Palm Sunday at St Mary’s parish, Norwalk, Connecticut.

(Above) The altar. (Below)The blessing of palms took place outdoors on a very chilly morning in late March – the day before it had snowed.

Music this day was provided by the children’s schola, the professional schola and the parish choir, all under the direction of Mr. David Hughes.

(Above) The procession stopped before the closed doors of the church, while cantors within sing “Gloria, Laus et Honor” to which the faithful respond with the refrain.

(Below) After the subdeacon strikes the foot of the processional cross on the doors of the church, the procession and entry into the church follow.

(Above and below) The reading of the Passion according to St. Matthew – including settings by Richard Davy.

(Above) Fr. Richard Cipolla celebrated the Mass. Mr.Stephan Genovese was the deacon and Mr. William Riccio, subdeacon.

Palm Sunday at St. Agnes Church, Manhattan

At St. Agnes Church in Manhattan, the mass was preceded by the blessing and procession of palms. Father William Elder, Judicial Vicar of the Interdiocesan Tribunal of the Province of New York was the celebrant and homilist. Thanks to Mr. Arrys Ortanez for sending us these pictures.

Holy Innocents, Manhattan

Thanks to Mr. Anthony Dacosta for these photos.

Immaculate Conception Church, Sleepy Hollow, NY

For a schedule of traditional liturgies for holy week in our area see
Holy Week Schedule

St. Stanislaus in New Haven – a very active Polish ethnic parish with a magnificently preserved church. Since 2009 it has been home to the St. Gregory Society, the pioneers of the regular celebration of the Traditional mass – with complete ceremony and music – in this part of the world. I recently was fortunate to be granted the opportunity of taking  pictures of the interior.

(Above) St. Stanislaus, founded in 1901, has been a Vincentian parish since 1904. The current church was dedicated in 1913.

A magnificent high altar – and an abundance of statuary. The old churches of the Germans, Poles and Slovaks so often have particularly rich and colorful appointments.

(Above) One of the Stations of the Cross.

An elaborate program of paintings covers the entire interior. I am told these works were created over the years by two local artists who filled the church (and the rectory!) with an almost baroque superabundance of art.

(Above and below) The art of St. Stanislaus church celebrates not only the realm of the sacred but also the secular history of Poland. Here a king and queen of Poland responsible for the first union between Poland and Lithuania at the end of the 14th century. (Queen Jadwiga was canonized in 1997).

As one might expect,there is also magnificent stained glass.

Madonnas of Vilna, Lithuania (above) and of Poland(below). (When this church was built Vilna – now Vilnius – was considered a Polish town.)

In addition to the “standard” sacred topics so often found in the stained glass imported from Germany and Austria up to the 1930’s, the windows of this church also depict many unusual and specifically Polish subjects, including a number of Polish saints. Not all of these local patrons are ethnic Poles. Below, the martyr St. Josaphat with the vestments and pontifcals of a Greek bishop, including the trikir and crosier with serpents. He was Ukrainian but lived and died in the vast Polish-Lithuanian state of the early 17th century. Beside him stand St. John Cantius (patron of the well-known Traditional parish in Chicago).

The Roman Catholic Church currently may be embracing pacifism and praising the benefits of “secularism” and the separation of Church and state as currently practiced in the United States and Western Europe. Poles know better, living as they do in an exposed geographic situation open to attack by foes often rabidly hostile to the Catholic faith  and having survived generations of repression from a variety of  oppressors. For them, history  clearly shows there is so often a duty to fight for one’s faith and country. And it was the ineradicable links between the Faith and the Polish nation that enabled Poland to survive apparently insuperable odds.   Above, I believe this very unusual window  shows St. Hedwig or Jadwiga (who wasn’t Polish) giving a blessing to her husband Henry the Pious before he rode out to meet death in battle at hands of the Mongols in 1242. Below, king Jan Sobieski receiving communion before one of his battles (perhaps Vienna in 1683)

Photos of the Traditional Passion Sunday Liturgy  on March 22nd. The Rev. Shawn W. Cutler, parochial vicar, was the celebrant, assisted by the pastor, the Rev. Brian P. Gannon, S.T.D., as deacon, and Mr. John Pia as subdeacon. St.Theresa’s schola cantorum provided the music.

Courtesy of William Riccio (photos by Tom DeFelice.)

Crucifix in Blessed Sacrament Church, Manhattan

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT

PALM SUNDAY March 29, 9:30 a.m.
Videte manus meas (Hugh Aston)
Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Matthæum (Richard Davy)
Improperium (Palestrina)
O Jesu Christe (Jacquet de Berchem)
Miserere (George Malcolm)

TENEBRÆ,April 1, 8:00 p.m.
The complete plainsong office of Matins & Lauds for Holy Thursday
Lamentationes Jeremiæ (Lassus)
Tenebræ responsories (Victoria)
Miserere (Allegri)

MAUNDY THURSDAY, April 2, 7:00 p.m.
Missa Pange lingua (Josquin)
Domine, tu mihi lavas pedes? (Cardoso)
Ubi caritas (Duruflé)
Nos autem gloriari (Palestrina)
Ave verum corpus (Elgar)
Pange lingua (Byrd)
Adoration until Midnight
9:00 pm: Stripping of the altars, visit of the 7 churches

GOOD FRIDAY, April 3, 3:00 p.m.
Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem (Byrd)
Crucifixus à 8 (Lotti)
Ecce lignum / Crux fidelis (Willaert)
Officium de Cruce (Compère)
Salvator mundi (Blow)

HOLY SATURDAY, April 4, 9:00 am
Matins/ Lauds
12:00 Blessing of Easter food

THE SOLEMN EASTER VIGIL, April 4,  8:00 p.m.
Missa pro Victoria for double choir (Victoria)
Surrexit a mortuis (Widor)
Regina cæli for double choir (Guerrero)
Dum transisset Sabbatum (Taverner)
Pascha jucundissimum (Hughes)
organ music of Widor

EASTER SUNDAY,  April 5, 9:30 a.m.
Missa Pascale (La Rue)
Hæc dies (Léonin)
Christus resurgens (Byrd)
Congratulamini mihi omnes (Willaert)
organ music of Bach and Widor

St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven, CT

PALM SUNDAY – March 29th
2:00 PM, The procession and Mass

GOOD FRIDAY– April 3rd
12:00 Noon, Good Friday Liturgy

EASTER SUNDAY – April 5th
2:00 PM

Our Lady of Victories, Harrington Park, New Jersey

PALM SUNDAY, March 29th
8:15 AM Low Mass

EASTER SUNDAY, April 5th
8:15 AM Low Mass

St. Anthony of Padua Church, Jersey City, New Jersey

PALM SUNDAY – March 29th
9:00 AM Missa Cantata

HOLY THURSDAY – April 2nd
6:00 PM Mass

GOOD FRIDAY – April 3rd
12:00 Noon – The Seven Last Words: Meditations on the Passion and Death of Our Lord – Rev. John A. Perricone
5:00 PM Liturgy of the Passion & Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ

HOLY SATURDAY – April 4th
10:30 PM Easter Vigil Mass

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Newark, New Jersey

HOLY THURSDAY
7:00 PM Mass

Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Pequannock, New Jersey

PALM SUNDAY, March 29th
10:30 AM – Solemn Mass, Blessing of Palms and Chanting of the Passion

HOLY THURSDAY, April 2nd
9:00 AM – Tenebrae
7:00 PM – Mass of Holy Thursday and Adoration at the Altar of Repose until Midnight.

GOOD FRIDAY, April 3rd
8:00 AM-Tenebrae
1:30 PM – Stations of the Cross
3:00 PM– Good Friday Liturgy

HOLY SATURDAY, April 4th
9:00 am – Tenebrae
8:30 PM – Easter Vigil

St. Anthony of Padua Oratory, West Orange, New Jersey

PALM SUNDAY, March 29th
7:30 AM
10:00 AM

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1st
7:15 PM Tenebrae

MAUNDY THURSDAY, April 2nd
6:00 PM Confessions
7:00 PM Solemn High Mass of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist & the Gospel of the Washing of Feet
8:30 PM Eucharistic Adoration at the Altar of Repose

GOOD FRIDAY, April 3rd
8:00 AM Tenebrae
1:30 PM Stations of the Cross & Confessions
3:00 PM Liturgy of the Passion & Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ

HOLY SATURDAY, April 4th
8:00 AM Tenebrae
7:30 PM Confessions
9:00 PM Easter Vigil Mass

EASTER SUNDAY, April 5th
7:30 AM Low Mass
9:00 AM Low Mass with Hymns
11:00 AM High Mass

(During the Holy Triduum Confessions are heard one/ one and one half hour before Mass or liturgy, & following the Holy Thursday & Good Friday liturgies)

Church of St. Agnes, New York, New York

PALM SUNDAY, March 29th
11:00 AM High Mass with Schola Cantorum

EASTER SUNDAY, April 5th
11:00 AM High Mass with Schola Cantorum

Church of the Holy Innocents, New York, New York

PALM SUNDAY – March 29th – 2nd Sunday in Passiontide and of The Passion
Sung Masses at 10:30 AM (Extraordinary Form); Confessions heard at 10AM and 12PM
2:30 PM Solemn Vespers and Benediction (Extraordinary Form)

MAUNDY THURSDAY – April 2nd
Mass of the Lord’s Supper:  7:30 P.M. (Extraordinary Form)
10:30 P.M. – Tenebrae (Extraordinary Form) – The Office of Matins and Lauds for Good Friday
Adoration at the Repository. The Watch Before the Blessed Sacrament.
Visita Iglesia – Visit to Churches after 7:30 PM Mass, concluding 11:30 – 12 Midnight at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

GOOD FRIDAY– April 3rd

Stations of the Cross: 11:15 AM
Sermons on The Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross: 12:00 Noon–3:00 PM Preached by Fr. Leonard Villa, Administrator, Holy Innocents Church
Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion: 3:00 PM (Extraordinary Form)

HOLY SATURDAY – April 4th
The Easter Vigil:  9 PM (Extraordinary Form)

EASTER SUNDAY– April 5th – The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Sung Masses: 10:30 AM (Extraordinary Form)
2:30 PM Vespers and Benediction (Extraordinary Form)

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, New York (East Harlem), New York

PALM SUNDAY, March 29th
10:00 AM – Blessing and distribution of Palms, Procession and Sung Mass.

EASTER SUNDAY, April 5th
10:00 AM – Sung Mass

Church of Saint Anthony, 1496 Commonwealth Avenue, Bronx, New York

EASTER SUNDAY, April 5th
8:30 AM – Low Mass

Our Lady of Peace, Brooklyn, New York

EASTER SUNDAY, April 5th
9:30 AM Missa Cantata

Immaculate Conception Church, Sleepy Hollow, NY

PALM SUNDAY – March 29th 2nd Sunday in Passiontide and of the Passion
3:00 PM, Blessing and Distribution of Palms, Procession and Sung Mass with Chanting of the Passion of Our Lord

EASTER SUNDAY, April 5th,
3:00 PM, Sung Mass

At St Mary’s,  Norwalk, Connecticut – with seminarians of the Bridgeport diocese.

Not to be missed:
The complete plainsong office of Matins & Lauds for Holy Thursday
Lamentationes Jeremiæ (Lassus)
Tenebræ responsories (Victoria)
Miserere (Allegri)

Featuring the St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum and Children’s Schola Cantorum

In this beautiful and ancient service, as the choir sings the psalms which mark the beginning of the Triduum, the candles are extinguished one by one, until the church is left in total darkness.

High Mass at the newly-renovated Holy Name of Jesus Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, NY. The Mass was that of Passion Sunday.  Fr. Stephen Saffron was the celebrant and Mr. Arrys Ortanez was the Master of Ceremonies.

Special Thanks to:
Fr. James Cunningham, Pastor
Fr. James Massa, Administrator
Mr. David A. Smith and the Latin Mass Society of Brooklyn

Photos by Brian Hilley