In anticipation of the bad weather that is expected tomorrow, the Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Purification at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, tomorrow night has been cancelled.

Exploring Our Liturgical Heritage
Juventutem NYC Mass and Discussion
Saturday, January 31, 2015 Traditional Sung High Mass at 6 p.m. Reception and Discussion to Follow
The Church of the Holy Innocents
128 West 37th St (Btwn. Broadway and 7th), New York, NY
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Fr. Leonard Villa, Administrator of the Church of the Holy Innocents and Chaplain of Juventutem NYC, will give his perspective on
“What cross-pollination between the Extraordinary Form and the Ordinary Form really means.”

Juventutem is an international group of Catholic young adults (18-35) who love and support the Traditional Mass
Visit Juventutem New York on Facebook for more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/632015973591500/

Chant Workshop for Parish Musicians
February 7th, 9am-2pm
St. Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers
On February 7, from 9am-2pm, St. Joseph’s Seminary will be hosting a workshop entitled, “Introduction to Gregorian Chant: Spirituality, History, and the Basics of Reading.”
The workshop is sponsored by the Office of Liturgy and St. Joseph’s Seminary and will be led by Dr. Jennifer Donelson, D.M.A. Dr. Donelson is a nationally-recognized expert in sacred music and the new Director and Associate Professor of Sacred Music at St. Joseph’s Seminary.
The cost of the workshop is $30 and includes lunch and a copy of Reflections on the Spirituality of Gregorian Chant by Dom Jacques Hourlier.

To register, go to the Office of Liturgy Website

On February 3rd, the Princeton University Chapel will have a Missa Cantata in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at 9 p.m., sponsored by the Aquinas Institute. The Mass will celebrated by Fr. Carlos Hamel of the Fraternity of Saint Joseph the Guardian, assisted by Princeton alumnus Brother Gerhard. A reception will follow after Mass; Latin-English worship aids will be available. More information is available on the event’s facebook page.

The Art of the Beautiful series continues on Saturday, January 17th with Yale University’s Julia Yost. Ms. Yost, a frequent contributor to First Things, will speak on Anglo Catholic Modernism: Writing Religious Beauty in the Modern Era.

Details: 7.30pm
The Catholic Center at NYU
238 Thompson Street, NY, NY 10012

The Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven has made in recent years a valuable contribution to the preservation and dissemination of the Catholic art of the Christmas season. The latest in their series of exhibits of Christmas creches deals with Italy – where the tradition was created by St Francis of Assisi and where it reached its most elaborate form.

The focus of this exhibit is on the manger scenes of Naples – the most elaborate of all. Above, the Holy Family amidst the ruins of the pagan world.

Most of the Neapolitan exhibits come from the firm of Bottega D’Arte Presepiale Cantone & Costabile, Naples, which works in the style of the 18th century. Antonio Cantone and his firm created the main creche on exhibit (photo at the beginning of this article)in about a year of work. He has a more ancient, even medieval, understanding of his work as an artist: “I am using art to express my religion.”

(Above and below) At its most elaborate the Neapolitan creche places the coming of Christ in a minute depiction of the world of the everyday life the people: their occupations, their pleasures, their food and their different social classes. As the Byzantine rite proclaims:”Christ is in our midst!”

The exuberance, naturalism and symbolic content of Baroque art – the last great manifestation of Christian art to succeed in shaping an entire culture and which survives even in our day in the Neapolitan creche- – seems at times to have perplexed whoever wrote the otherwise informative notes to this exhibit. We find there references to a supposed tension between the elaborate creche scenes and the simplicity of the Holy Family; the scenes of the people are supposedly not representative of the misery of the people of that time. As if that were the purpose of these figures! Ancient ruins are depicted in manger scenes, according to this source, because they lay about everywhere in Campania and, moreover, the 18th century craze for Pompeii and its art was getting underway.

(Above) The innkeepers who excluded the Holy Family (including an 18th century holy image on the wall!). (Below) Once again the theme of the supersession of the ancient pagan world by the coming of Christ.

(Above and below) In contrast to the preceding genre scenes is the outpouring of the Divine encountered in the presence of the Holy Family and angels.

(Above) the Museum also is showed a selection of creches from other regions and cultures that take up the baroque theme. Here is a life size figure carved by Agustin Parra in Guadalajara, Mexico

(Above and below) Figures from a Nativity scene created by a Sicilian artist.

An exhibit at the Knights of Columbus Museum – 1 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut. Now throughout February 1! See HERE for further information and directions.

For the Firm of Arte Presepiale Cantone et Costabile see HERE.

Some photos of the Regina Pacis Academy Christmas Pageant performed at St. Mary’s Church Hall, Norwalk, CT on December 18.

Anyone who regularly attends the 9:30 Solemn Mass at St. Mary’s will be familiar with the Schola Cantorum, which sings at that Mass each week. But this evening’s Lessons and Carols service featured the other choirs of St. Mary’s Church—all of which are themselves strong choirs.The depth and quality of the choir program at St. Mary’s is indeed impressive. On the program were the St. Mary’s Choir (which sings weekly at the 11 am Mass), El Coro Hispano de Santa Maria under the direction of Welder Gomez (which sings at the 1:15 Spanish Mass), the St. Mary’s Student Schola, and the Regina Pacis Academy Schola. Musical selections for Advent alternated with scriptural readings, and the evening closed with Adoration and Benediction.

David Hughes rehearsing the two student scholae before the start of the program.

Charles Weaver, Student Schola Assistant Director, accompanies on the mandolin.

The St. Mary’s Choir

El Coro Hispano de Santa Maria