We extend our prayers and sympathy to Father Christopher Salvatori, whose father Robert Salvatori passed away yesterday at the age of 93.  His funeral mass (Traditional Latin Mass) will be held tomorrow  May 6th at 10:30am at Our Lady of Victories Church, Harrington Park, N.J. with entombment at Rockand Cemetery, Sparkhill, N.Y.

Sermon of Rev. Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro
Fourth Sunday after Easter

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
Today with this passage of the farewell discourse of Christ after the Last Supper the Church is preparing us for the coming of the Holy Ghost as Pentecost and as a consequence the mission to the gentiles. As we sing it in the Introit the presence of the Holy Spirit allows the Church to reveal God’s justice to the gentiles.
In the epistle of St. James we meditate how all the best and most perfect gifts come from down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of alterations. Those gifts are above all the commandments that the Lord has given us and the promise to be with the Father forever in the Kingdom of Heaven. In the collect we pray to love those commandments and to desire with an undivided heart to reach the place where the true joys are to be found. Most certainly the Holy Ghost will move us to love the commandments showing us their goodness and will enkindle in us the desire to be Him forever in Paradise.
The Holy Spirit will come at the price of Christ’s “departure.” While this “departure” caused the Apostles to be sorrowful, and this sadness was to reach its culmination in the Passion and Death on Good Friday, “this sorrow will turn into joy.” For Christ will complete His redemptive “departure” with the glory of his Resurrection and His Ascension to the Father, even if this last episode of His earthly life has a note of bitter sweetness. Even with this nostalgia the sorrow with will be transformed into joy, strengthened by the faith of the Apostles in the coming of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised them. The Holy Spirit will come insofar as Christ departed through the Cross: He will come not only afterwards, but because of the Redemption accomplished by Christ, through the will and action of the Father. According to the divine plan, Christ’s “departure” is an indispensable condition for the “sending” and the coming of the Holy Spirit, but these words also say that what begins now is the new salvific self-giving of God, in the Holy Spirit. That is why we are in the time of the Church, which is also the time of the Holy Spirit. The Church will prosper and fulfil her mission in the measure that she is faithful to constant promptings of the Holy Spirit. Obviously the Church will have to discern to know when she is prompted by the Spirit of God and when she is prompted by the evil spirit that sometimes takes the lying disguise of a spirit of light. The Church will have to be always aware of the lies of the Prince of this World that will always encourage her to make comprises and adaptations that will water down of even contradict the saving doctrine that she received from Christ.
In the farewell discourse after the Last Supper, we receive that the highest point of the revelation of the Trinity. At the same time, we are on the threshold of the final instructions of Jesus Christ as we can see in the Synoptic gospels, which are the great missionary mandate addressed to the Apostles and through them to the Church of all times: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”(Mt. 28:18-20) The formula of baptism reflects the intimate mystery of God, of the divine life, which is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the divine unity of the Trinity. The teaching of the saving doctrine of Christ has to be done in integral way being careful not live anything aside falling into compromises with the world. In this task we are strengthened and reassured by the promise of
Christ of being with us always until the end of time or the end of our lives.
The Holy Spirit will convince the world of sin, and of justice and of judgment. It will convince the world of sin because the world refused to believe in Christ. The Holy Ghost will show the tragic nature of the sin of willful unbelief. The person that willfully refuses to believe closes himself to the light and walks in darkness. He isolates himself from the light and in some ways anticipates the loneliness that the damned souls are going to experience in Hell that are curved forever upon themselves. The Mission of the Holy Spirit is described here in juridical terms, showing that while He acts as a defense attorney for the disciples, he is also a prosecutor who indicts the unbelieving world.
“Sin,” in this passage, means the incredulity that Jesus encountered among “his own,” beginning with the people of his own town of Nazareth, who not only despised Him but tried to kill Him. Sin means the rejection of His mission, a rejection that will cause people to put him to death in the Cross. At the same time we have to be fully aware that this same Spirit who brings sin to light is also the Consoler who gives to the human soul, mind and heart all the necessary graces for repentance and conversion. We have to invite the world to conversion using the words of St. Peter, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:37f)
The Holy Spirit will convince the world of justice. Jesus has in mind the definitive justice, which the Father will restore to him when he grants him the glory of the Resurrection and Ascension into heaven: “I go to the Father.” In this context “judgment” means that the Spirit of truth will show the guilt of the “world” in condemning Jesus to death on the Cross. Nevertheless, Christ did not come into the world only to judge it and condemn it: he came to save it. The action of the Holy Spirit to convince the World about sin and justice has as its purpose the salvation of the world, the salvation of all men. Precisely this truth seems to be emphasized by the assertion that “judgment” concerns only the prince of this world, Satan, the one who from the beginning has been exploiting the work of creation against salvation, against the covenant and the union of man with God. As Christ states in the passage we have heard, “the prince of the world is already judged”. The Holy Spirit has to convince the world concerning the judgment of our enemy, to continue in the world the salvific work of Christ.
The Holy Spirit will teach us the truth. His work counteracts the work of Satan. He will disclose the full meaning of the Gospel, our enemy at the same time will constantly spread deception and falsehood throughout the whole world. The Holy Spirit continues the teaching mission of Jesus presenting the fullness of the truth in an integral way. The constant guidance of the Holy Spirit is Christ’s guarantee that the gospel will never be corrupted, distorted or misunderstood by the infallible universal magisterium of the Church during her earthly pilgrimage.
So today through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary that guided and encouraged the Apostles as they were waiting for the arrival of the Holy Ghost let us pray that the Church be always attentive to the authentic motions of the Spirit of Christ and always reject the seductions of the world.
May the Lord Bless you and Keep you.

At St. Mary Church, Greenwich, CT, on Monday May 18 at 7:30 pm, there will be exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with Rosary, Litany of Our Lady and special music in honor of Blessed Virgin for the Month of May. We will conclude with Solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

On Tuesday, May 26th at 7:30 pm we will celebrate the Feast of Saint Philip Neri with a Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite

N.B. The photos and information for this article are courtesy of the website http://magnagrece.blogspot.com.

Last Thursday, April 23th, members of the U.S. Delegation of the Sacred Constantinian Military Order of Saint George gathered at Holy Innocents Church on their patronal feast day for a Solemn Mass. The celebrant and homilist was Cav. Rev. Msgr. Joseph F. Ambrosio, pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Newark. Saverio Mercadante’s (1795-1870) Mass for Three Voices was performed by the church choir
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Members of the Order venerate the first-class relic of Saint George

His Excellency Cavaliere John M. Viola, Delegate of the Sacred Constantinian Military Order of Saint George, addresses the audience

Hon. Cav. Pasquale Menna, Esq. and His Excellency Cav. John M. Viola, Delegate of the United States Delegation

The first-class relic of Saint George

On Tuesday, May 12, at Holy Innocents Church, the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny will sponsor Professor Luc Perrin of the University of Strasbourg, France, and Martin Mosebach, prominent German author.

Professor Perrin is perhaps the foremost historian of the Catholic Traditionalist movement in France and in the world. He is also active in the training of seminarians.

His talk is entitled: “From Benedict to Francis, the Church in Europe at a New Crossroads.”

Martin Mosebach is one of the foremost authors of Germany. Best known in his home country as a novelist and essayist, he is most familiar to the English-speaking Catholic world as the author of the seminal work on the Traditional liturgy, The Heresy of Formlessness.

His talk is entitled: “Paradise on Earth: the Liturgy as a Window on the Hereafter.”

Solemn Traditional Mass at the Church of the Holy Innocents at 6 pm

The talks begin in Holy Innocents Hall in the lower level at 7:30 pm.

Admission is free.

For information on Holy Innocents Church, including location and directions, see HERE.

The prior evening, Monday, May 11, Martin Mosebach will be in a conversation with the New York-based editor and writer Eric Banks regarding his novel What was Before – the first of his novels to be translated into English! The reading will take place at 6:30 PM at the New York Goethe Institute at 30 Irving Place, New York. For more on this event see HERE.

Martin Mosebach

Prof. Luc Perrin

A second view of the Mass and Hispanic Pilgrimage yesterday by that indefatigable photographic chronicler of New York Catholic Traditional ecclesiastical life, Mr Arrys Ortanez.

(Above) The sacred ministers before the precious statue of Our Lady of Cobre.

(Below) While, after the mass, a goodly number of the congregation, ministers, servers and musicians repaired to a nearby restaurant for a convivium, a hardy contingent equivalent in number participated in a guided tour of the collections of the Museum of the Hispanic Society. It is the greatest collection of Hispanic art outside Spain – it ranges from the Middle Ages (and earlier!)through the Twentieth Century. We wish to thank the Hispanic Society for arranging this tour.

For further photographs of the mass and of the museum, sees HERE. (Photos courtesy of Mr Arrys Ortanez)

(Above) Mr David Hughes led the assembled musical forces.

Yesterday the St.Hugh of Cluny Society sponsored a festive mass for the Feast of St Mark – which also marked the third annual Hispanic Heritage Pilgrimage. Canon Jean-Marie Moreau of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, celebrated the liturgy, assisted by Fr. Christopher Salvatori, SAC(Deacon) and Mr Manuel Albino (Subdeacon). Mr William Riccio was the Master of Ceremonies. We would like to thank Fr. Edward Russell, pastor of this church, and the other clergy and staff who could not have been more helpful and gracious to us in organizing this liturgy.

(Above and Below) The polychoral music was extraordinary – a performance facilitated by the layout of the church of Our Lady of Esperanza with its balconies surrounding the nave. At times the music required David Hughes to direct from the midst of the nave.

We would like to invite you this Saturday to a special Mass in the “Extraordinary Form” for the Feast of St. Mark on the occasion of the Third Hispanic Heritage Pilgrimage sponsored by the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny.

The Mass: Saturday is the feast of St Mark. That calls to mind Venice, the Republic of St Mark. It recalls Alexandria, Egypt and the Christians of the East who face persecution and martyrdom at this very time. And, given the recent tragic events in that part of the world as well as those of 1915 so recently commemorated, we think of the alliance in 1571 between Spain and the Italian States – above all Venice – that confronted the peril emanating at that time from the power of the Ottoman Empire. This is the form of the Catholic Mass that would have been celebrated  for the Christian forces.

The Mass at the Second Hispanic Heritage Pilgrimage at Our Lady of Esperanza.

The Church: Our Lady of Esperanza is indeed a special place: the second Spanish – language parish in New York, it was founded with the support of wealthy benefactors, Catholic and Protestant, before the First World War. Archer Milton Huntington, the founder of the Museum of the Hispanic Society next door, was one of these benefactors. He realized that a presentation of Spanish civilization would be radically incomplete without making room for the Faith that largely inspired it. This jewel-like church features numerous valuable artworks –  paintings, statues, carved reliefs and a precious sanctuary lamp donated by the King of Spain – all dating from the era of the church’s foundation.

A precious Madonna, carved in Spain. It represents Our Lady of Cobre, patroness of Cuba.

The Music: Performed by an expanded schola, the music will include compositions of the age of Lepanto by Italian and Spanish composers. The music will take advantage of the 3 balconies found in the Church of Our Lady of Esperanza to reproduce the polychoral effects composers like Giovanni Gabrieli achieved in the special layout of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, with its two choir lofts facing each other. Such polychoral effects were also employed by contemporary Spanish composers like Victoria. Saturday will be a rare opportunity to hear these compositions in a setting similar to that for which they were written.

The Museum: Located next to the church of Our Lady of Esperanza, the Museum of the Hispanic society has one of the most extraordinary collections of the art of the Iberian Peninsula in the world – including representative works of the main Spanish painters as well as unique medieval exhibits. Before the mass, there will be an opportunity to visit the museum (the doors open at 10:00AM.). After the mass, the Hispanic Society has graciously agreed to provide a guided introduction to their collection at 2:00 PM (note changed time!).

We look forward to meeting you this Saturday at 12 noon for this special occasion!

For directions to the Hispanic Society ( and the Church of Our Lady of Esperanza) see HERE.

Tonight Council 46 of the Knights of Columbus and the Saint Ann Club of Norwalk honored the altar servers in the Catholic parishes of Norwalk, CT at a dinner and award ceremony. As you can see, a large group showed up from St. Mary’s Norwalk.

Statue of St. George in Ulm Cathedral, Germany

This coming Thursday, April 23rd, the 6 pm Traditional Mass  Holy Innocents Church in Manhattan will be a sung mass for the Feast of St. George.  Many Knights of the Constantinian Order of St. George will be in attendance.   Msgr. Joseph Ambrosio will be the celebrant of this sung mass and he will bring a relic of St. George for veneration at the end.