Announcing an international conference on liturgical formation in the light of the new evangelization, Sacra Liturgia USA 2015, to take place in New York City from June 1 to 4, 2015.  This conference continues the work of Sacra Lituriga 2013, in Rome, organized by Bishop Rey of Frejus-Toulon.  Speakers will include Raymond Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, and our own Father Richard Cipolla.  More information will be posted as it becomes available.

This coming weekend, from Friday, November 7th, 2014 at 6pm through Sunday, November 9th, 2014 at 10:30am, the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manahattan will have the 40 Hours Devotion. (it will also be the first Friday all-night vigil).

The Mass of Exposition will be a Solemn Mass on Friday at 6pm and it will be the votive Mass of the Most Blessed Sacrament, accompanied by the procession of the Blessed Sacrament inside the church and by the singing of the Litanies of the Saints and other prayers for all ranks and ways of life in the Catholic Church.

We invite and encourage all to attend and celebrate with us the news that the Church of the Holy Innocents will remain open, as well as to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. This, of course, is a very pious and salutary devotion that always brings great benefits for a parish and those who participate in it. Please share the information with those who would like to attend.

http://nypost.com/2014/11/04/churchs-closure-could-be-the-end-of-its-treasured-murals/

Readers of this site will be familiar with the beloved statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Harlem. The Holy Name Society of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Pontifical Shrine is mounting a fund raiser to restore the statue. The statue of the Virgin was crowned with Vatican authorization in 1903 – one of only a handful of Crowned Virgins in North America. Pope Pius X contributed an emerald but the rest of the gold and jewels for the crowns of Our Lady and the Christ Child came from the wedding rings and other jewelry contributed by the Italian ladies of the parish. The feast and procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel draws a huge crowd in the summer.

The interior of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Pontifical Shrine, where the historic statue stands over the main altar

Columbus Day Concert for Neumann Classical School: The Voice of Joy

Friar Alessandro of the Franciscan Friars Minor of Assisi will perform in a special concert benefiting the Neumann Classical School.

This Monday: October 13 at 4 pm
Church of Saint Casimir
239 Nepperhan Avenue, Yonkers NY 10701

International singing sensation Friar Alessandro of the Franciscan Friars Minor of Assisi is a celebrated tenor who has released two albums with Decca Records. His debut album Voice of Assisi was produced by the legendary Mike Hedges (U2, The Cure, The Manic Street Preachers) at Abbey Road Studios in London. Friar Alessandro is the first member of the Friars Minor to have received a global record deal from a major international label.

This concert, Friar Alessandro’s only performance in the NY area, will benefit the Neumann Classical School, the only classical-curriculum Catholic primary school in the New York Archdiocese.

Tickets can be purchased at the doors: $30 adults; $20 students and seniors. Children under 12 admitted free with an adult.

For more information contact lopes@neumannschool.org.

I had the opportunity yesterday of returning to the “Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs” in Auriesville, New York. Unlike all my recent experiences of the shrine, no pilgrimage or other event was occupying my attention. And the weather, in contrast to the glorious fall days both before and after that Saturday, was more typical of Upper New York State this time of year: overcast, chilly, and raining off and on into the evening. But this sombre and silent ambience had its own advantages. The weather and the stillness created a more reflective and prayerful mood. Without the distraction of crowds, we had the opportunity of exploring the grounds and the shrine buildings at our leisure. The main “guide” to the shrine today is a 1963 coloring book still reprinted and sold at the shrine book store.

Towards the Ravine – the most sacred part of the shrine. This is where St Rene Goupil was buried.

On the way – the Madonna della Strada.

The statue of Rene Goupil in the Ravine: A hushed stillness seems always to prevail here.

(Above) This shrine of the entombed Christ is said to be where St. Isaac Jogues buried St. Rene.

(Above) Mute testimony to the lack of pilgrims nowadays to the shrine. Only one tour bus from a school was visible that morning – besides a few other vehicles. The shrine has faced increased financial difficulty in recent years.

“(A)ttendance dropped by more than 50 percent during the shrine’s 2013 season. Collections brought in less than $100,000.” 1)

The Jesuit retreat house and about 90 acres of land were sold to the Buddhists a few years ago (the shrine grounds had over 600 acres). By 2013 the dilapidated state of the buildings was so dire that closing was talked of. The shrine launched a $1,000,000 fundraising drive which, I believe, has reached about half its goal. Repairs are already underway starting just now on the main shrine structure- the “coliseum.” The shrine management believes the threat of immediate closure has passed. They have even extended an invitation to Pope Francis to come to Auriesville on his 2015 American visit (Wishful thinking? But after all the shrine is administered by the Jesuits and see the altar below.) 2)

(above) Cardinal Cushing preaching in 1959 to a “full house” – the “Coliseum” can seat over 6000.

The coliseum today

The centrally located sanctuary includes statues of the martyrs – Jogues, Lalande and Goupil – as well as of Kateri Tekakwitha who was born here in 1656 and grew up here and in nearby Fonda.

Recently some of the altars seem to have “repurposed” as displays for images and devotions. Most notably, images of John XXIII and John Paul II are now prominently on view.

The “Santo Subito” of John Paul II was nothing – Pope Francis has already been raised to the altars here!

Reliquaries and items associated with the saints are on view. (Above) A reliquary of Kateri Tekakwitha. (Below) A statue from a roadside shrine near the Jesuit novitiate in Rouen, France where three of the North American Martyrs studied: Sts Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brebeuf and Antoine Daniel. They may well have prayed before this Madonna.

The reliquary of the martyrs of Auriesville. It was fashioned by Fernand Py, an artist of the Catholic “other modern” (M. Alderman).

Statues abound on the grounds of the shrine of saints and devotions familiar and not-so-familiar. (Above) St. Theresa. (Below) The “Madonna della Libera.”

This sacred site has been attracting Traditional Catholics for many years now. For how many other places are there in the United States so closely linked with the foundation of Christianity in this region – and with martyrdom and the saints? To wander the grounds of the shrine is to discover a veritable encyclopedia of Traditional Catholic devotion – regardless of the current state of liturgical practice here. The “Pilgrimage for the Restoration” is now in its 19th year. The FSSPSX had been organizing a pilgrimage for just as long. We regret to say, however, that under its current management the shrine is not welcoming to traditionalists. (The same is true of the shrine to Kateri Tekakwitha in Fonda, but that is under different (Franciscan) direction.). The concluding mass for the “Pilgrimage of the Restoration” no longer takes place in the coliseum. As for the FSSPX pilgrimage, which now is substantially larger than the “Pilgrimage for the Restoration”, they had (always?) been excluded from the coliseum. In the last few years, however, they have been barred from the rest of shrine grounds as well. This year they were told they could not even park their cars at the shrine parting lot – creating quite an uproar, for at the head of the FSSPX pilgrimage was one Msgr Bernard Fellay….3)

An altarpiece of the North American Martyrs (from where?) on a wall of the coliseum.

To visit the shrine of the North American Martyrs is a journey well worth making. One need not travel to all kinds of pilgrimage sites all over Europe when such a holy place is on our own backyard. And despite the symptoms of the decline of the Church so evident at this shrine, we can only rejoice that such a precious heritage of earliest days of Catholicism in our land still is with us. The spirit of the martyrs still teaches us how to confront our own seemingly insurmountable difficulties.

(above) A thing now of the past? – Solemn High Mass at the Shrine in 2010.

The shrine WEBSITE.

1) “Auriesville Shrine tries to save Itself,” The Evangelist, 4/3/14 http://www.evangelist.org/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=28&ArticleID=24493

2) Minor, Kerry, “Work Underway at the Shrine”,Leader Herald, 9/19/14 (at http://www.martyrshrine.org/?p=559

#) “Rome will hear of This,” SSPX.org, 6/13/14 http://sspx.org/en/news-events/news/auriesville-injustice-rome-will-hear-4213

Last Sunday was the last day of an exhibition of items on loan from the Bodleian Library of Oxford. Despite a daft title and organizing principle (“Marks of Genius”) it was an extraordinary collection – which, almost despite the will of the organizers of the exhibition, testified to the role of the Church and Christianity in the creation of England and of Europe. On exhibit was the earliest copy of St. Benedict’s Rule, written around 700 AD in England. From Aachen around the year 800 AD came a splendid Carolingian binding on a manuscript of the same period.Then, there was the first book in the English Language, a translation of St. Gregory the Great’s Regula Pastoralis from later in the 9th century. A translation, moreover, that was perhaps made personally by another “Great,” King Alfred. St. Margaret of Scotland’s personal illustrated Gospel book (circa 1050 AD) was also on display. There followed a series of medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts leading to the early printed books. And this long “Catholic age” came to a truly thundering close with Albrecht Dürer’s illustrations of the Apocalypse.

Now all the exhibits – including scientific works, the creations of secular authors and the illustrated products of the Islamic cultures – conveyed an overpowering impression of the great reverence shown to the physical book itself, whether written or printed. It is evidenced by the beautifully written manuscripts, the careful printing, the magnificent illustrations and the costly bindings – all the greatest possible contrast to today’s “virtual” culture of the written word – where the “book” or text disappears at the click of a mouse…

The Crusader Bible – from the Pierpont Morgan Library.

For those of you who missed the above exhibition, another good one is on the way to the Pierpont Morgan: one of the most important Crusader illuminated manuscripts. This is the Morgan’s description:

“The spectacular Crusader Bible is one of the greatest illuminated manuscripts in the world, renowned as much for its unrivalled and boldly colored illustrations as it is for its fascinating history. The work brings Old Testament stories alive in bright images replete with medieval castles, towns, and battling knights in armor, all set in thirteenth-century France. Before the manuscript is rebound visitors will have the opportunity to view over forty of its miniatures, the work of six anonymous artists who were the artistic geniuses of their day. They will also learn about the manuscript’s incredible journey from France to Italy, Poland, Persia, Egypt, England, and finally, New York.”

Opening October 17.

From our Friends at the Catholic Artists Society:

We are looking forward to the opening event of this year’s Art of the Beautiful series, co-sponsored by the Thomistic Institute. The theme of this year’s series is Redeeming Culture in Christ.

Father John Saward, eminent theologian, fellow at Blackfriars Hall (University of Oxford) and the English translator for Pope Benedict XVI’s The Spirit of the Liturgy, will speak on The Poverty of the Church and the Beauty of the Liturgy.

The lecture will ask: “Is there a place for liturgical beauty in what Pope Francis calls ‘the Church that is poor and for the poor’?”

Following the lecture and Q&A, there will be a reception. The evening will finish with sung Compline (the Church’s nighttime prayer) in the chapel at the Catholic Center at NYU.

October 11, 2014, 7.30pm
The Catholic Center at NYU
238 Thompson Street
(Btwn W. 3rd and Washington Square South)
NY, NY 10012

Entry is free of charge, but seating is limited. Please arrive by 7.15pm to ensure a seat in the room.

The 19th annual Pilgrimage for Restoration to the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, NY, is scheduled for this weekend, Friday-Sunday, September 19-21. Extraordinary form Holy Mass crowns the Pilgrimage this year in St. Kateri’s Chapel [NOTE: not the Coliseum church], once again at 3:15 P.M. Sunday.

Further information on the pilgrimage: link

This description is from the Pilgrimage website:
“The annual pilgrimage is a spiritual journey of the faithful to the place where Saints Isaac Jogues, René Goupîl, John de LaLande and several Huron convert-companions were martyred 372 years ago. It is conducted in honor of Christ Our King, for the restoration of new Christendom, and in reparation for sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Invoking the intercession of America’s saints and martyrs, we desire that Catholic faith restore every dimension of our lives: our hearts, families, workplaces, parishes, neighborhoods, cities, dioceses, the American nations.
The pilgrimage is an exercise of penance and prayer, of contradiction and restoration, having both a personal and social character. Modeled on the annual Pentecost pilgrimage to Notre-Dame de Chartres, France, we embrace the traditional doctrine & practice of Holy Church, with all its demands.
A special intention of the pilgrimage is the restoration of the Catholic family, civil society and the specifically Roman liturgical, theological and pious tradition. We hope thereby to show our attachment to the Church’s Tradition and the riches it contains, not with the intention of reverting to some by-gone era, but rather of drawing benefits from the ancient sources and allowing them to work in the world today.”