Report – Mass in Honor of St. Vincent Pallotti

A small but intrepid group of pilgrims journeyed on a frigid evening on this past 22nd of January to the Pontifical Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Harlem to celebrate the feast of St. Vincent Pallotti, founder of the Pallotine Order that staffs the parish and also to pray for an end to abortion on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Father Marion Wierzchowski, SAC was the celebrant, assisted by Fr. Christopher Salvatori, SAC as deacon and Mr. Teddy Barboza as subdeacon. The Holy Innocents Volunteer Parochial Choir provided the music which consisted of Mass in G major by Joseph Rheinberger, Iste Confessor with alternate verses by Delfino Thermignon at the offertory, and Tantum Ergo by Deodat de Severac. The music of Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier and Swedish Wedding March by August Söderman was also played. Fr. Wierzchowski preached on the life and ministry of St. Vincent. Immediately following the conclusion of the mass there was a solemn veneration of a first class relic of St. Vincent Pallotti at the altar rail. Refreshments, courtesy of the Agnus Dei and Regina Caeli councils of the Knights of Columbus, were enjoyed in the rectory’s meeting room. Incidentally, January 22 is Fr. Chris Salvatori’s anniversary of ordination at Our Lady of Mount Carmel back in the year 2000. Organizers plan on making this pilgrimage of thanksgiving and reparation an annual event.

Manuel Albino