It is with great sadness that we report the death of Msgr. Joseph Ambrosio on October 4. Pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Newark, he was an ardent friend of the traditional Mass.

Here is a notice written by Eddy Toribo, with his kind permission:

It was with extreme sadness that we learned of the passing of the Rev. Monsignor Joseph Ambrosio on the morning of Sunday, October 4^th, 2020 — an inimitable Monsignor if there ever was one.

There were so many qualities that made him an excellent person, a great friend, a faithful Christian, and an exemplary Priest. It can be safely said that, in these days of liturgical chaos, no one outdid him in his zealous dedication for the beauty of the House of God and that it was a great joy to serve Mass when he was the Celebrant. Not only did he try to rescue liturgical items from closed churches in order to put them to good liturgical use in his own church, but he washed, starched, pressed, and repaired the sacred linens himself, as he believed it was his duty to take care of the Sanctuary and the Tabernacle of which he was made the custodian.

Everyone who ever visited his church and attended his Masses will testify that he always wanted the best for the Liturgy: vestments, music, sacred vessels, Relics, ceremonies, all types of liturgical items, etc. Additionally, he very graciously donated many of these things to other communities that did not have what was needed for the reverent and beautiful celebration of the Liturgy.A truly humble priest, he would most often refer to himself simply as “Fr. Ambrosio,” despite his title of Monsignor as a Chaplain to His Holiness. He would also frequently pray the beautiful Litany of Humility, which he seems to have known from memory and of which he would frequently remind people whenever certain things did not go as planned: “these things make us humble,” he would say. In addition to his humility, he knew how to provide undeniably generous hospitality: servers, parishioners, priests, Bishops, and Cardinals were witnesses of his great level of generosity whenever they would visit his rectory.

In particular, he was well-known for his famous invitations to dinner, which made everybody realize what an excellent cook he was, and he always made sure to provide full entertainment, since he would also sing and play the piano, as well as tell unforgettable stories in a way that he alone knew how – no one ever experienced a dull evening in Msgr. Ambrosio’s rectory! Ite ad Joseph had a different meaning in Newark, N.J.His love for the Liturgy became much stronger when he began to celebrate the traditional Liturgy of the Roman Church, so much so that he eventually had all the Masses at Mt. Carmel celebrated ad orientem. He would also graciously accept invitations to celebrate the Old Mass in many different places and in particular in New York City at the Church of the Holy Innocents.

Many of the parishioners and servers there grew to love and admire him. He frequently said that he loved going to Holy Innocents to celebrate the Old Mass, which for many years he did on his days off (Fridays), and several times he was heard saying: “Whenever I go to Holy Innocents, I feel young.” Once he said this at a dinner table full of servers, priests, and a couple of Bishops.His passing from this world certainly leaves a tremendous void because people like the good old Monsignor are impossible to replace. May he rest in the eternal Peace of Christ.

 Súscipe, Dómine, servum tuum in locum sperándæ sibi salvatiónis a misericórdia tua. Amen.

What follows is small selection of the many Traditional Masses thoughout the greater New York area at which Fr. Ambrosio participated: as celebrant, as assistant priest or in choir.

This morning Fr. Michael Novajosky celebrated at Missa Cantata for the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist at St. Augustine Cathedral in Bridgeport, CT.

In Stamford, Connecticut today, at the basilica of St John the Evangelist.( Msgr.Stephen DiGiovanni, pastor). Nicholas Botkins directed the music. This Mass was sponsored by the Cardinal Kung Foundation (http://www.cardinalkungfoundation.org).

The Mass commemorated the 20th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-mei.

 

The third annual Lepanto Conference was held in New York City this past  Saturday February 15.  The event  opened with a Solemn Pontifical Mass from the Throne, at St. Vincent Ferrer Church with is Eminence Joseph Cardinal Zen, Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, as celebrant.

Father Robert Pasley of the Diocese of Camden served as assisting priest.  Father Michael Novajosky of the Diocese of Bridgeport served as deacon.  Father Rufus Kenny of the Archdiocese of New York served as subdeacon.   Father Richard Cipolla of the Diocese of Bridgeport was the homilist.   William Riccio,  Steven Quatela and John Pia were the masters of ceremony.  The Schola Cantorum and Brass Ensemble of St. Vincent Ferrer were directed by James Wetzel.

Preparations for the Mass:

Cardinal Zen awaits the start of Mass.

Priests hear confessions before Mass while a long line forms for confessions.

The NYPD Holy Name Society rehearses before Mass.

Members of chivalric orders assemble.

An honor guard processes to meet the Cardinal at the West Porch.

At the West Porch the Cardinal kisses a crucifix and blesses the people with holy water.

The Cardinal processes to the Rosary Altar where he offers prayers before the Blessed Sacrament.

The Cardinal repairs to the Friars’ Chapel where he vests for Mass.

Ministers vest for Mass in the Sacristy.

Our photos of the Mass continue in Part II

This Thursday, at 6:00 PM, the Society of St Hugh of Cluny will be sponsoring a Solemn High Mass at the church of the Most Holy Redeemer on East 3rd Street in New York. A reception will follow. Music will include the St Nicholas Mass by Haydn. It will also be an opportunity for you to acquaint (or reacquaint) yourself with one of the grandest Catholic churches in Manhattan.

Most Holy Redeemer was the New York home of the Redemptorist order from the 1840’s to this year. The present church was built in the early 1850’s and its size aroused the wonder of contemporaries. It was one of the two churches that served the German population of the city, at that time centered in what later would be called called the East Village. The other church, the nearby archdiocesan parish of St. Nicholas – was razed in 1960 under Cardinal Spellman – only the rectory survives. The exterior and interior of the Most Holy Redeemer, however, obviously reflect extensive subsequent renovations.

Most Holy Redeemer enjoyed great prominence in the 19th century. But after 1900 the city’s German population started to migrate north, to Yorkville. By 1940 this parish was already experiencing challenges.

In this year the Redemptorists left. There was no publicity, no mention in Catholic New York, for the end of a 180-year apostolate. Of the former proprietors all that remains, presumably, are the many deceased Redemptorists buried in this church. The parish is now in Archdiocesan administration.

Most Holy Redeemer’s interior is a stark contrast to the (current) exterior. It is an incredible decorative display of marble, stained glass, paintings sculptures and mosaics. Despite some damage from the elements and ghastly renovations, much remains in relatively good condition.

(Above) Most Holy Redeemer also displays objects, decidedly less successful artistically than the rest of the decor of this church, inherited from the nearby shuttered parish of the Nativity. Most Holy Redeemer is also the successor to that ancient parish – housed after 1970 in perhaps the most undistinguished Catholic church building on the island of Manhattan. A dispute is continuing regarding the use of the Nativity parish site.

(Above and below) Special mention must be made of two of the chapels. Cardinal Spellman in 1966 designated Most Holy Redeemer church as the “pilgrimage shrine” of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. A magnificent chapel surrounds this miraculous image – a special devotion of the Redemptorist order. Regrettably, as readers of our series on New York churches will know, such devotions appear to attract little interest from the laity nowadays. – and don’t save their churches from closure.

(Above) The second spectacular chapel contains over 100 relics – including the entire body of the martyr St. Datian – brought to this church amid scenes of indescribable rejoicing in the 1892. HIs wax effigy lies beneath the altar.

After 1945, Most Holy Redeemer seems to have dropped out of the consciousness of most New York Catholics. Unlike the otherwise similar Jesuit parish of St Francis Xavier, it had no high school still capable of attracting interest beyond its immediate neighborhood. Its parochial school kept going, with diminishing numbers, until 1985. One well known New York priest can still remember nuns – still German! A graduate in 1972 was Ursula Burns, until recently CEO of Xerox. In more recent years the parish has served mainly a “Hispanic” congregation.

So a visit to Most Holy Redeemer is like a journey to the past of Catholic New York. I hope, though, that the Solemn Mass we are sponsoring this Thursday will be the start of a new beginning. There are only three or four other churches in Manhattan that can rival Most Holy Redeemer as a splendid setting for the Traditional Mass. We also hope that Catholics will become more aware of this downtown treasure and join in assisting the clergy and congregation in the recovery of this venerable parish We hope you can make ti!

On Sunday, October 27, a Solemn Mass for the Feast of Christ the King inaugurated the new apostolate of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest in Waterbury, CT. St. Patrick’s is an old parish church in the post-industrial city of Waterbury, an old mill town that is blessed with a disproportionate number of magnificent churches. Completed in 1903, St Patrick’s is noteworthy for its interior decoration, which features windows made in 1906 by a New York studio. Uniquely in the United States, as far as I am aware, the inscriptions of the windows are in the Irish language.

The music for this Mass was partially funded by the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny—your generous donations have helped make this possible.

(Above) David Hughes directed the ensemble “Tolle Lege” in music including the Missa Aeterna Christi Munera by Palestrina.

(Above) The church had a full congregation for this occasion. It seemed to me that some were veteran Traditionalists who had come from elsewhere in the area, some had been part of the long-standing Latin Mass community of Waterbury and others had already been members of the community of St Patrick’s. And maybe a fourth group had attended out of curiosity.

(Above) Canon Matthew Talarico introduced the community to the Institute. (Below) Msgr. R Michael Schmitz gave the sermon. Msgr Schmitz was the celebrant of the liturgy; Canon Talarico was deacon and Canon Joel Estrada ( the new pastor of St. Patrick’s) was subdeacon.

It’s off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush… our coverage of the visit of Bishop Athanasius Schneider to Providence, Rhode Island to ordain a priest for the Fraternity of St Peter today.

After the conclusion of a recent conference in Seoul I had a fortunate if brief opportunity of making a pilgrimage to some of the sites of martyrdom of the Korean saints of the 19th century. The devotion to these saints plays a great role in Korean Catholicism – as does that of the 16th -17th century English martyrs in the Catholic Church in England. And these martyrs are not just known to the Catholic population. Official guides to the city of Seoul prominently feature several pilgrimages to the shrines of the martyrs and they are recognized as national historic sites.

The Catholic church of Korea has the perhaps unique distinction of being founded by laymen and women. They had heard of Christianity from literature coming from China and an active Catholic community was flourishing decades before any regular presence of Catholic priests in the country. Soon, however, fierce official resistance developed. From 1791 till the end of the 19th century, some 10,000 Catholics were martyred in Korea. 103 of these martyrs were canonized in 1984; a further 124 were beatified in 2014.

A lengthy subway ride from the central business areas brings us to the Jeoldusan martyrs shrine. Here some 29 martyrs were beheaded in 1866 (Jeoldusan mens “beheading hill”). As is often the case in Korea, the modern Catholic artwork is of indifferent quality and the church of the martyrs itself is uninspiring. Yet there is a remarkable museum with documents and relics of those days. And the shrine is set in a park conducive to meditation.

(Above) A second site of martyrdom is located not too far from the main railroad station. Subsequent to the time of the martyrdoms, Yakhyeon church, the oldest Catholic church building in Korea, was erected here in 1892. The architect was a French missionary.

Myeong-dong cathedral is located in a downtown shopping district and was the first parish church in Korea. The present building was consecrated in 1898. In 1900 the relics of martyrs killed in the persecutions of 1839 and 1866 were moved here. Like the previous two churches the cathedral is built on a hill.