We have a video of the beginning of the Wednesday Traditional Tenebrae service at St. Mary’s on Youtube. The installments are:

Tenebrae I

Tenebrae II

Tenebrae III

Tenebrae IV

Tenebrae V

Tenebrae VI

Tenebrae VII

Tenebrae VIII

Tenebrae IX

Tenebrae X

These beautiful photos were taken at Holy Innocents Church, Manhattan at the Holy Thursday Mass according to the 1962 missal. The photos are courtesy of Craig Duff from http://www.flickr.com/photos/11374846@N05/.

Here’s a link to the homily by Father Michael Barone from Holy Thursday Mass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1zvLKX06xQ

A not insignificant congregation at St. Mary’s, Norwalk, CT, experienced the transcendent beauty of the Tenebrae service (Holy Thursday Matins and Lauds) this evening.The service lasted some 2 1/2 hours.

A modern German Tenebrae Hearse. Photo:Bautsch

Office of Tenebrae to be sung at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, this Wednesday, March 31 at 8pm, preceded by Mass according to the Extraordinary Form, 7 pm.

Tenebrae, the Office of Darkness, is the early morning offices of Matins
and Lauds anticipated the evening before during the Sacred Triduum. This
somber yet moving service consists of a series of psalms and readings,
including the stirring performance of the Lamentations of the Prophet
Jeremiah on Israel’s desolation. As the psalms are completed, the
candles and lights in the church are gradually extinguished, until all
are left in darkness awaiting the returning light of the resurrected Christ.

Music: Fifteen psalms and their antiphons, lessons for each of the three
nocturns (Lamentations of Jeremiah, St. Augustine, and St. Paul), and
responsories chanted according to the ancient Gregorian melodies;
William Byrd’s “Miserere mei”.

St. Mary’s parish, Norwalk, CT, began Holy Week by celebrating Palm Sunday in the beautifully restored surroundings of the restored sanctuary. In addition, a new pulpit, baptistery and confessional have been installed. The ensemble was designed by Duncan Stroik and makes use of furnishings acquired from many other churches. The work on this Phase I of the restoration was (mostly) complete by today. Further phases include the painting of the church interior and exterior and the acquisition of a reredos for the high altar.

The Palm Sunday liturgy began outside with the blessing and distribution of palms. The procession, featuring the children’s choir, followed. A congregation of over 400 attended the liturgy which lasted some 2 1/2 hours (including the procession). The reading of the Passion, involving three cantors and the schola, was particularly memorable.

Channel 12 news covered the story:
http://www.news12.com/index.jsp

After the preceding Novus Ordo liturgy. The new sanctuary can be used for both forms of the Roman Rite.

The confessional and the baptistery.

Outdoor altar

The blessing of palms

The procession

The entry of the procession through the main doors of the church.

The reading of the Passion.

The new pulpit.

Several Bloggers have summarized Thursday’s splendid liturgy at Holy Innocents parish in Manhattan and have provided additional information: here and here. The celebrant was Fr. James Miara (who had been ordained by Cardinal Egan). The deacon was Fr. Michael Barrone and the subdeacon Fr. Richard Trezza OFM. Let me add my own reactions to the homily of Cardinal Egan.

Cardinal Egan, at the start of his remarks, repeated his apology for not celebrating the liturgy himself. He had not realized at first that it was a pontifical solemn mass and he thought it better that these complex rubrics be left to a younger man. I myself thought that the obvious difficulty the Cardinal was experiencing that night in kneeling and, to some extent, walking may been a motivating factor. He did speak in an unqualified manner of the beauty of this liturgy and of the importance of using it to commemorate a major feast and a major pro-life event.

The Cardinal’s homily was simple but effective. He first spoke of the experience of Mary at the annunciation and her unconditional “yes” to God. Second, the Cardinal preached the dignity of the human person and of the sanctity of life – “from the womb to the wheel chair.” In the case of the unborn, ultrasound images of the living unborn children provided the strongest possible evidence for truth of the prolife position. It is a conclusion dictated by the natural law engraved in mind of man entirely apart from any religious belief.

We have become accustomed to these lines of argumentation over the last decades. The fact of the annunciation is viewed from the perspective of a “humanized” Virgin Mary, while the argument against abortion is couched in general “philosophical” terms. Specifically Christian theological considerations are avoided. There also was no reference to recent political developments on the prolife front that have attracted the attention of the entire nation. In these events the role of some major Catholic organizations and institutions has been equivocal, to say the least.

But it was the Cardinal’s enigmatic and self-revelatory third point that gave me the greatest cause for reflection. He spoke of his own ordination in Rome in 1957 by Archbishop Martin O’Connor. That prelate had one overriding message which he repeated again and again to his students at the North American college: lealta – loyalty – obedience. The voice of the Church is the voice of God. Cardinal Egan continued (and I quote from – an admittedly faulty – memory):

” I love this mass which is what I was ordained in. Later, Rome told us we should take a new direction. I followed that. And I love the new mass as well. Now Pope Benedict has told us there is an extraordinary form of the (Roman rite) and that both forms are to be celebrated and cherished. And I accept and follow that – always with lealta – in obedience.

How are we to understand this? The Cardinal did not provide any specific context. In the past this type of admonition was usually directed at Traditionalists – specifically at the FSSPX. Or is the Cardinal referring to the many bishops, parish priests and chaplains who today are refusing to implement Summorum Pontificum? Or is the message of a more general nature – that the proper attitude and virtue of the Catholic in liturgy should be exclusively obedience to authority? These final words of the Cardinal – obviously of a more personal nature – give me pause for thought. They shed light both uopn the “preconciliar” Church and on much that has happened from 1962 to the present day.

Preparations were underway today for tomorrow’s Solemn Mass for Palm Sunday in the newly restored sanctuary of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk. The upper church has been closed for several months as a beautiful marble altar rail has been installed, as well as a marble pulpit and a marble mosaic floor. Masses will be celebrated for the first time tomorrow in the newly refurbished sanctuary. The 9:30 Extraordinary Form Mass will be preceded by an outdoor procession.

For a schedule of Extraordinary Form Masses and liturgies for Holy Week in Connecticut and the New York area, go to our link. No doubt there are other Masses scheduled that we are not aware of. Please email us with information you may have.

A solemn mass was celebrated this Thursday at Holy Innocents parish for the Feast of the Annunciation sponsored by the Agnus Dei council of the Knights of Columbus. The church was full -even the galleries were used – with some of the congregation arriving in buses. Cardinal Egan attended and preached. David Hughes led the choir/schola.

Cardinal Egan preaching.

In the foreground the schola with David Hughes.

We received the following press release today:
New York’s /Agnus Dei/ Council of the Knights
of Columbus announced today that Edward Cardinal Egan would attend and
preach the homily at a Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Annunciation but
that he would not celebrate a Pontifical Mass as planned. The Mass will
mark the 15th anniversary of /Evangelium Vitae/ (The Gospel of Life),
the pro-life encyclical by Pope John Paul II issued on March 25, 1995.

In a brief statement received last week, the Cardinal asked that his
celebration of the Pontifical Mass “scheduled for March 25th at Holy
Innocents Parish be postponed to a later date.” The statement to the
Knights explained the reason for postponing the Pontifical celebration:

“Because of so many commitments over the last several weeks, the
Cardinal has not had time to prepare for the Mass properly. He looks
forward to arranging another date with the Knights of Columbus . . .
whose invitation he deeply appreciates.”

His Eminence will nevertheless attend and preach the homily at a Solemn
Mass for the Feast of the Annunciation according to the 1962 Missal
celebrated by Fr. James Miara of the Archdiocese of New York. The
Solemn Mass begins at 7:30 PM at the Church of the Holy Innocents, 128
W. 37th Street, in Manhattan, home to New York City’s Shrine of the
Unborn. Before Mass, there will be a Rosary for Life at 7:00 PM.

*WHAT*: Solemn Mass for Life, Edward Cardinal Egan, Homilist

*WHERE*: The Church of the Holy Innocents, 128 W. 37th Street,
Manhattan

*WHEN*: Thursday, March 25th; Rosary for Life, 7 PM; Solemn Mass, 7:30
PM

For more information, call (212) 569-1252 or visit
www.traditionalknight.com .

A triumphant El Cid in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society Museum at West 155th Street.

Last Saturday, in almost perfect weather, saw the launch of the first “pilgrimage of New York.” It took the form of a 13.6 mile hike from one end of Manhattan to the other; from the shrine of Mother Cabrini to that of Elizabeth Ann Seton. On the way the pilgrims visited the historic churches of St Patrick’s cathedral, Old St. Patrick’s and St Peter’s. This reporter admittedly followed a different itinerary between the two shrines in order to visit some of the lesser known ‘sacred havens” of New York.

The pilgrimage was organized by a number of parish “youth” ministries in New York. The pilgrims, however, included representatives from many other dioceses. There were about 100 or so pilgrims; mostly “young adults.” Their enthusiastic spirituality seamed to tend towards the charismatic. Their physical condition was also remarkable. They had completed the pilgrimage in very good shape apparently without any casualties from blisters, exhaustion etc. The comparison with, say, the first day of the Chartres pilgrimage (admittedly about a third longer) was remarkable in this regard. The diocesan press presence was also noteworthy; I contrast this media attention with the rigorous disregard of much better attended Traditionalist “events” in both the Archdiocese of New York and the diocese of Bridgeport on the part of the Catholic press.

The Traditionalist can only commend this new initiative. For here the Archdiocese of New York is recalling its own past – a topic which had been studiously avoided in recent decades. It may be news to younger Catholics, for example, to learn of the presence of two canonized saints in the city. They may be shocked to see the evidence of the vital activity of Catholicism in this city going back to the first parish of St. Peter’s founded after the American revolution. In Archbishop Hughes they will encounter a prelate with an entirely different approach from that of his successors since 1967. And they may reflect on the liturgy that gave all these figures strength.

The website of the pilgrimage is here. A repeat pilgrimage is promised for next year.

The start of the pilgrimage was the Mother Cabrini shrine on West 190th Street where the saint lies buried. In a structure (circa 1960) of almost unimaginable ineptitude in architecture and decoration there is preserved the relics and a wax effigy of the saint. The colorful Catholic atmosphere transcends the artistic shortcomings. In this almost untouched sanctuary the visitor can get a real taste of the Catholic Church just before the Council.

Some other ecclesiastical sights on the long journey downtown (including unauthorized deviations from the pilgrimage route): the “cloister” of the Anglican Church of the Intercession; the extraordinary Church of Our Lady of Lourdes (assembled in part of spolia from other mansions and churches); the tiny and charming St. Mary’s Church (Anglican) and Renwick’s masterpiece of Grace Church (Anglican)

The final destination: the Shrine of Elizabeth Seton/Church of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. It may come as a surprise that the chapel dates from 1964 – in other words, it is later than the Mother Cabrini shrine. The adjoining building of the Shrine dates from 1793! One of the most beautiful buildings in New York, it was unfortunately covered by scaffolding this year.

The pilgrimage was able to fill the chapel for the final service.