Sunday Easter Mass – the conclusion of Holy Week, 2012.

All services in the Extraordinary Form in Holy Week were fully attended.

The Blessing of the Festive Meal:

The celebration of the Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Parish, Norwalk.

The Lighting of the New Fire:

Lumen Christi!

The Exsultet:

The Chanting of the Prophecies:

It being the post-1955 edition, there are regrettably only four.

The procession to the Baptismal Font:

The Blessing of the Baptismal Water:

Lighting the Candles:

The Asperges:

The Administration of Confirmation:

The Mass:

The altar prior to Veneration of the Holy Cross.

The services for Good Friday at St.Mary’s Church, Norwalk. A full congregation was in attendance – for the entire three hours.

The sacred ministers enter and prostrate themselves before the barren altar

The Reading of the Passion according to St. John:

The Passion was sung by three deacons of honor with polyphonic responses for the crowd in a setting by William Byrd.

Fr. Richard Cipolla was the principal celebrant and preached.

The Great Intercessions:

The Veneration of the Holy Cross:

The Procession of the Reserved Blessed Sacrament and Communion:

The Altar of Repose

A visual account of the Holy or Maundy Thursday Service at St. Mary’s Parish, Norwalk.

The Washing of the Feet:

The Mass:

The Procession to the Altar of Repose:

The Stripping of the Altars:

Immaculate Conception Church in Sleepy Hollow, NY had a Solemn Mass for Palm Sunday. It was their first Solemn Mass in ten years. The photo is courtesy of Ann Whelan.

The Palm Sunday liturgy began in the church this year with the blessing and distribution of palms. The procession followed outside around the perimeter of the church grounds. A congregation of over 400 attended the liturgy which lasted almost 3 hours (including the procession). The reading of the Passion, featured three cantors and the schola cantorum, which sang the polyphonic turba settings by Tomás Luis de Victoria. The extensive chanting and polyphonic motets, which involved  three of St. Mary’s choirs, were particularly beautiful and well-rehearsed.

Deacon Stephan Genovese, Father John Ringley, the celebrant, and Subdeacon Bill Riccio enter the sanctuary

Blessing the Palms

The Children’s Schola, led by David Hughes chants from the vestibule of the church

The Holy Gospel

“Procedamus in pace”

The subdeacon bangs on the door to the church thrice with the cross and all enter.

After the procession vestments and altar frontispiece are changed to purple

Father Cipolla, Father Ringley and Father Markey chant the Passion of Our Lord according to St. Matthew

The Annunciation, Window at Holy Innocents Church

Yesterday a magnificent Solemn Pontifical Mass was celebrated at Holy Innocents Church, New York.  It was denominated a “mass for life” – very appropriately, since this church is the shrine of the unborn victims of abortion. The celebrant was James C. Timlin, bishop emeritus of Scranton.  Assisting him were Father James L.P. Miara, Deacon, Father Michael C. Barone, Subdeacon, and Father Jean-Marie Moreau (Institute of Christ the King Soveriegn Priest),  Assistant Priest. Need I mention that the music and conduct of the ceremonies were of the highest order?  The polyphony was conducted by Pedro D’Aquino. The chant was directed by Charles Weaver. David Hughes was the organist. The music featured the Missa O Soberana Luz by Filipe de Magalhaes. The masters of ceremonies were Eddy Toribio and Jeffrey Collins. The mass was sponsored by the Agnus Dei and Regina Coeli councils of the Knights of Columbus.

The sanctuary was shrouded in drapery as the restoration of the apse murals proceeds.

Confirmation in the old rite was administered by Bishop Timlin prior to the mass.

The “slap” once dreaded by boys in days of yore…

The vesting for Mass.

Bishop Timlin recalled the five words with which the founder of Christendom College began every class: “Truth Exists. The Incarnation happened.” He spoke of the current troubles in Ireland and of the daunting task facing Archbishop Charles Brown, a priest of the New York Archdiocese, the new Nuncio there. It is a crisis that culminated in the closing of the Irish embassy to the Vatican. How tragic, because in the case of both Bishop Timlin and Archbishop Brown the faith was handed down to them by their Irish parents and forbears. Faith is something that is handed down to us by others (Tradition!). And the very start of that chain of transmitted faith was the feast celebrated today: the Annunciation.

This evening the St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum held its annual fund-raising concert featuring music appropriate to the Lenten season. The chant Media Vita of Notker of St. Gallen (also sung in a Sarum variant) introduced Gombert’s Missa Media Vita. There followed other works in both chant and polypony including the tragic Ne irascaris Domine of Byrd and In Jejunio et Fletu of Tallis – both of which were created in the time of dire persecution of English Catholics. The St. Mary’s Schola under David Hughes’ direction has reached a level of rare perfection in both chant and sacred polyphony. Those wishing to experience this music or who desire to hear more should attend the 9:30 Solemn Traditional mass at St. Mary’s each Sunday!

Mary Rose Garych

Judith Malafronte

Terence Fay

Richard Dobbins (right); Terence Fay.

Charles Weaver

David Hughes

David Hughes

An evening of recollection, with benediction and the opportunity of confession sponsored by the Catholic Artists Society – all in the magnificent surroundings of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral (now a basilica). It was followed by a most pleasant reception in the rectory of the church – in the very room where Archbishop McCloskey received his cardinal’s hat – he was the first American Cardinal.

An inspiring meditation, specifically addressed to the artistic community, was given by Fr.Jonathan Morris. He referred to Pope Benedict’s comments on the special role of the artist. Through the “production” of art the artist in a sense shares in the ministry of the church; he leads people to the same goal as the clergy seek to do. Second, the artist’s experience of beauty contributes to the spiritual development of the artist himself. His talent is not separate from his spiritual life but is a means by which the Holy Spirit seeks to lead him to salvation. The experience of beauty does not remove us from reality but deepens our encounter with it. This is why the artist often has a higher “velocity” of spiritual life. The temptation to mediocrity, however, is a threat to us all but expecially to the artist. For the devil wants nothing more than that a man should be only a “good guy.”

Many thanks to the pastor of St. Patrick’s, Monsignor Donald Sakano, for hosting this special evening.

Today the parish of ST. Mary’s moved back upstairs to the main church upon the completion of the painting of the sanctuary. it is part of vast project to restore the splendor of this church. In relation to the restroation of the sanctuary, the pastor, Fr. Markey, explains:

“The French blue with the stars is a clear reminder to all who enter that we are in a church dedicated to Our Lady. The Holy Spirit over the triumphal arch reminds us of the Annunciation, where the Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception, mystically united with the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, to conceive Emmanuel, God among us. The fruits from this union are evident by the gold rays, the stars, and various colors and stencils, all descending down up us. The fleur de lis, a traditional symbol of the purity of Our Lady, envelope the triumphal arch, and fall down like snow flakes on the church below. Over the two front arches we see the first and last words of the Hail Mary written in Latin, Ave Maria and Amen, which will continue around the entire church during the next phase of the church. The double stencil patter in the apse of the church of white crowns surrounding a gold letter M, comes from the nineteenth century English architect, Augustus Pugin, famous for his love for gothic designs.”