Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Solemn Pontifical Mass with Cardinal Canizares

This past Sunday, November 1st, the Solemnity of All Saints, I walked with four fellow priests to the church of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini to attend a Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form celebrated by His Eminence Cardinal Canizares, Prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

As priests we attended "in choir" wearing the cassock (for me, the Holy Cross habit), surplice, white stole to be worn for reception of Holy Communion, and a biretta. The investiture of the cardinal began at about 10:20 and the concluding prayers of thanksgiving back in the sacristy ended around 12:40. The photo above shows part of the opening procession where an MC is telling me to sit in the front pew (oops), not the second.

This third photo shows the proclamation of the Gospel. The deacon stood facing the north as is customary in the Extraordinary Form. The underlying significance of such a stance is that the Gospel is proclaimed to the barbarians of the north. How sadly ironic that a collapsing Christian Europe lies to the north of Rome!

The next photo shows the elevation of the precious chalice during the consecration. I was quite moved by the beauty of this solemn rite along with the heavy and deep silence with which it was celebrated. To pray with this cardinal who has such an important office and duty was a real privilege for me.

This final photo, I believe, was taken after reception of Holy Communion and shows the location of the clerical choir in relation to the sanctuary and nave.

These photos were provided by the following sites, where more photos, descriptions, and the usual back-n-forth semi-bickering comments which permeate the blogosphere can be found:
New Liturgical Movement.
Orbis Catholicus
FSSP

6 comments:

John P, CSC said...

Are you the proud possessor of a proper CSC biretta?

Fr. Michael Wurtz, CSC said...

I am... well, insofar as a "CSC biretta" exists. In my amateur historical look into the CSC biretta, I've come to the conclusion that there really never existed nor does there exist a "CSC biretta" simply b/c it is not proper to the habit.

It has undergone developments and so through art, photos, and actual birettas, one finds no universal "csc biretta".

The body of the biretta is easy and universal. Simply go to a store.

The trick is the tassle. I found a tassle from an old csc biretta and "took it". It is very much similar to our habit's tassle on the chord, but is a bit smaller.

John P, CSC said...

When I was first at Moreau we all wore the habit to school, and on cold days we wore a black overcoat with the biretta as our hat. Right at the time of the lifting of the requirement mine vanished from the coat rack -- perhaps someone saw it as a collector's item. I wasn't aware there was much development since it looked very much like the one in the Sacred Heart museum. Are there no constants in life (save the Lord, of course)?

Fr. Michael Wurtz, CSC said...

Well I certainly didn't take it!

Nate said...

Wurtz, when you are concelebrating, it's ALWAYS an extraordinary form. ;)

I think we need a post with you in biretta!

Hope you are in good form!
-Nate

Fr. Michael Wurtz, CSC said...

Father, priests do not concelebrate in the EF. tsk tsk.

I'm doing well, thanks, though bit of a cold the last two days. It's now Rome's rainy season. I think it was something like 67 days in a row last year of some amount of rain.