“Please join us tomorrow, January 2nd, at 5:30 P.M. for our inaugural installment of ORGAN AT THE ORATORY.  On the first Sunday of each month, a guest organist will offer a recital prior to Vespers.  The first recitalist will be David Hughes, Organist & Choirmaster at St. Patrick’s Oratory.  He will play a program of festive Christmas music by the great Johann Sebastian Bach; Bach’s mentor Dietrich Buxtehude, who was for many years the organist in Lübeck; and some colorful versets by the notable French classical composer Nicolas de Grigny.  Vespers will be followed immediately at 6:00 P.M. by sung Vespers & Benediction for the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.  The recital and Vespers are of course free and open to the public.  Please invite your family and friends; this is a wonderful way to introduce them to the Church’s rich liturgical and musical patrimony, which we are so grateful has a home at St. Patrick’s.”

On Friday Evening, December 10, at Holy Innocents Church, Mr David Hughes gave a presentation focusing on the recovery of the chant tradition by the monks of Solesmes Abbey in France in the 19th century. Mr. Hughes is preeminently qualified for this task; currently the music director at St. Patrick’s Church, Waterbury, he has founded and led to great success so many varied musical groups: childrens’ choirs, a men’s schola, professional scholae, parish choirs – the list his accomplishments is endless! Yet the announced topic of the evening was The Crisis in Church and Society and how Tradition Responds. For the speaker presented the story of the rediscovery of a more authentic chant as a case study of how a tradition functions.

In the 19th century Gregorian chant had fallen on hard times. To the extent it was sung at all, it was from editions deriving from a very simplified compilation made under papal patronage around 1600. Dom Guerenger of Solesmes led the restoration, first, of that abbey and, later, of chant itself. Dom Guerenger did not merely want to recreate what had existed prior to the French Rvolution, but to go back to the original sources. The monks examined ancient manuscripts throughout Europe on the trail of this tradition. The monks presented their discoveries to the world in (relatively) easy to use publications. They did not seek to “impose” their new metholds but sought, through their publications and their own singing at Solesmes, to lead by example.

This example helps us to understand better what has taken place in the Traditionalist Movement since 2007, at least in the New York area. Here too the principle that has steadily unfolded is not to recreate what had existed in liturgy and music in 1962 but to restore the Roman liturgy in all its fullness. Examples include the authentic performance of chant and polyphony; the celebration of the Holy Week Triduum according to the “pre-55” rite, the spread of Rorate masses and many other devotions. All this has been achieved, starting at a few parishes, by force of example. And in most cases participation at Traditional Masses is growing by attracting those who wander into a Traditional Mass by chance or curiosity – individual by individual, family by family, For this – as illustrated by Dom Guerenger and the musical movement he launched – is the path of authentic tradition! Music, vestments, ceremonies, art and and architecture of the past are studied, not as ends in themselves, but as elements actively working together in the proper celebration of the liturgy and thus ultimately for evangelization. Tradition is never static – it grows and can decline and be obscured – but recovery of its full meaning and beauty is always possible. And that task remains a challenge to our generation.

Here is a link to a recording of David Hughes’ talk:

UPDATE:

It is reported that the Masses for this pilgrimage have been confirmed. However, the Mass in St Peter’s will not be celebrated by Archbishop Cordileone as had been scheduled. A priest will be celebrating this liturgy: in prior years it had been a Cardinal or bishop. These are the celebrants for the liturgies of the pilgrimage, according to the Italian site Messainlatino:

Come è ormai consuetudine, il pellegrinaggio sarà preceduto venerdì 29 ottobre, alle ore 17:30, nella chiesa di Santa Maria dei Martiri del Pantheon, dal canto dei Vespri presieduto da mons. Marco Agostini(cerimoniere del Papa).
– Il giorno dopo, sabato 30 ottobre, alle ore 9:30, nella chiesa dei Santi Celso e Giuliano (retta dall‘ICRSS), in via del Banco di Santo Spirito, 52, non lontano dal Tevere, ci incontreremo per l’adorazione del  Santissimo Sacramento guidata da don Antoine Landais ICRSS (canonico priore a Roma)
alle ore 10:30, dalla chiesa dei SS. Celso e Giuliano si partirà in pellegrinaggio per la Basilica di San Pietro, attraverso il Ponte Sant’Angelo e Via della Conciliazione.
alle ore 11.30, la S. Messa del pellegrinaggio sarà celebrata da mons. Patrick Descourtieux, nella Basilica di San Pietro all’altare della Cattedra.
– domenica 31 ottobre, alle ore 11:00, nella chiesa della Ss.ma Trinità dei Pellegrini (parrocchia tradizionale personale retta dalla FSSP, p.za della Trinità dei Pellegrini, 1), ci sarà la S. Messa “di chiusura” del nostro pellegrinaggio celebrata da don Claude Barthe (cappellano del Pellegrinaggio “Populus Summorum Pontificum”).

From Messainlatino.it

Join us for a day-trip to Lancaster, PA for a Pontifical Mass and young adult social event organized by Juventutem NYC and Philadelphia.

• Pontifical High Mass (Traditional Latin Mass) offered by Bishop Athanasius Schneider with a complete program of Gregorian chant and polyphony
• Following Holy Mass: Social with young adults from across the region
• Cost: $40, including round-trip coach bus transportation, water and some snacks.

RSVP: https://juventutemnyc.com/events

To entice you to attend this trip, we offer photos from the Iuventutem pilgrimage that took place on September 11 to the Holy Mountain, Graymoor, NY. Photos courtesty of Iuventutem NYC. https://www.juventutemnyc.com/events

Agnus Dei Knights of Columbus Council has scheduled it’s annual Men’s Retreat with Fr. John Perricone at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, L.I. the weekend of November 12 – 14, 2021. 

If you are interested in attending, please get in touch with Dan Marengo: danmarengo@aol.com.