse (Little Organ Mass) - Haydn - sung by the Southampton Chamber Choir.
St Agatha's, Charlotte Street, Portsmouth, England
St Agatha's is part of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Currently, the liturgy used is Rite 1 of the Book of Divine Worship which incorporates parts of the Prayer Book and includes the Roman Canon.
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Exhibition of Litany of Loreto Embroideries at Hampton Court in London
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Matrimony according to the Use of the Philippine Islands
Today, on this very same eve of Exaltation Roodmas, also that of the 6th anniversary of the promulgation of the celebrated apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum of Benedict XVI, Pope emeritus, a matrimony was celebrated according to the use and customs of the Philippine Islands, whose rite and ceremony was taken and based on the very ancient Manuale Toletanum, and whose form presently used is contained in the Manual de Manila promulgated by Fray Pedro Payo, Archbishop of Manila and Metropolitan of the Islands. This present use of the ancient rite is in accordance with the tenor of the acts and decrees of the First Plenary Council of the Philippines in 1953. READ MORE
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CNS Covers Monks of Norcia
Recently, Catholic News Service covered our friends, the Monks of Norcia. The first is about their brewing business, and the second about their liturgy and music, and beauty in particular.
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Continuity and Discontinuity in Liturgy and Theology
While Pope Benedict XVI strove mightily to overcome this rupture with the Tradition, the Church, humanly speaking, is still in a state of utter confusion and disarray, as it has been for the past half century. One need only consider how the Mass has been seriously damaged by the abandonment of ad orientem worship, a practice once universal in East and West, which St. Basil and St. John Damascene, among other Fathers, considered to be of apostolic origin—a conclusion that all recent research supports. Or one might consider the abandonment of sacred chant, also an ancient and constitutive element of Catholic worship, which, it seems, no intervention of the Magisterium has ever been able to reintroduce, given the adamantine non serviam that rises up against any effort to affirm or re-assert continuity with the Tradition.
The crisis of today’s theology is a crisis of identity, mentality, and heart. It is therefore also a crisis of prayer, of public prayer, divine worship, in which our Catholic identity is most of all expressed, nourished, and consolidated.
The hermeneutic of continuity in theology—the principle of going back to the primary sources (ad fontes) in company with, and as disciples of, St. Thomas Aquinas—is matched and supported by living the sacred liturgy as this treasure was and is handed down to us. Continuity in theology is matched by continuity in liturgy; rupture in theology is matched by rupture in liturgy. There is a complementarity, a mutual causality. It is no surprise that those who love Catholic theology in its fullness, in its rich tradition, also love Catholic liturgy in its fullness and tradition, or quickly fall in love with it once they have had the blessing of being exposed to it.
Those who believed that theology had to “come of age,” that it had to modernize itself out of pastoral considerations, were the very ones who deliberately left behind St. Thomas and tended either to exalt the Fathers or to throw in their hat with modern philosophy—and sometimes did both. One cannot miss the striking similarity with the liturgical reformers, who, having won the confidence of Paul VI, reveled in the antiquarianism, “the more ancient and simple, the better,” that had been condemned only a few years earlier by Pius XII, and who, at the same time, and seemingly without feeling the shame of self-contradiction, introduced novelties invented whole cloth from modern ideas.
Catholic theology venerates and studies primary sources as they deserve to be studied: Sacred Scripture, the Fathers, the Doctors (including, above all, the Common Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas), as well as the Magisterium. To do anything else will be to enter into a different kind of theology altogether, one that is not Catholic, however many superficial resemblances it may display. One must say the same about the liturgy: an institution that is true to Catholic theology will also, of necessity, venerate, cherish, embrace, and provide Catholic liturgy in its traditional fullness. The sacred liturgy is not only the “source and summit of the Christian life”; it is also the supreme repository and living witness of Tradition. It is a theological source par excellence, not only by transmitting the Faith in its integrity, but even more by being the actual source of our ever-deepening participation in the mystical Body of Christ, which the mere study of sacred doctrine, in and of itself, cannot be.
As you cannot fit a square peg into a round hole, you cannot fit classical theology into a modernized liturgy. Liturgy as such, with its love for imitation, quotation, allusion, typology, symbolism, repetition, and, most generally, ritual continuity with what is always done in the same cultus of the same mystery, is inimical to modernity’s restless shifting among transient, ambiguous, wilful significations that hold their ground only as long as someone consents to keep them. Iconodulia and iconoclasm are forever at war. As Protestantism is not one confession but many contrafessions (if I may coin a word), potentially infinitely many, so too modern man, the Promethean self-creator and self-destroyer, is whatever he wishes himself to be, without reference to any unmoved rock of certainty, without reference to a pre-existent, determinate, authoritative belief and practice. Hence, to the extent that one is thinking and acting liturgically, one will be unmodern and, indeed, anti-modern, whereas to the extent that one is thinking and acting in a distinctively modern way, one will be anti-liturgical and anti-traditional.
As uncomfortable as it may be to admit this profound opposition, I believe it is sufficiently clear that its effects have been playing out with increasing magnitude and accelerating pace ever since the period of the Enlightenment and, above all, during the past fifty years, when the “isms” of the Enlightenment (liberalism, individualism, subjectivism, indifferentism, moral relativism, etc.) found a warm welcome in the Catholic Church. We are living in a period when, thanks be to God, these same principles are being more and more recognized as the poisonous lies they are, and are beginning to be pushed out of the sanctuary and out of the classroom, albeit not without much resistance.
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Buckfast Abbey - 20th Century Geometric Patterned Art and Architecture Using Traditional Principles
I spent a few days at Buckfast Abbey in Devon, England recently (I was part of the Maryvale Institute's residential summer school Art, Beauty and Inspiration from a Catholic Perspective). There seem to be good things going on there liturgically - the Sunday Mass I attended (in the Ordinary Form) all the Ordinaries and Propers were chanted in Latin and there is a Mass for the Anglican Ordinariate offered there each Sunday too. The abbot there, as I understand it, is keen to promote the abbey as a focus of Catholic learning for the southeast of England and clearly, if he is hosting the Maryvale Institute, is interested in an orthodox presentation of the Faith. It has been said that historically the Benedictine monasteries of the post-classical period of Christianity preserved and developed learning, this
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The abbey was reestablished on an ancient abbey site at the end of the 19th century and the church and buildings were erected in the first years or so of the 20th century. The design of both shows an awareness of ancient traditions in proportion that have their roots in pre-Christian classical culture. The facilities for hosting this sort of residential course are excellent and they are being developed further. There is much new building going on at Buckfast in order to help it develop the vision that the abbot has for the community.
It is interesting that as recently as most of the main abbey buildings were built, how much of the tradition is in evident (it also highlights how much was lost and when we think that within twenty years you are seeing modernist churches being built). In the main body of the church there is an opus sectile work on the floors and the traditional designs that would be seen, for example, in the floors of many gothic period churches in Rome. Over the main entrance we see a stone carving of Christ in Majesty in the mandorla (created by the intersection of two circles, with the centre of each on the circumference on the other). We see the quincunx (where four circles spin out of a central shape - a geometric representation of the four Evangelists taking the Word out to the four corners of the world); and the guilloche (a chain of connected circles and squares down). Also, I have shown a view of the outside of the guest house in which one can see the classical harmonic proportions (as described by Boethius for example in his De Arithmetica) indicated by three uneven storeys moving upwards in a rhythmical progression such that the first relates to the second as the second relates to the third.
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It is interesting that as recently as most of the main abbey buildings were built, how much of the tradition is in evident (it also highlights how much was lost and when we think that within twenty years you are seeing modernist churches being built). In the main body of the church there is an opus sectile work on the floors and the traditional designs that would be seen, for example, in the floors of many gothic period churches in Rome. Over the main entrance we see a stone carving of Christ in Majesty in the mandorla (created by the intersection of two circles, with the centre of each on the circumference on the other). We see the quincunx (where four circles spin out of a central shape - a geometric representation of the four Evangelists taking the Word out to the four corners of the world); and the guilloche (a chain of connected circles and squares down). Also, I have shown a view of the outside of the guest house in which one can see the classical harmonic proportions (as described by Boethius for example in his De Arithmetica) indicated by three uneven storeys moving upwards in a rhythmical progression such that the first relates to the second as the second relates to the third.
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Mass at the Shrine of St. Joseph
Yesterday, Canon Raphael Ueda, ICKSP, Vicar of the St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis, offered a High Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the beautiful Shrine of St. Joseph in north St. Louis City.
Not being from St. Louis, I had never been to the Shrine, although I had heard of it, and the stunning restoration that has been undertaken and is on-going. Needless to say, it is a gorgeous church, as you can probably tell from the picture I quickly snapped on my phone during Mass. Sorry, my smartphone doesn't quite do it justice.
It is no doubt a beautiful location for any Mass, but I found it an especially beautiful setting for the Tridentine Rite. And apparently, the Canons of the Institute may offer it there more often. Stay tuned!
If you live in St. Louis and have never been to the Shrine, or if you're making a visit to St. Louis and want a location to visit, I highly recommend going to see it. Visit the website here.
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Solemn High Mass with the Archbishop of Singapore
From this site:
Singapore made history when Archbishop William Goh attended Solemn High Mass last Sunday at the Chapel of St. Joseph's Institute. This is the first time that an Archbishop attended a Traditional Latin Mass since the liturgical reform in 1970. This is a true testament of Summorum Pontificum being embraced by the local church, both by the clergy and laity as part of their regular liturgical celebrations - very much a reflection of His Grace's motto; Unity in Diversity. He also cautioned that unity does not mean uniformity.
The Mass was attended by a congregation of more than a hundred strong. The celebrant was Fr. Augustine Tay, assisted by Fr. Cary Chan as Deacon and Mr. Michael Feng as straw-subdeacon. It was Fr. Chan's first time celebrating a Traditional Latin Mass. He had about less than one week's training. The vestments worn were sewn by the Koh sisters of Singapore.
In his homily, His Grace highlighted that the Traditional Latin Mass is not a bad thing as some people would have others believed, since this Mass ( the only form before the existence of the new mass in 1970) was celebrated by all catholics for the pass many centuries. He also emphasized that the Mass should be an encounter with Jesus, and that the fruit of the Mass, in either forms, is Charity.
After the Mass, Archbishop William Goh officially announced that Fr. Augustine Tay is made the Chaplain for the Traditional Latin Mass community in Singapore. Among present was Fr. Ignatius Yeo, assistant and secretary to Archbishop Goh. It was Fr. Yeo's first attendance to a Traditional Latin Mass.
Una Voce West Malaysia's fellow co-founder and representative to the auspicious event had an opportunity to speak to His Grace on a casual basis after Mass to thank him for his generosity and his openness toward the Traditional Latin Mass and for attending the Mass in choir. We have asked the Archbishop for prayers for our community here in Malaysia.
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Juventutem Miami and Floridian Seminarians Attending the TLM
I am delighted to announce that Miami is the newest chapter of Juventutem in the U.S.
The following announcement is from Mr. Aramis Perez, a friend in the Latin Mass community here in Miami, and the momentum behind the organization of Juventutem in Miami:
The following announcement is from Mr. Aramis Perez, a friend in the Latin Mass community here in Miami, and the momentum behind the organization of Juventutem in Miami:
It's our pleasure to announce that as of September 14, 2013, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a new chapter of the Fœderatio Internationalis Juventutem has been recognized in the Archdiocese of Miami.Our group, styled “Juventutem Miami” (http://www.facebook.com/juventutemmiami), grew out of the bonds of friendship formed among young people drawn to the Traditional Latin Mass, seeking to live Catholic lives amid the dynamism of our metropolitan area, and desiring to serve the local Church. We connect young people who live dynamic 21st-century lives with the timeless beauty, spirituality, doctrine, and classical practice of the Catholic faith according to the Church's Roman traditions.Holding events on an approximately biweekly basis, Juventutem Miami is quickly becoming known for gathering cradle Catholics, converts, active members of groups and parishes across the Archdiocese, as well as others more distant from the Church, for some of the most interesting and solidly Catholic events in town. A Juventutem Miami event always offers the promise of practicing and exploring the Faith with fascinating people in a spirit of friendship and thoughtful exchange.The Very Reverend Fr. Christopher B. Marino, V.F., rector of St. Mary's Cathedral, is our chaplain. Most of our members attend Sung Mass on Sundays at 9:00 a.m. at Sts. Francis and Clare mission, where Monsignor Oscar F. Castañeda, Spiritual Director at St. John Vianney College Seminary has recently succeeded Fr. Joseph Fishwick as chaplain to the Archdiocese of Miami Traditional Latin Mass Community.To reach Juventutem Miami via e-mail, please write to juventutemmiami@gmail.com.
On Saturday, the 6th anniversary of the implementation of Summorum Pontificum, and the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Juventutem hosted a Mass for its members and the Miami Latin Mass Community at the Mission of Sts. Francis and Clare, with about 80 people in attendance. The community was blessed with the presence of about 20 seminarians from St. John Vianney Seminary in Miami, the minor seminary for the dioceses of Florida. Three of the seminarians sang in my choir, whilst others served at the altar.
The informal reflections of one of the seminarians can be found on his blog. Here's an excerpt from his thoughts about attending the Mass with his fellow seminarians:
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The informal reflections of one of the seminarians can be found on his blog. Here's an excerpt from his thoughts about attending the Mass with his fellow seminarians:
For some seminarians, they've been to quite a few of these; for others, this was their first time. After the Mass it's always interesting to see the look on the [faces of the] guys who went for the first time. Some of them are overcome with joy, others just have a huge smile on their face and they all have the same consensus: "that was awesome." In the truest sense of th[at] word, [...] there is a certain awe and wonder about the Mass. I was planning on just sitting in choir with the rest of the seminarians but I ended up being a torchbearer--it was my first time doing that but it was great--not too hard! We also had a meeting of all the young people called Juventutem afterwards at a local restaurant. It was great to see many young people on fire for the Church!
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More Pages to Explore .....
