We wish you and your families a blessed Easter.

Medieval stained glass windows are in the Strasbourg Cathedral in France.

(Above) The “communion package”

This time at the Catholic Chaplaincy of the University of Munich. To enable Students ( in the original German a politically correct, nongrammatical, androgynous form of the word is used) to receive communion at home. The idea is that in this time of pestilence everyone can be  an “extrordinary minister” of communion  – to himself.  Accordingly, “divine service sets”  have beeen prepared and distributed. Each contains a palm,  holy water, a consecrated host and prayers. Everything is packed following the highest hygenic standards. Recipients are admonished to  “treat the Host respectfully.” No need to worry – the chaplain claims he knows everyone who is receiving the set….

SOURCE

SOURCE

There are a few priests who have risen to the occasion. One of them is Father Joseph Scolaro, who has planned an extensive Eucharistic procession tomorrow covering a big expanse of his neighborhood.

Here’s what his notice says:

“You may not be able to come to the church to see the Blessed Sacrament… but he can come to you!

“Father Scolaro will be going around town with the Blessed Sacrament this Thursday beginning at 4 pm. Visit https://tinyurl.com/sbvlqkl to see a detailed route.
Please meet us anywhere along the route. We will be posting updates as we hit every mile marker on the map. Out of reverence for the Blessed Sacrament we’re invited to genuflect as Our Lord passes and we receive His blessing

“We ask that you do not follow us in procession, but rather greet the Blessed Sacrament from a distance outside your home.”

A screen shot of this morning’s 7 am Low Mass at St. Patrick’s Church, live-streamed.

Father Michael Novajosky will celebrate a Missa Cantata at 6 pm this evening at St. Patrick’s Church in Bridgeport, CT.  It will be a Votive Mass in Time of Pestilence.   The Mass will be live-streamed from the Cathedral Parish website.

Father Novajosky has been posting a daily schedule of live-streamed Masses on this website, including a daily Low Mass at 7 am.  He is planning add more to the schedule.

The latest Catechism class conducted by Fr. Perricone at St. Vincent Ferrer Church last week is available via YouTube: link

Stained glass window, part of a series on the life of St. Patrick, in St. Patrick’s Parish and Oratory in Waterbury, CT

With the cancellation of public Masses in many dioceses in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, we suggest this  traditional Mass for the Feast of St. Patrick, which will be live-streamed from Paris today at 2 pm Eastern Daylight Time (7 pm in Paris).   Go to Youtube.

We will try to post announcements about live-streamed traditional Masses here.  We need help from our readers.  Please send us information.

We also have news from the Jersey City Latin Mass community that the St. Patrick’s Day Mass there is still on. You may want to check about it before going.  email contact:  latinmassjc@gmail.com

Here is the announcement posted yesterday:

5:30 PM, Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Assumption Church, Jersey City, NJ
Fr. John Perricone, Celebrant

We regret the confusion surrounding this liturgy. The recommended statewide curfew has prevented the New Jersey Catholic Chorale from singing at the Mass. As a result, this may be a Low Mass. This will depend on who is available to make the Mass. Given the uncertainty these days, this may be the Last Latin Rite Mass said in Jersey City for an extended period. In addition to the Memorial for St. Patrick, the collects for the Votive Mass in time of Pestilence will be prayed and special prayers for deliverance from the Coronavirus will be said after Holy Mass. 

Let us invoke the intercession of St. Patrick today!

(Above) St Charles Borromeo leading a procession in time of plague (window in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York). The inscription reads: “Bonus pastor dat vitam pro ovibus.”

Times of epidemics and plagues are often associated with the heroic deeds and miraculous interventions of bishops, priests and saints, commemorated down the ages in liturgy, art and tradition. Does not the angel atop the Castel Sant Angelo in Rome derive its origin from a procession organized by Pope St. Gregory the Great which culminated in a miraculous appearance of St Michael? In 16th century Milan, the archbishop, St Charles Borromeo, led the city both in spiritual and temporal matters when a plague threatened to overwhelm society. In Palermo, in the 17th century. St Rosalia miraculously intervened to bring an end to a plague and ever after has been the chief patron of that city. In the 18th century, Tiepolo painted one of his greatest masterpieces,  depicting the early Christian martyr St Thecla interceding for the liberation of the city of Este from the great plague of 1630(the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a preliminary oil sketch).

The angel  atop the Castel Sant Angelo in Rome, sheathing his sword.

(Above) St. Rosalia, carried in procession, saving Palermo from the plague (18th century Mexico); (below) St Rosalia (image in the saint’s grotto, Palermo)

(Above)  “Saint Thecla interceding with the Eternal Father for the Liberation of the city of Este from the Plague of 1630” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. (Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

In our days the reaction of the clergy has been entirely different. In
Italy and specifically in Rome, the pope, the bishops and the priests have taken to their heels, suspending all masses and even closing all churches (I read today, however, that they may be having second thoughts about the latter step). This bishops of the rest of Western Europe – especially Austria – are beginning to fall in line with these actions. And we are seeing the first repercussions on these shores. 55 years of the Council have left an entirely secular episcopate, incapable of offering any kind of spiritual leadership but ready only to take direction from the secular authorities. The legacy of these days in the minds of the faithful will be a disastrous one for the Church.