(Above and below) Canterbury Cathedral, the site of Becket’s martyrdom (and the goal of Medeieval pilgrimages)

(Below) The place of the martyrdom.

(Below) A side chapel in the cathedral.

This Thursday, January 1, is the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord and the Octave of Christmas. It is a holy day of obligation. The following churches in the area will offer the Traditional Mass.

Connecticut

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, 8 am; 7 pm

Georgetown Oratory of the Sacred Heart, Redding, 12 noon

Sts. Cyril and Methodius Oratory, 8:30 am Low Mass, 10:15 am High Mass

St. Patrick Oratory, Waterbury, 10 am low Mass; 12 noon high Mass

St. Martha Church, Enfield, 9 am

St. Michael Church, Pawcatuck, 10 am High Mass

New York

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New York, 10:30 am

Our Lady of Refuge, Bronx, 1 pm

St. Josaphat Oratory, Bayside, Queens, 9:30 am

St. Rocco, Glen Cove, Long Island, 11:30 am Missa Cantata

St. Matthew Church, Dix Hills, Long Island, 10:30 am

St. Paul the Apostle, Yonkers, 1:30 pm

Annunciation Church, Crestwood, 2 pm

St. Mary and St. Andrew, Ellenville, Dec. 31, 11:30 pm, Midnight High Latin Mass; Jan 1., 11:30 am

St. Joseph Church, Middletown, 10:15 am

Sacred Heart Church, Esopus, NY, 11:30 am

Holy Trinity, Poughkeepsie, 7 pm

New Jersey

Our Lady of Sorrows, Jersey City, 9 am

Our Lady of Victories, Harrington Park, Dec. 31 Vigil Mass, 6 pm

Our Lady of Fatima Church, Pequannock, NJ, 7 am, 9 am, 11 am, 1:30 pm, 5 pm

St. Anthony of Padua Oratory, West Orange, 9 am low Mass; 11 am high Mass

Blessed Sacrament, Raritan, 10:30 am

St. John the Baptist, Allentown, NJ, 11 am

We have all heard by now of the replacement of Cardinal Dolan. It is fitting, therefore, to take a look at two projects, launched at his initiative,and currently underway involving historic parishes of New York City

(Above) St Elizabeth of Hungary being demolished. (12/17/2025).

We have often covered on this site the parish of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, formerly one of the loveliest churches in Yorkville/the Upper East Side. Most recently, we published The End of the Churches: St. Elizabeth of Hungary (8/19/2024)(with links to earlier posts)

The parish was closed by Cardinal Dolan in 2014 and sold to a developer for $11.8M in 2024. It will be replaced by a building offering eight luxury condominiums, each with its own outdoor space. Now, demolition has begun. See Young, Michael and Pruznick, Matt, “Preliminary Rendering Revealed For 213 East 83rd Street On Manhattan’s Upper East Side,” New York Yimby (7/15/2025)

(Above and below) St. Elizabeth church and tower in happier days. (7/12/2005)

(Below) as it is today.

(Above) The main entrance today.

(Above) The cornerstone has been (ritually?) defaced. (Below) As it appeared in 2005.

Almost inevitably, when I take such pictures – and again last Thursday – a bystander speaks up. Whether he or she is a former parishioner, a neighbor or simply a passerby I usually don’t learn. They always express their sorrow at the loss – and sometimes indignation at the cardinal and the archdiocese. The clergy, however, have long ago ceased to care about such people and their opinions. What counts now is the immediate realization of cash.

Moving south and west to far-off Chelsea, we see that demolition has begun on the complex of buildings of the parish of St. Columba on 343 West 25th Street. One of the oldest Catholic churches on Manhattan island, St. Columba’s name and architecture reflect its beginnings in the 1840’s, as the Irish flocked to New York fleeing the great potato famine. For whatever reason, the original parish church built at that time of poverty – resembling a shed – was retained, although later impressive windows and furnishings were added. In 1909 a splendid new school was built. By 2013, the parish was predominantly “Hispanic.” In those years I had friendly dealings with the 1-woman “IT department” of the parish (they had a avery nice website).

For our report on this parish in 2013, see: The Churches of New York XXXVIII: a Survivor in Chelsea (6/24/2013)

Under Cardinals Egan and Dolan things unwound with ever increasing speed. In 2006 the school was closed. On 11/2/2014 the parish was merged with Guardian Angel parish, with the latter parish being the main “worship site.” In 2015 the pastor of St. Columba’s since 2011 was removed for, the archdiocese stated, “violations of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.” 1) On 7/12/2022 the pastor found that a canopy over the altar had collapsed ( also tearing down with it a recent work of “art” on the wall behind the sanctuary). Immediately thereafter the church was closed – permanently. 2) 0n 1/1/2023 the church was “relegated to secular purposes” (= offered for sale). In January, 2025 the properties of St. Columba parish – the church and rectory, a school building and convent – .were sold to a developer for $48M. It was subsequently announced that 197 residential rental units in two towers would be built on the site. Demolition has now begun.

(Above) St. Columba Church (12/17/2025)

(Above and Below) The former school covered with netting and scaffolding.

(Above and below) The former convent.

(Above) The former parochial school. It was rented out until quite recently to a non-Catholic school which has moved on to the premisses of another closed Catholic parochial school in Manhattan. (Based on my own experiences in Brooklyn, I doubt if in its last decades of operation St. Columba school actually used the separate boys’ and girls’ entrances as such.)

(Above and below) The collapsed canopy in 2022 ( From the website of Guardian Angel/St. Columba parish – see footnote 2)

1. Fr. Keith Hennesy, bishopaccountability.org (accessed 12/19/2025)
2. “Photo Album, St. Columba’s Collapsed Canopy – July 12, 2022,” guardianangelstcolumba.org. This site still has many other pictures of the church (including its appearance in a 1976 Kojak episode). See also Rosenstock, Bonnie, “Uncertainty Builds, After St. Columba Church Canopy Collapse,” chelseacommunitynews.com, (9/19/2022) on the circumstances (and controversy)surrounding the canopy incident.
3. “Timber Equities Preps 197-Unit Residential Project on Former St. Columba Church Site in Chelsea”, Traded.co (11/14/2025).

(All accessed 12/19/2025)

(Above) 8th century psalter from England with a partial English translation between the lines.

Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Medieval Art and Life 

An Exhibition at the Morgan Library

Through January 4, 2026

We are in the last weeks of a special exhibition at the Morgan library on the psalms and their role in medieval life. Now the exhibition includes much more than that. On display are several Hebrew texts of the psalms, including one of the earliest known manuscripts of a psalm from Egypt. There are examples of translations from the Byzantine world, Romania, Egypt and Ethiopia. There are other medieval chant books, prayer books, books of hours and breviaries which fill out the exhibition.

The exhibits on display include some of the most important creations of the illuminator’s art. Let us remember that up to about the year 1200 the creation of illuminated manuscripts was not a sideline, but a main focus of Western art. And for many centuries thereafter artists continued to create new masterpieces – even after the invention of printing. 

(Above) A Gradual from Florence 1392-99: shown is Ascension day (“Viri Galilaei…”)

The accompanying texts to the exhibits, although clearly coming from a non-Christian perspective, are informative and fair. I would only add the following points regarding what a visitor can learn from these magnificent works of art. 

This exhibition reminds us of the importance of the written word prior to modernity. As I wrote in regard to another exhibition of illuminated manuscripts at the Morgan Library in 2022:

Do not these masterworks demonstrate to us the importance the written word once had? Today a word appears on Outlook and – if it even survives the spell checker – shortly thereafter may vanish forever. Yet in illuminated manuscripts the word is carefully preserved for all time. This is particularly true of the early medieval period. But even towards the end of the centuries covered by this exhibition, we see the extreme care with which books, both printed and handwritten, are prepared. 1) 

In contrast with today, the book in earlier ages was a precious thing. This was doubly so when it contained the word of God. 

(Above) St. Ann teaching the Virgin Mary (and apparently a school as well).

These exhibits demonstrate also the liturgical nature of medieval prayer life. Singing and reading the entire psalter each week was absolutely central to the prayer life of monks, clergy and nuns. Let us remember too that, in the Middle Ages, the psalms would have been first heard as sung, not read from a book.  The illustrations in these books show again and again the rituals of the Church. 

 After about 1200 the production of books increasingly came into the hands of guilds of artists and, after 1450,  of printers. The written psalms, both in Latin and later in the vernacular, became much more widely accessible to laymen. Yet even into the16th century Latin remained the primary language. And the psalms with their preeminent role throughout the liturgy (the mass and the divine office)also formed the piety of laymen. And women too – some of these books of psalms and prayers were destined for female clients; women were also involved in the shops making them. We think of the books of hours, which were produced in innumerable examples in the 15th and 16th centuries. Indeed, at least some laymen were reading breviaries,  a type of book which had arisen in the 13th century. Reading by the laity of the “liturgy of the hours” was later claimed as an innovation of the liturgical movement and Vatican II. 

We discover that the medieval laity were not an ignorant mass, excluded by the Latin language from the rituals of the Church and the words of scripture, and forced to develop their own piety. There was no gap, as asserted by the Liturgical Movement,  between an “objective” liturgy and a “subjective” private piety. Of course, readers of Eamon Duffy’s The Stripping of the Altars would already be familiar with these facts. 2) 

(Above) St. Thomas More’s prayer book with his handwritten notes.

A monument to this medieval lay piety is the last exhibit: the Latin prayer book of St. Thomas More, annotated by him with prayers and notes, both in Latin and English. He did this in in prison awaiting execution. This book is an inspiring yet poignant relic of his personal devotion – a concluding witness to the strength of the faith in old Catholic England.

For more information on the Exhibition see the website of the Morgan Library: Singing a New Song.

1. The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny, Imperial Splendor: The Art of the Book in the Holy Roman Empire 800-1500. ( 1/18 2022)
2. Duffy, Eamon, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England 1400-1580.( Yale University Press, New Haven and London 1992)

The following churches will offer the Traditional Mass on Christmas. If you know of a church that is not on our schedule, please notify us and we will post it.

Connecticut

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, 12 midnight Solemn Mass; 10 am Solemn Mass

Georgetown Oratory of the Sacred Heart, Redding, Sung Midnight Mass, 7:15 am and 12 noon, all sung.

Sts. Cyril and Methodius Oratory, Bridgeport, Christmas Eve: 8:30 am Office of Prime with Christmas martyrology; 11:30 pm carols and Midnight Mass; Christmas Day: 8:30 am Low Mass; 10:15 High Mass and adoration of the Bambino

St. Patrick Oratory, Waterbury, Christmas Eve: carols at 10 pm; Mass at Nigh 11 pm, reception to follow in the church hall; Christmas Day: 8:30 am Low Mass at Dawn; 10:30 am High Mass at Day

St. Martha Church, Enfield, Midnight Mass; 9:30 am

St. Michael Church, Pawcatuck, 11 am

New York

Holy Innocents, New York, Solemn Midnight Mass preceded by carols at 11:15 pm. Midnight Mass will begin with the procession to the manger and blessing of the crib at 11:45; Christmas Day: low Mass 9 am, high Mass 10:30 am; second Vespers of Christmas and benediction at 2 pm.

St. Vincent Ferrer, New York, 12 Midnight, Solemn Mass (Dominican Rite in Latin)

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New York, Solemn Midnight Mass; 10:30 am

Our Lady of Peace, Brooklyn, 9:30 am Missa Cantata

St. Josaphat Oratory, Bayside, Queens, Christmas Eve: 11 pm carols and Midnight Mass followed by social in oratory hall; Christmas Day, 8:30 am Low Mass at Dawn; 9:30 am High Mass

Our Lady of Refuge, Bronx, Midnight Mass

St. Rocco Church, Glen Cove, Long Island, Sung Midnight Mass, Chrismas Day 11:30 am Missa Cantata

St. Paul the Apostle, Yonkers, Christmas Eve, 10 pm

Annunciation Church, Crestwood, 2 pm

Immaculate Conception, Sleepy Hollow, 2 pm low Mass with organ

St. Patrick Church, Newburgh, 3 pm

Holy Trinity, Poughkeepsie, 12 pm

St. Mary/ St. Andrew, Ellenville, Midnight Mass, 11:30 am

St. Joseph Church, Middletown, 10:15 am

New Jersey

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Newark, sung Midnight Mass

Our Lady of Sorrows, Jersey City, Christmas Eve, 11:30 pm Prelude of Seasonal Sacred Music; Sung Midnight Mass

Our Lady of Victories, Harrington Park, Christmas Eve, 9 pm (in church)

St. Anthony of Padua Oratory, West Orange, Christmas Eve: 11:30 pm carols followed by Midnight Mass; Christmas day: 7:30 am, 9 am (low Masses) , 11 am (high Mass)

Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Pequannock, Christmas Eve: 11 pm carols followed by Midnight Mass; Christmas Day: 7 am Mass of Dawn, 9 am Mass of Dawn, 11 am and 1:30 pm Mass of Christmas Day (no 5 pm Mass)

Corpus Christi Church, South River, sung Midnight Mass

Shrine Chapel of Blessed Sacrament, Raritan, Midnight Mass; 10:30 am

St. John the Baptist, Allentown, Solemn Midnight Mass; 7:30 am low Mass

January 1st: The Octave of Christmas

Sts. Cyril and Methodius Oratory, 8:30 am Low Mass, 10:15 am High Mass

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New York, 10:30 am

Sacred Heart Church, Esopus, NY, 11:30 am

Our Lady of Fatima Church, Pequannock, NJ, 7 am, 9 am, 11 am, 1:30 pm, 5 pm

St. John the Baptist, Allentown, NJ, 11 am

This Friday, December 19 – Ember Friday, a Missa Cantata will be offered at 7:00 PM (1962) Coram Sanctissimo  concluding with the Litany of the Most Sacred Heart and Benediction at the Georgetown Oratory in Redding, CT

Crew Leaders for Mary will be sponsoring First Saturday Traditional Masses starting in January at Immaculate High School Chapel, 73 Southern Blvd. in Danbury CT. Here is the schedule:

Saturday January 3, 8: 30 Mass and Holy Hour.

Saturday February 7th, 8: 30 Mass and Holy Hour.

Saturday March 7th, 8: 30 Mass and Holy Hour.

Saturday, May 2, 8: 30 Mass and Holy Hour.