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30 Apr

2023

A Church of the Martyrs, Paris

Posted by Stuart Chessman 

I have aleady written of the sombre, little-known funerary chapels of Paris. They commemorate the victims of political crimes and tragic accidents between 1789 and 1896. To these I must add Notre-Dame-des-Otages, dedicated to the memory of the hostages massacred by the Communards (the Commune was a proto-Communist movement) in 1871. Unlike the other chapels, however, the current church was built in the twentieth century and completed in 1938. It later became a fully functioning parish church.

Notre-Dame-des-Otages is situated in the Belleville district, far from the Parisian centers of business and tourism. Traditionally a poor area, I am told it has recently been “enjoying” gentrification. The church is located in the Rue Haxo, where most of the executions took place on May 26, 1871. The current structure replced a series of prior chapels dating back to 1889.

Located on a nondescript street, the facade does not make a very strong impression. The interior is one of the few attempts to employ the Art Deco style in ecclesiastical architecture. Although pleasant and interesting, I regret to say it reminded me somewhat of a subway station. An inscription encircles the main altar:

Sanguis Martyrum Semen Christianorum

This, and references on two plaques commemorating the dead of the wo world wars, are strangely enough the only allusions I could find to the rather unusual dedication of this church.

(Above and below) Notre-Dame-des-Otages.
The Art Deco interior would delight Matthew Alderman (of “other modern” fame ). The architecture and decoration are reminiscent to a visitor from New York of the slightly older and significantly larger church of St. Catherine of Siena there.
The sanctuary – with a much more recent “Novus Ordo” altar in the middle. Strangely, the inscription surrounding the altar was the only explicit reference to the reason for the church’s unusual dedication I could find in the decorative scheme.

I gather the commemoration of these martyrs later became somewhat of a political embarrassment for the Church. After all, hadn’t thousands of Communards been massacred by the government in crushing their uprising? And aren’t communists some of the best Christians, as Dorothy Day and later Pope Francis have claimed? In any case it was only in this year 2023 that five of the martyrs were beatified, on Saturday, April 22nd in the church of Saint Sulpice (which is currently functioning as the Cathedral of Paris). Henri Planchat, Ladislas Radigue, Polycarpe Tuffier, Marcellin Rouchouze et Frézial Tardieu will be commemorated on May 26. But there were many more martyrs under the Commune between May 24 and 27 in 1871 – the most prominent of all being Archbishop Georges Darboy of Paris. He had been a resolute opponent of Ultramontanism – does this still count against him?

On Sunday, April 23, a procession before solemn vespers, part of the ceremonies celebrating the transfer of relics of the newly beatified to Notre-Dame-des-Otages.
(Above and below) the relics of the martyrs revered by the faithful. A more permanent chapel within the Church will be constructed later to house them.

26 Mar

2023

Passion Sunday

Posted by Stuart Chessman 

From the Gospel of today – St. John v. 46 to 59:

“…Jesus autem abscondit se, et exivit de templo.”

Photos taken today in St Mary’s parish, Norwalk,CT.

3 Feb

2023

Candlemas at Transfiguration Parish, New York

Posted by Stuart Chessman 

For the feast of Candlemas, February 2: mass, blessing of the candles and procession at the historic church of the Transfiguration on Mott Street.

21 Jan

2023

St. Agnes

Posted by Stuart Chessman 
Mosaic in the church of St Agnes outside the Walls, Rome (around 630 A.D.) built above the saint’s tomb. A previous church from the 4th century had already fallen into ruins by that time .

The feast of St. Agnes is January 21. The complex of ancient Christian buildings erected around her tomb from the time of Constantine to the 7th century is one of the most impressive sights in Rome.

(Above) The interior of the basilica. The columns were all taken from earlier Roman buildings. Note how those closest to the apse are of more splendid stone.

Above the image of St Agnes, the hand of God extends a heavenly crown.
This statue of St.Agnes in the basilica has been refashioned out of an image of a pagan goddess.
The tomb of St. Agnes (and St. Emerentiana) under the church.

See Macadam, Alta (with Annabel Barber), Blue Guide Rome at 490-492(Somerset Books, London, Tenth Edition, 2010)

13 Dec

2022

Happy St. Lucy’s Day!

Posted by Stuart Chessman 

Reliquary in the Cathedral of Syracuse, Italy – her home town.

(Above and below) Closer to home, the epic neo-baroque decoration of the Church of St. Lucy, Newark, NJ.

(For even more images from St. Lucy’s Church, see our report.)

(Above and below) Finally, tragically, two statues from the now-shuttered parish of St. Lucy in East Harlem (photos from 2014).

8 Dec

2022

Reverence for Learning

Posted by Stuart Chessman 

The library of the once famous French Oratorian school of Juilly, closed in 2012. Now a monument to Catholic intellectual decline.

Courtesy of Le Forum Catholique (posted by JVJ).

4 Dec

2022

Novena for the Immaculate Conception

Posted by Stuart Chessman 

Today at the altar of Our Lady at the Church of St Cyril and Methodius, Bridgeport, CT. See our post : Novena of the Immaculate Conception in Bridgeport and Waterbury.

8 Sep

2022

Solemn Mass Opens the School Year at Regina Pacis Academy in Norwalk

Posted by Stuart Chessman 

In honor of the Nativity of Our Lady, the students, faculty and parents attended a Solemn Mass today to mark the opening of the school year. 13 students expertly served as acolytes. Following the Mass the teachers, administrators and trustees recited a profession of Faith and oath of fidelity to the Church. New students were invested in the Brown Scapular. The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny sponsored this Mass.

23 Jun

2022

From the Archives: Corpus Christi At St. Mary’s Norwalk

Posted by Stuart Chessman 

At St. Mary’s Church in Norwalk, CT, the feast of Corpus Christi has been celebrated with great flourish in the Traditional Rite since promulgation of Summorum Pontificum–excepting that one year—the Covid year. Those of you who love this parish, enjoy these pictures.

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17 Apr

2022

Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Norwalk, Part 3

Posted by Stuart Chessman 

The Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, CT.

This series begins at Part 1

The acolytes prepare the altar for the festive Mass of Easter.
Toward the end of the Litany, the celebrant and ministers return.  
The Mass of the Easter Vigil, due to its extreme antiquity, has no Introit, but instead the Litany is concluded with the solemn recitation of the Kyrie.
The celebrant intones the Gloria.  The church bells are sounded throughout, the first time they have been heard since Maundy Thursday, and the images of the church are uncovered.
The Canon of the Mass
First Holy Communions

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