Laetare Sunday Missa Cantata at Cathedral Basilica of St. James, Brooklyn, Sunday, March 6 at 12:30 pm.

At St. Mary, Norwalk, with new Gammarelli vestments.

A small but precious early Renaissance painting the New York Historical Society has had in its collection since the 19th century has been recently restored and is being exhibited with two other panels which originally were probably attached to it.

Thomas Jefferson Bryan was an avid collector of art in the mid-19th century; the Gaddi altarpiece formed part of his collection. He exhibited these painting in New York as part of his Gallery of Christian Art, where the arrival of the so-called “Italian Primitives” must have been quite a shock. Mr. Bryan’s own portrait (above) reflects the neoclassical/romantic styles that at that time governed artistic taste on this side of the Atlantic. In 1867 Bryan’s collection of Christian art found a home at the New York Historical Society, the first museum in New York. Regrettably, much has been dispersed over the years.

This depiction of the enthroned Madonna and Child (Maestà) from 1330-34 is from the hand of Taddeo Gaddi of Florence, who had worked in Giotto’s workshop. His painting unites the hieratic style derived ultimately from Byzantium with the early Renaissance style originating with Giotto. Gaddi achieves monumentality in a work of modest dimensions.

(Above) The exhibit unites the central Maestà with two shutters that art historians think were likely attached to it.

Bryan’s Gallery of Christian Art was one of the first attempts by a wealthy collector to bring Catholic art of the medieval and Renaissance eras to the United States. In New York City alone a remarkable series of successors followed: J.P. Morgan’s Library, Huntington’s Hispanic Society of America and Rockefeller’s Cloisters. Do we not sense a longing for something their contemporary culture could not provide?

And now is not this art with its gold background, symbolism and solemn hierarchical figures a thousand times more foreign to the contemporary culture of New York than it was in Bryan’s day? For at that time a kind of Christianity, still shared by almost all in mid-19th century American culture, provided a means of access to this art. That is no longer the case. And even the Catholic Church, for which these masterpieces were created, has largely forgotten – indeed, has actively repudiated – this art. But for those pondering – or actively working on – a new rebirth (“renaissance”) of both culture and Church this painting and the story of how it came to this City will be a hope and inspiration.

(Above)The exhibit also includes several other Renaissance works that had been a part of Bryan’s collection – such as this Sienese crucifixion.

On view until March 20 at the New York Historical Society. (The permanent collection is closed until 2017 and the admission charge is on the high side – so you may prefer visiting during “pay-as-you-wish” on Fridays 6:00 – 8:00 PM.)

Tonight at 8:30 PM a traditional mass will be celebrated in the Princeton University chapel (which has the dimensions and appearance of a Gothic Cathedral).

From the Aquinas Institute (the Princeton University Campus Ministry):

“Join us as we celebrate the Sacred Mysteries in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite! A valuable opportunity to rediscover God’s grace in the form of the liturgy in which faithful Latin Catholics around the world have assisted for centuries. Latin-English missals will be provided.”

For further information see HERE.

In addition, Father Don Grinco Charez has just announced the establishment of regular traditional Low Mass every Sunday at 2:30 p.m. (Also at our Lady Queen of Peace in Maywood)

Each evening from March 9th to the 18th at 7:00 pm at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 259 Oliver Street, Newark, NJ, there will be a Solemn Novena with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in honor of St Joseph.

On Saturday, March 19th, at 12:00 noon, there will be a Solemn High Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.

Rev Msgr Joseph Ambrosio will be the celebrant.
Rev Canon Jean Marie Moreau, ICKSP will be the deacon
Mr. James Barrett, Subdeacon.

At the end of mass there will be veneration of the relics of St. Joseph (his cloak and his staff ex indumentis and ex bacula).

Coffee and refreshments will follow in the Parish Center.

(Also at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, every Friday during Lent (with the exception of Good Friday) from 4-7 pm the Holy Name Society will sponsor a fish fry. It will be followed at 7:00 pm by Stations of the Cross in Church.)

(Image is in the Asamkirche, Munich, Germany)

Signs of the Holy One: Liturgy, Ritual and the Expression of the Sacred

By Uwe Michael Lang

(Ignatius Press, San Francisco 2015)

Fr. Uwe Michael Lang “of the Oratory” has given us a succinct, well written account of the movement to restore the presence of the sacred and the awareness of beauty within the Catholic Church. He provides those engaged in this effort a helpful guide to the relevant theory, tradition and authority.

In his first chapter the author offers an analysis of the “Sacred” and “Ritual.” Starting from the work of secular philosophers and sociologists, the “sacred’ and the “profane” emerge as categories. The sacred relates to the experience of the “numinous,” of the “wholly other.” (Rudolf Otto) That experience however is mediated and to some extent defined by ritual. Now ritual is “a culturally constructed system of symbolic communication.” (quoting Stanley J. Tambiah). A system of symbols – such as the mass – is far more than a series of texts to be read. “The solemn Mass consists of an integrated complex of words, music and movement, together with other visual and even olfactory elements.” (p. at 11)(quoting W.P. Mahrt). Without pretending to have exhausted in any way the richness of the ideas discussed in this chapter (and in the introduction), we can at a very minimum conclude that the Traditional Roman Rite is a classical example of the concept of “ritual.”

Fr. Lang then turns to recent Catholic theological challenges to these concepts. I found this chapter particularly helpful since I doubt I could ever have forced myself to wade through the works of Karl Rahner or Schillebeeckx. For highly influential schools of conciliar and post-conciliar theology in fact deny that any separate category of the Sacred can exist after the Incarnation. Post-incarnation, according to these thinkers, the entire world is sacred. It’s the kind of idealistic sleight-of-hand in which “what was sacred before” becomes positively harmful. Indeed, it seems to me hard to distinguish these theologies from outright atheism. The links of this line of thought to (emphatically non-theistic) avant-garde aesthetic theories are also obvious. In any case, it is obvious that behind many of the so-called “liturgical abuses” stand philosophical and theological tendencies that need to be engaged and refuted.

There follows an intriguing “excursus” discussing the issues raised by televising liturgies.

Fr. Lang then applies the analysis developed thus far in three subsequent chapters dedicated to Sacred Architecture, Sacred Art and Sacred Music.

Regarding sacred architecture, the illustrations of recent churches in this book reveal most concretely that different universes of art exist within the Church today. And the champions of architectural modernism advance ideas not at all dissimilar to the theological views Fr. Lang has previously outlined. In contrast, Fr. Lang attempts to develop some minimum “principles” for Sacred Architecture. They are:

1. Verticality – which points to the transcendence of God;
2. Orientation (the church must have a sense of direction);
3. Thresholds must exist (The entrance to the church must clearly mark off the interior from the exterior world; the sanctuary and the body of the church should be clearly offset from each other); and
4. “Iconoclasm is not a Christian option” (quoting Cardinal Ratzinger) – a purely abstract art is inappropriate.

Those even remotely familiar with recent “official” Catholic architecture can judge for themselves the extent to which these principles apply today. As noted, this book helpfully provides some telling illustrations of the problem.

On Sacred Art, Fr. Lang shows us the crisis of an art from which the very concept of beauty has disappeared. And he concludes that beauty can only be recovered if the liturgy is restored.

On Sacred Music, Fr. Lang shows the disastrous state of religious music, caught between the “two millstones” of “puritanic functionalism” – in which the Church’s musical heritage is replaced by congregational singing in the name of “Active Participation”– and the “functionalism of accommodation” in which music derived from contemporary jazz and pop makes its way into the sanctuary. In this analysis, as so often elsewhere in Signs of the Holy One, Fr. Lang proceeds from ideas of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. We can only regret how little of his perceptive thought Pope Benedict XVI was able to put into practice in his papacy.

Signs of the Holy One is written in a clear yet scholarly style. Fr. Lang carefully analyzes in each case the relevant authority. But that authority is not limited to the Vatican II and the post–conciliar popes but encompasses earlier councils and papal pronouncements. The works of the 18th century Benedict XIV are especially remarkable. Furthermore, abundant references and citations to leading authors on the topics covered making this work a gold mine for further research. The authors cited include some, like Jean Clair and Martin Mosebach, who bring a much more impassioned and poetic tone to Fr. Lang’s calm text.

I might have wished at times for more concrete and more contemporaneous examples to illustrate what the author discusses. I am not sure, for example, how effective it is to critique Beuron art, Augustus Pugin’s advocacy of the Gothic, the playing of Verdi’s music in a church in Sicily in 1860 (as depicted in a 1962 movie) and Wagner’s Parsifal. These critiques invite debate (how, for example, is Parsifal “blasphemous”?) and don’t we have much more recent, more vivid examples before us – such as the Copacabana Beach Mass of Pope Francis or the Venice exhibits of Cardinal Ravasi?

Fr. Lang frankly concedes his disappointment on the failure of the ideas advocated by this book to progress during the papacy of Benedict XVI. Under the new regime will they remain as just the personal whims of the “pope emeritus”? Fr. Lang correctly points to the continuing and developing search for the sacred and the beautiful in liturgy among younger Catholics as a basis for hope. Yet mending the “torn threads of Catholic ritual” “is a work that will need patience and perseverance and will not be completed in our lifetime”: (p.155) Those engaged in that work, however, will require not just commitment and energy but also knowledge and understanding. In this regard, with Signs of the Holy One Fr. Lang has provided them with an indispensable handbook.

(above) Old St. Patrick’s – before restoration.

What once was an obscure church known only to connoisseurs of New York history – and perhaps fans of The Godfather – has certainly raised its profile in recent months.

We learn it is now patronized by, allegedly, the “Sexiest congregation in New York.”

Its school building, previously an orphanage, after being in Catholic hands for 200 years, is now being converted – as always – to luxury condominiums. See HERE and HERE.

“For nearly 200 years, St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral School on Prince and Mott Streets educated local children, absorbing each successive immigrant generation — German, Irish, Italian and, later, Hispanics and Chinese — into its fold. Now, like so many New York City landmarks that were once part of the public realm, the building is being converted to condominiums and townhouses, with prices starting at $7.74 million.”
1)

And what 30 years ago had been an out-of-the-way and even forbidding neighborhood is now brimming with “tastefully curated boutiques.” According to the New York Times, St Patrick’s Old cathedral is “cradled amid fashionable cafes, old walk-up apartment buildings and new, multimillion dollar dwellings.”

(Above) Old St Patrick’s – after restoration? (Photo by Devin Yalkin for the New York Times)

Nowadays extensive renovations are going on in the old cathedral. The same Times article gives helpful tips for finding reasonable refreshments in the vicinity.

And Old St. Patrick’s now even appears to have its own cologne:

“The New York Shaving Company Was Inspired By The History Of Old St Patrick’s Cathedral To Create The Old St Patrick’s Collection. Warm And Seductive, This Gentlemen’s Fragrance Opens With An Enveloping Fusion Of Nutmeg, Ginger, Cinnamon, And Bergamot Notes, And Emerges Into A Perfect Blend Of Coriander And Cypress With Subtle Lavender And Geranium Undertones. It Finishes With A Base Of Patchouli, Musk, And Cedar Softened With Vanilla And Benzoin.”

We can, however, wholeheartedly agree that the old cathedral and its surrounding churchyard are well worth a visit. The organ – also being restored – is a wonder to hear. So there seems to be a lot going now on at Old St Patrick’s – why, our Society has also sponsored Traditional solemn vespers in the splendid surroundings! We hope to report shortly in greater detail on the results of the restoration.

1) http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/realestate/luxury-condos-in-a-former-nolitaorphanage.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0 (downloaded 2/8/2016

The story HERE.

The years-long battle to save St Vincent de Paul church has apparently ended with the rejection of the parishioners’ appeal in Rome. The archdiocese took steps to close the parish in 2007 – although actual service continued for well  after that year.

This decision frees up the property for sale:

“Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, which owns the St. Vincent de Paul properties, confirmed that there is a buyer but said the sale is contingent on final approvals from Rome. Those last steps, it is believed, aren’t subject to an appeals process from former parishioners, he said.”

But there are further repercussions:

“Mr. Borre (A consultant to the St.Vincent de Paul parishioners -SC)said the Vatican court’s handling of the St. Vincent appeal may shed light on how the process could go for at least a dozen New York City parishes pursuing appeals to reverse merger and closure decisions announced in 2014 as part of the archdiocese’s largest-ever reorganization.”

Interesting – despite the non-stop rhetoric, Rome sides with  developers and the acolytes of money against the minorities and dwellers in the “periphery.” Some vow to continue the fight:

“Olga Statz, a parishioner who headed the appeals process for St. Vincent, said she wasn’t surprised by the ultimate decision made by the Vatican court but called it “heartbreaking on so many levels.”
Parishioners pursuing appeals against the archdiocese should maintain their hope, push forward and not “bow their heads like sheep going to the slaughter,” she said.”

Our description of this church from 2012 is HERE.

(Above: A traditional Mass celebrated on a side altar of St Vincent de Paul in 2007)