5 May

2019

Requiem Mass for Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro at Holy Family Church

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The congregation that Saturday afternoon was relaively small – but included many people who had known and worked with Msgr Barreiro for decades.

A sung Requiem Mass was celebrated for the repose of the soul of Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro at Holy Family Church, New York on Saturday, May 4 – the second anniversary of his death. 
Fr. Richard Cipolla was the celebrant, the pastor of Holy Family, Fr. Gerald Murray, was the homilist. Charles Weaver directed the choir.

Spectacular vestments from the early part of the 20th century were made available for this liturgy. Regrettably, due to a last minute cancellation, a Solemn liturgy using the complete set could not be celebrated.
Fr Murray, the homilist, did not merely present his reminiscences of Ignacio Barreiro – with whom he studied at Dunwoodie. He set forth, drawing on the writings of of Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, how Msgr Barreiro had led an exemplary life as a priest.
Charles Weaver led the schola, presenting plainchant and works by Victoria and Morales. Whatever else you may think of this church’s architecture, the acoustics are excellent!
(Above and below) I still find it hard to believe the miracle that the Traditional Mass has returned to this church – one of the very first examples of would-be modernism in New York! (Note the early substitution of an image of the “Risen Christ” for the Crucifix- a practice that became almost universal in the 1960’s)
(Above and below) Holy Family church is a weird combination of the “moderne” and the traditional: a space-age tabernacle that would delight George Jetson, displaced from the altar to a corner of the church – but surrounded by Latin inscriptions and surmounted by a Byzantine-style image of “Our Lady of Peace.” Generally in beautiful condition and relatively untouched by subsequent renovations, Holy Family perfectly illustrates the confusion of ideas prevalent in the Catholic Church of 1964-65.
Published in Masses, The Churches of New York