The celebration of Corpus Christi at St. Mary’s Norwalk CT. Along with a visit by Monks of Norcia…..

(Above) Since there were only two masses this day, the assembled musical forces of the parish performed – including the student schola.

Three hundred and forty (340) faithful attended the 6PM Solemn Mass and Procession at Holy Innocents Church, New York, for the 8th annual celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi this past Thursday, May 26, 2016. Fr. Leonard Villa was the Celebrant, Fr. Tomasz Szczepanczyk was the Deacon, Fr. Robert Rodriguez was the Subdeacon, and 17 servers served Holy Mass. Photos are courtesy of Michael DeLong.

For the first time since Vatican II, on Saturday, June 4, 2016, at 11:30 a.m., at Holy Face Monastery, 1697 Route 3, Clifton, New Jersey, there will be celebrated a Solemn High Mass with Gregorian chant in honor of Our Lady of Sacro Monte of Novi Velia, Salerno at her shrine. Following Mass there will be a grand procession on the monastery grounds with the statue of Our Lady, her canopy and authentic cinte (Italian candle-houses), all accompanied by the Tony Neglia Italian Feast Band.

The miraculous image of Our Lady of Sacro Monte of Novi Velia, crowned by pontifical decree in 1889, rests atop Mount Gelbison in the town of Novi Velia in the Cilento region of the Province of Salerno, Italy.

Love for the Madonna of Sacro Monte was carried to the United States by Cilentano immigrants who arrived in the United States at the turn of the last century. In Jersey City, where many of them settled, an annual devotion was started. In the late 1960s the devotees from Jersey City moved their celebration to Holy Face Monastery in Clifton, New Jersey. At the Monastery they constructed a stunning outdoor shrine to the Madonna and brought a small statue for veneration.

The annual celebration at Holy Face Monastery ended in 1980. It was revived in 2012 by Cilentani and their descendants in New Jersey.

Musical entertainment will begin at 10:30 a.m. with a performance of the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra, followed after Mass by the Tony Neglia Italian Feast Band, Italian American singing sensation Maestro Marcantonio Pezzano, and DJ Stefano. Delicious meals and desserts will be sold throughout the day and there will be activities for young and old to enjoy. For more information about this grande festa, you can contact us at info @ madonnadelsacromonteusa.com (remove the spaces when addressing your message) or call Pat at (201) 658-0775.

Yesterday, at the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend, Solemn High Mass in the Dominican Rite was celebrated at the church of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York City.

The church of St Vincent Ferrer is worth a visit in itself. Bertram Goodhue’s masterpiece is a seemingly inexhaustible treasury of architecture, stained glass, sculpture, painting and metalwork. In nearly every corner of the vast church can be found a special devotional image or an intriguing artistic detail.

Preceding the Mass, Dr. Samuel Schmitt gave a lecture on the musical life of the Elizabethan recusants. Despite the most severe persecution,  they were able (at least in some households) to maintain an astoundingly rich liturgical and musical culture. But their music underwent a transformation: from the grand public liturgical music of pre-reformation times to a more private, interior style. It was a style adapted to the “underground” nature of Elizabethan Catholicism. But this development was also furthered by the influence of the Jesuit order, whose missionaries brought with them new Roman musical ideas and a spiritual culture that, in contrast to pre-reformation times, assumed a largely literate laity.

The great Catholic composers of this era, such as Tallis and Byrd, also composed for the monarch and the established church. In that regard, Dr. Schmitt described the initial musical and liturgical strictures of the bishops and cathedral chapters of the Church of England as the reformation was imposed. All should be simple, clear and in English, only one note for each syllable of the text…. Much of this sounds eerily familiar to those of us who have followed developments in the Church for the last 50 years.

Dr. Schmitt’s talk was supplemented with musical examples. The performers were Charles Weaver (lute), Judith Malafronte (voice), Grant Herreid( bass viol) and Priscilla Herreid(voice).

(Above)The schola sang in front of the right transept.

We are grateful to the pastor of the combined parish of St.Vincent Ferrer and St Catherine of Siena and to the Dominican community for organizing this liturgy. The execution of the ceremonial of the Dominican Rite on this evening was of course exemplary.

Fr. John Sica, OP served as deacon. (Fr. Sica had been ordained to the priesthood at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington on May 21 of this year).

Fr. Innocent Smith, OP celebrated the mass and gave the homily.

(Above) Charles Weaver directed the Schola. David Hughes was organist. (Both are associated with the music program at St. Mary’s parish in Norwalk CT)

(Above and below) Priscilla Herreid, Grant Herreid, Judith Malafronte, Richard Dobbins and James Wetzel sang. The music included works of Fairfax, Tallis,  Taverner and Lambe. It was an  outstanding performance of this often challenging music  – sung in architectural surroundings intended to duplicate  the pre-reformation churches and chapels where these works were first performed.  And these musical masterpieces were of course also being performed in the context of the liturgy for which they were created. For it is the purpose of the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny to integrate the arts in support of the overriding objective of promoting and restoring the Traditional liturgy.

Finally, we were gratified to see that, despite the heat and the upcoming holiday, so many people from all over the area attended the lecture and then assisted at mass. Afterwards, a lovely reception was organized by the hospitality committee of the parish at which everyone could enjoy some conviviality on the feast of St. Bede!

Solemn High Mass for Corpus Christi was celebrated on Thursday Evening in East Harlem. The shrine statue of the Madonna was resplendent in newly restored robes.

Fr. Marian Wierzchowski SAC, the pastor of Our Lady of Mt Carmel,was celebrant and homilist. Fr. Christopher Salvatori SAC served as deacon; Fr. Charez “Don” B. Gringco, as subdeacon. Mr. Lorenzo Tinio was the master of ceremonies. Also, thanks are due to Mr. Teddy Thongratnachat. Last but not least, The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny sponsored this mass.

Mass was followed by the procession with the Blessed Sacrament through the surrounding streets.

(Above and below) What had started as a devout but modest congregation at the start of the mass had grown to very respectable size when the time came to form the procession. The public display of Catholicism (and one of the specific doctrines of Catholicism)that is of the essence of Corpus Christi seems to find remarkable resonance everywhere. It’s the only effective way to “take back the streets.”

And so the procession went its way as the streets gradually grew darker. Languages heard in addition to Latin and English included Polish, Spanish, Haitian Creole…..

(Above) At times the chants of the procession had to compete with boom boxes; the incense with the aroma of joints. But here and there beautiful floral displays had been set up by residents of the area. (Below) The first altar on the processional path was in a florist’s shop; the second in a convent.

Benediction concluded the procession.

EVENING OF RECOLLECTION BY DOMINICAN BROTHER JOHN PAUL KERN, O.P.

On Wednesday, June 8, 2016, Dominican (student) Brother John Paul Kern, O.P., will offer an evening of recollection at the Church of the Holy Innocents (West 37th Street, NYC).

PROGRAM:

5:15PM – The evening will start with the recitation of the Rosary (according to the Dominican practice) in the Presence of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

5:45PM – Reposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

6:00PM – (Traditional) Mass.

7:00PM – Brother Kern will offer a talk titled: “Living Mercy: A Recollection for the Jubilee Year of Mercy,” which will help us meditate on the Mercy of God, how to better receive God’s healing Mercy, and living as a missionary of Mercy.

8:00PM – Recitation of (Dominican) Compline in English. After the recitation of the Canonical Hour of Compline, there will be a wine & cheese reception in the parish hall.

Biographical information:
Br. John Paul Kern, O.P was in the Navy on the West Coast & he lived with his family settled in Alexandria. He attended Penn State University in Mechanical Engineering. After graduate school (in Nuclear Engineering), he converted to the Catholic Church. He got a job with the Nuclear Regulation Commission in Washington, D.C. and was eventually transferred to the Southeastern PA office. He discerned a Religious vocation and entered the Order of Preachers. He is very personable, has a good sense of humor, and is well grounded.

This event explores the riches of English Catholic musical and religious culture under the Tudors. The lecture by Dr. Samuel Schmitt will describe the musical life of recusant Catholics in the time of Elizabeth, with live examples provided by Grant and Priscilla Herreid and Charles Weaver. The mass which follows, in the traditional Dominican rite, features the Missa Regali of Robert Fayrfax, essentially in its original liturgical context, in the English Gothic Revival setting of the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer. The contrast in musical styles will serve to highlight what was lost and what was gained in sacred music in the tumultuous passing from the age of Fayrfax to that of Byrd.

Samuel A. Schmitt has dedicated the better part of twenty years to making beautiful music for the Church as an organist, conductor, composer, teacher, and choral singer. He studied the Solesmes method of chant with Dr. Theodore Marier at the Catholic University of America, and earned both a master’s degree in liturgical music with a concentration in organ performance, and a doctorate in musicology for his research into the music and liturgical practice of persecuted Catholics in Elizabethan England. Dr. Schmitt has served as music director and organist at churches in several states and was an assistant organist at the Cathedral of St. Matthew and the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, both in Washington, DC. He currently serves as assistant organist at St. Theresa’s Church in Trumbull, CT, while promoting the artistic legacy of his grandfather as executive director of the Carl Schmitt Foundation.

We share the following:

“At St. Mary’s, Greenwich, CT, a Solemn High Mass for the Feast of the Sacred Heart will be celebrated on Friday, June 3rd at 7:30 in the evening. Following Mass there will be the sung Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Mass will be celebrated by a newly ordained priest who will offer his first priestly blessing following Mass.”

The following churches will offer traditional Masses this week for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Please let us know if you know of a mass in the area that is not on this schedule.

As of this moment,  we know of six Solemn  Masses  – and at least two missae cantatae  – which will be celebrated between Thursday and Sunday in the New York area.  We perhaps take for granted the remarkable liturgical progress that has been achieved between the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum in 2007 and now.   A quick perusal of this blog’s “Archives” folder for  2007 or 2008 will demonstrate the point.  And thanks to Catholic Traditionalism, so many feasts of the Church that had fallen into semi- desuetude have been gloriously revived: Corpus Christi, Candlemas, All Souls. There have been bitter losses to be sure – we all know parishes that once welcomed the “Extraordinary Form” which have discontinued its celebration.  Others, however,  have taken their place.  The number and solemnity of the Traditional liturgies  in this region continues its slow but steady growth!

Thursday, May 26

Holy Innocents Church, 128 West 37th St., New York, NY, Solemn Mass and solemn outdoor procession around mid-town Manhattan, 6:00 pm, festive reception to follow.

Our Lady of Pompeii Church, 240 Bleeker St., New York, NY, Solemn Mass, 6:30 pm, reception following.

(Sponsored by the Catholic Artists Society (This is their annual Mass for Artists))

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, 448 East 116th St., New York, Ny, Solemn Mass,  outdoor procession concluding with solemn Benediction. 7:00 pm

(The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny is Sponsoring this Solemn Mass and Procession.)

St. Anthony of Padua, Jersey City, NJ, 7:00 pm

External Feast: Sunday, May 29

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, Solemn Mass, 10:30 am (please note time change), outdoor procession through the streets of Norwalk, Benediction, followed by picnic lunch on the grounds of the church –  please bring your own picnic.

St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven, CT,  high mass, 2 pm, outdoor procession
Our Lady of Peace Church, Brooklyn, NY,  Solemn Mass at 9:30 am with an outdoor procession.  (The celebrant will be Bishop James Massa.)

Immaculate Conception Church, Sleepy Hollow, NY, Missa Cantata, Procession and Benediction, 3 pm.

Also this weekend:

Friday, May 27 

“Like the octave of some great feast”: Perspectives on the musical life of English Catholics under Elizabeth”
at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, 869 Lexington Ave. Manhattan.

Lecture at 5:30 pm by Samuel Schmitt, Ph.D., with live musical examples provided by Grant and Priscilla Herreid and Charles Weaver

Solemn Mass in the traditional Dominican rite at 7 pm, featuring the Missa Regali of Robert Fayrfax performed by the Schola of St. Hugh under the direction of Charles Weaver

A festive reception will follow mass

(The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny is Sponsoring this Lecture and Solemn Mass.)