The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced a major exhibit planned for 2018 which examines how fashions have been inspired by Catholic iconography and style.  It will feature a large collection of garments and accessories on loan from the Vatican.  The show is entitled “Heavenly Bodies:  Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.”  The New York Times reported on it today  see link.

Mr. Andrew Bolten,  curator of the exhibit, admitted that it could be a provocative exhibit.  But he said that he has “consulted with representatives from different Catholic groups including Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan.”  So I guess we can assume that all will be in the best of taste.

We will at any rate look forward to viewing the collection that is being brought over from the Vatican.

The annual parish Forty Hours Eucharistic Devotion will take place at Church of the Holy Innocents on October 27-29. Traditionally, the Eucharistic Adoration is not interrupted during this time but should go all night Friday and all night Saturday. To ensure that this devotion is carried out properly, volunteers are needed to cover all the hours of adoration, especially the night/early morning hours.

Before the schedule for the 40 Hours is finalized, those slots during the night need to be covered. If no one signs up to cover the night hours then the adoration will be interrupted Friday night and Saturday night and resume in the morning. Please commit to a specific time of adoration by signing the sign-up sheet located on the bulletin board in the vestibule.

This beautiful devotion is very rare these days, especially in its traditional form. The devotion was permanently established by Pope Clement VIII “in order that day and night the faithful might appease their Lord by prayer before the Blessed Sacrament solemnly exposed, imploring there His divine mercy.”

(Above) The concluding mass of the 2017 pilgrimage for the restoration at the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, New York. (This photo courtesy of the Extraordinary Form in the Albany Diocese Facebook page)

This year,  we could only visit the shrine the day before the pilgrimage mass. As always, these parts of upstate New York exhibit a melancholy magic around this time of year. In a way, the Shrine is best seen when visitors are few – that is most of the time nowadays. Above, the silent ravine is a sacred and meditative spot.

(Above) The coliseum seen from a nearby overlook. Below, the interior of the architecturally uninspiring and virtually empty coliseum.

It has not always been so. (Above) a “full house” in 1959 with Cardinal Cushing. (Below) More recently, on October 21, 2012, 5500 of the 6500 seats were filled for a mass commemorating the canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha. She was born in the Indian village here.

Wandering around the grounds, the pilgrim encounters a host of other shrines and devotions accumulated since the 1880’s. Some have been recently restored. (Below) The tiny original chapel prepared for the Traditional mass.

(Above and below) the first martyrdom – that of Rene Goupil – occurred here.

One recent positive development is the departure of the Jesuit order which had managed the Shrine from its beginning. In the last years of its control, the grounds and buildings had deteriorated in many spots. Reversing years of practice, Traditionalist pilgrimages were either excluded from the coliseum or banned from the shrine entirely (like the FSSPX). Indeed, at the end of 2015 the Shrine was at the brink of closing – after Kateri Tekakwitha had just been canonized and after millions had been raised that year  for urgent restorations! But now a separate not-for-profit corporation – with the support of the Albany diocese – has taken over most of the Shrine. They are working hard to make  the Shrine once again a nationally known center of pilgrimage. Improvements are visible in many areas. And, as you can see from the first photograph of this post, already a more welcoming reception is being given to Traditionalist Catholics. The only fly in the ointment seems to be the threatened installation of a grotesque sculpture by a “modern master.”

(Below) The Jesuit cemetery. The Jesuits have retained control of this and the Ravine. Cardinal Avery Dulles is buried here.

One legacy of the Jesuits was the sale of the Jesuit residence/retreat house to a Chinese religious group –  the “World Peace & Health  Organization” (WPHO).  Indeed, they aim to transform this corner of New York State into a center of their activities – among other things, they have acquired two former Catholic churches in nearby Amsterdam (St. Michael’s and St. Casimir’s) and have converted them into  Buddhist temples.

WPHO have transformed the former Jesuit building with towers,  gables and gates in the traditional Chinese style. Their “great wall” now overlooks the graves of the Jesuits and the grounds of the Shrine of the Catholics.

Is this our future – the ever increasing number of graves of the priests of one of the main Catholic religious orders contrasted with the growing complex of a Buddhist sect? Or will the new managers of the Shrine succeed in reversing the developments of the last decades?

Additional note: We recommend a posting by “Florentius” in the blog Gloria Romanorum which fills in the history of the purchase of the shrine lands from the Jesuits. http://gloriaromanorum.blogspot.com/2010/09/buddhist-temple-at-auriesville.html

Thursday, October 26, 2017
7:30 PM
The Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer
869 Lexington Avenue at 66th Street
New York, N.Y. 10065

Brompton Oratory Choir in Concert
The London Oratory Schola Cantorum Boys Choir, under the direction of Charles Cole, will offer a free choral concert with works of Byrd, Tallis, Victoria, Monteverdi, and Bruckner. One of the most prominent Catholic ensembles in the world, the Schola is comprised of boys who study at London’s Oratory School and sings every weekend in term at the famous Brompton Oratory. The choir can be heard on the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter soundtracks and recently recorded Sacred Treasures of England, a CD of Tudor music on the Sony Classical label. Touring frequently, the Schola sang at High Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and was the first visiting choir in history to sing at Vespers there in 2013. For more information, contact (212) 744-2080 or email jwetzel@svsc.info.

The Institute of Christ the King will be administering the church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Bridgeport, CT beginning on October 8. We will be posting information on the new Mass schedule when it is available.

A day-long retreat is being organized at the Convent of St. Birgitta in Darien, CT  on Saturday October 14 from 9 am to 3 pm, led by Fr. Anthony Mastroeni.  Father will give  talks on Our Lady of Fatima and on the Blessed Sacrament.  Mass will be celebrated in the Extraordinary Form, with music led by David Hughes.  There will be opportunity for confession.

The cost is $50 and includes a light breakfast and lunch.  This retreat is organized by St. Mary Church, Norwalk.  You must reserve your spot ahead of time to attend by calling Erlinda at the St. Mary rectory:  (203) 866-5546 x 101 or cell (203) 919-5976.

The address of St. Birgitta: 4 Runkenhage Road, Darien, CT.

Adult Education Series for Fall
Saint Mary Church – Greenwich

Presented by Father John Perricone, Iona University
Tuesdays, September 19, 26 and October 3
at 7:30pm in the Hitchcock Room

Sacred Architecture: The Creed in Stone, Light and Color
Man not only possesses a soul, but a body. Recognizing this, the Church understands that Christ’s truth must attract not only the mind, but also the senses. She does this by surrounding the faithful with beauty, for beauty ravishes the senses and leads to wonder. Sacred beauty leads to wonder at the Supernatural. So, it is that Church constructs beautiful Churches, that their beauty might reflect the beauty of the Son of God. This series will explore the reason why some buildings are called sacred. It will then look at the two thousand years of the Church’s life and observe how the churches she built trumpet the Glorious Majesty of Christ.