A major new article in the New York Times by David Gonzalez,”Bringing Back the Artistic Beauty of a 19th-Century Church.”

“The stunningly decorated sanctuary of St. Anselm’s Church in the South Bronx is a marvel of art and architecture, capturing Byzantine, Greek, Italian and German styles. No glistening detail is random, from the gold band circling the balconies — a reminder of God’s crowning glory — to the 12 side pillars, one for each apostle.”

A magnificent church, ravaged by years of neglect and incompetent repairs; a dedicated pastor; a multi-ethnic supportive community; and a visionary conservator has a masterpiece been saved?

“To that end, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, a nonprofit group, enlisted graduate students at Columbia University to prepare an application so that the church could be listed on state and national registers of historic places.

“This building is a treasure,” said Ann Friedman, who runs the conservancy’s Sacred Sites program. “It is a building that deserves more attention, funding, ongoing restoration and investment from the broader New York community.”

Must reading for those who may find themselves in similar circumstances!

Last Thursday,  in the original cathedral of the New York Archdiocese , Fr. Austin Litke, O.P. , Assistant Chaplain at the Catholic Center at NYU,  gave a spiritual talk at an Advent evening of recollection sponsored by The Catholic Artists Society. The topic was the beauty of the Virgin Mary as evidenced by the Litany of Loreto. (Fr. Litke noted that  a Dominican Pope, St. Pius V, had tried to ban the Litany of Loreto in the 16th century, only to have a subsequent Franciscan Pope restore it).

Fr. Litke concentrated on three attributes of Mary.  First,  Domus Aurea.  The emperor Nero had also used this term for the extravagant palace he constructed in Rome after the Great Fire there – with a monstrous statue of himself as the centerpiece.  But God placed his own exact image – the Son – in the womb of the virgin, who shone with moral beauty.  Second,  Rosa Mystica.    The rose has always been considered a peculiarly beautiful flower reflecting the glory of God.  Mary is indeed the greatest of roses but she is also a “mystical” or hidden flower. She now intercedes for us even thought she is removed from our eyes. Third,  Mirror of Justice. “Justice” is used here in the sense of Justification or righteousness. Mary is the exact image of God – not by reason of her proximity to Him but out of her love or charity. Time for silent prayer and reflection, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction followed.

Afterwards, there was a reception in the rectory.

St. Mary’s warmly invites you & your family to its annual service of Advent Lessons & Carols, Friday, 13 December 2013, 7:00 p.m.

The St. Mary’s Choir
El Coro Hispano de Santa María
The St. Mary’s Student Schola

* * *

David J. Hughes, Organist & Choirmaster
Welder Gomez, Spanish Choir Director
William V. Riccio, Jr., Assistant Organist
Robert Rudesill, Assistant Organist
Charles A. Weaver, Student Schola Assistant Director

* * *

Traditional carols from England, Spain & Germany;
organ music of Buxtehude & Bach;
& Gregorian chants of Advent.

Seven readings from Sacred Scripture & the writings of the saints on the Advent of Our Lord will be interspersed with carols, chants, hymn and organ music of the season, concluding with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
A festive reception will follow.

On Saturday, December 14 at 6:30 am Saint Gabriel Church, Stamford,  will celebrate an extraordinary form Mass: a  ”Rorate Mass.”  This is a Votive Mass of Our Lady usually celebrated on Saturdays in Advent by candlelight in the early morning hours.

From the pastor Fr. La Pastina: “The Rorate Mass takes its name from the first word of its introit: “Rorate, caeli, desuper, et nubes pluant iustum,” or “Drop down dew, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness.” It is a Mass in honor of Mary in which the interplay of light and darkness convey the meaning of Advent.

“Historically, it has been celebrated early mornings in darkness. As the Mass proceeds and sunrise approaches, the church becomes progressively brighter. Because it is a votive Mass to Mary, blue or white vestments are worn instead of the seasonal purple.”

For those of you who don’t know exactly what is going on in Rome – or don’t want to know what is going on – and further don’t have the time to work through Evangelii Gaudium, the Bishop of Rome has just provided some helpful clarification. It takes the form of remarks reported to have been given to the Dutch bishops on their recent ad Limina visit and as reported by Joshua J. McElwee, “Pope talks openly about reform, sex abuse, Dutch bishop says,” National Catholic Reporter (December 6, 2013)

“Pope Francis told a group of Dutch bishops this week that the Vatican must continue reforms undertaken by the Catholic church in the 1960s and ‘70s, according to one of the participants in the meeting.
Bishop Jan Hendricks, who attended the meeting Monday, later recounted that the pope said implementation of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council is only half complete.
‘We have been implementing the council only half-way,’ Hendriks recalled from the pope’s words. ‘Half of the work has still to be done.’”

This, in reference to a country where the Council was most immediately, completely and radically “implemented” and where Paul VI already had to apply the brakes in view of the complete ecclesiastical collapse. These words are also revealing, of course, on the current pontiff’s attitude towards his two immediate predecessors.

And according to another bishop who attended the meeting:

“de Korte said the Dutch bishops had focused in their written report to the pope for their ad limina visit on issues of catechesis, but Francis seemed more interested in issues of charity.”

So, just as in the 1960′s, charity and doctrinal clarity are viewed once again as antagonistic.

On the other hand, the Pope seems to have accepted with relative equanimity the news that the Dutch church is in a catastrophic situation and that roughly half the Catholic churches in the Netherlands will be shut in the next 5 years. The Dutch bishops report hearing from Francis on this issue none of the emotional reactions the Pope reserves for traditionalists! The scope and the authoritarian nature of the church-closing campaign have been harshly criticized in the Netherlands- see this very detailed REPORT.

Pope Francis, according to one bishop, “did not say whether what we did or wanted to do (regarding church closings – SC) was right or wrong.” He reflected that the Dutch people must feel sad just like the Jews were sad when their temple was destroyed. The pope told the bishops, according to this report, that they should share the sentiments of the people whose churches are shut down and use the opportunity to get in contact with them. For finally, Francis is reported to have said,“I would like to encourage you not to be sad.”

SOURCE.

Photos courtesy of Dennis Devito

(Above) From the Fluminalis website.

From Kath.net 1) we learn of a major enterprise – a true “fruit of the Council,” so to speak. It is the Netherlands-based Fluminalis. In the wake of the Vatican Council, in thousands of churches across Europe the same scene took place: statues, monstrances, vestments, tabernacles confessionals etc. – all were thrown on the junk heap overnight. Some were used as landfill. Others were simply swiped by the local clergy. A lot of these objects can be found today on ebay where they are easily available to “nuts, freaks and occultists” – so Mr. Brüggemann.

Consider the fate of the font where one Joseph Ratzinger was baptized in 1927 in a little town in Bavaria. In 1965 it was transferred to the rectory garden as a kind of birdbath. in 1992 it landed in the local museum. In 2005 – after Joseph Ratzinger became Pope – it was refurbished and brought back into the church…

Now Joannes Peters,the proprietor of Fluminalis saw a business opportunity here already in the 1970′s. He has since acquired and resold untold quantities of sacred objects and has become a world leader in the “religious artifacts industry.” He rents others out as props for movies. Frequently he undertakes the complete demolition of “buildings of a religious character.” He has a very complete website showing his vast inventory. And Mr. Peters does have his principles: no monstrances for sale to pubs!

I’d imagine though, that this market may be volatile indeed: recent news from locations as diverse as the Netherlands Church and the Archdiocese of New York indicates that a wave of new inventory may be hitting the market soon…. 2)

1) Alles musste raus (“Everything had to go”) by Alexander Brüggemann

2) http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=19844 (600-700 churches – roughly half the number of Catholic Churches in the Netherlands – will be closing in the next five years)

At St. Gabriel Church in Stamford, CT, there will be a Missa Cantata for the Feast of Saint Nicholas on Friday December 6th at 7:30 in the evening.

Msgr. Stephen Di Giovanni will preach and the choir will sing Byrd’s Mass for Three Voices

Veneration of the relic of Saint Nicholas following Mass

Special reception with crafts for children in the Paris Meeting Room

In this HISTORIC CHURCH.

St. Francis de Sales
135 East 96th Street

Truly the years between 1890 and 1920 were the golden age of the Archdiocese of New York – and the golden age of Catholic church architecture as well. It seemed that every new parish was seeking some distinctive architectural expression to set it apart from its sisters: Gothic (in several different styles – Venetian, French, English, German!), Roman baroque, French baroque, Byzantine – all have spectacular examples from this era. This was, however, the great age of American Beaux-Arts Classicism. After its triumph at the 1893 Chicago Exposition it became the dominant style for civic architecture (Columbia University, the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grand Central Station etc.). It was an imperial architecture appropriate to a great age of national achievement – so it was felt in the United States and elsewhere in the world. It left its mark on the ecclesiastical architecture of the period as well. Combining neoclassical, Renaissance and Baroque elements it was the style of choice a a number of New York Catholic churches in this period. And there is no better example that St. Francis de Sales on East 96th Street.

St Francis de Sales is a fine example of the great expansion of the Catholic Church in New York in this period. Founded in 1893, by 1904 the parish church was already finished (although obviously elements of the decoration were filled in subsequent years – the (former) altars refer the Great War). 1) Yet as is so often the case in these years, all elements of the architecture, stained glass, sculpture and decoration blend into a harmonious whole – a Gesamtkunstwerk!. The exterior may seem restrained – yet the two metal bay windows and the skillful utilization of the difficult sloping site show that classicism by no mens excludes creativity. The interior is an entirely different matter. Simple in form – just a rectangle – and modest in its dimensions, it is nevertheless spectacular example of resurrected Italian Renaissance architecture. Light, airy and amazingly colorful St Francis de Sales church has a festive quality we do not necessarily associate with classicism. The stations of the cross are among the best on New York, the stained glass by F.X. Zettler of Munich sets just the right accents. What an amazing change from the fantastic Gothic of Our Lady of Good Counsel parish – just a few years older and a few blocks to the south! What a contrast too to the grim colorless spaces so often associated with this style! The church of Our Saviour’s (1959) and the new St.Agnes (1998), which are subsequent attempted recreations of a Renaissance/classical style, only illustrate the deteriorating aesthetic sensibility of New York Catholics.

Regrettably, the church builds up to a void: the sanctuary of St Francis de Sales has undergone a thorough conciliar restoration. Isolated statues,a reliefs and pieces of altars remain but the totality has gone.

(Above and below) the coat of arms of St Francis de Sales.

St Francis de Sales seem to have carried on over the years without calling attention to itself. Certainly in its early eyers it was flourishing parish with many organizations and a large school. This parish’s most honored son is James Cagney. His family moved to this neighborhood – then a tough one – from the East Village when he was 2. He was confirmed and was an altar boy at St Francis de Sales. When when he died so many years later in 1986 he specified that his funeral would place at his boyhood parish. The pallbearers included Mikhail Baryshnikov and Ralph Bellamy. 2) It shows how different was the prior understanding of the Catholic parish – an individual home to which one might finally return after so many wanderings. Utterly different is the current approach: the parish as an anonymous subunit of the archdiocese – to by opened or dissolved as the traffic requires – a kind of Catholic bank branch or MacDonald’s.

Recent years have not necessarily been kind to this parish – although the church building itself is in splendid condition. Like many Manhattan parishes it became heavily Hispanic. Whereas in Cagney’s day the whole region north and south of the church was a somewhat rough working class area, later 96th Street East of Fifth Avenue and Madison became an impenetrable boundary between Harlem and the (greatly expanded) Upper East Side. St Francis de Sales was just on the (wrong) side of this no-man’s land. In 2007 the school closed – after merging with St Lucy’s school, then experiencing initial success and finally succumbing after controversy.

“A long-shuttered parochial school on East 97th Street will reopen in September (2011 – SC) with new classrooms for a prestigious private school…. The school’s building is now being transformed into gymnasium, science labs and arts classrooms for the Marymount School, an independent Catholic school for girls where tuition costs $35,000 a year.” 3)

Now the parish’s neighborhood is rapidly changing. St Francis de Sales parish likes to think of itself as also being in “transformation,” as “vibrant, modern, hopeful, diverse and welcoming to people of all backgrounds and inclinations” – with all that implies. From the parish website it is obvious that “Making all Things New” is hovering threateningly over the parish. It would be a shame, however, to lose such a precious jewel – a reminder of a great era when the both the current achievements and future possibilities of the Catholic Church in the City and the United States seemed inexhaustible. 4)

(Above) The patron saint of the parish.

1) The Catholic Church in the United States of America, Vol. 3 at 326. (New York, The Catholic Editing Company, 1914)

2) http://www.sfdsnyc.org; Bahl, Mary, “Jimmy Cagney” (2008)

3) http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20110525/upper-east-side/elite-private-school-expands-into-shuttered-ues-parochial-school-space

4) http://www.sfdsnyc.org