Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Tradition is for the Young (Part 15) - Pontifical Mass in Louisiana

On the feast of St John the Baptist, His Excellency Glen Provost, Bishop of Lake Charles, Louisiana, celebrated a solemn Pontifical Mass in the traditional rite at the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception; our thanks to Barbara Wyman for sending in these photos of the ceremony, and also wrote to let us know that attendance has been steadily growing at these Masses.

Anyone who has ever served this rite of Mass knows that it is especially hard work, something which requires a good amount of organizing and rehearsal to do properly; the reward is, of course, a ceremony which truly impresses upon one, forcibly and unmistakably, the power and majesty of what the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass really is. We can all take encouragement once again from the fact that none of the people who are making the effort and committment to put this together are old enough to be doing so from any sense of “nostalgia”; what we see here is a true and sincere love for the richness of our Catholic liturgical tradition. (The assistant priest here is the same Fr Jacob Connors whose parish was featured in the very first “Tradition is for the Young” post.)
Praying before the Blessed Sacrament
Pontifical vesting




The Collects

The Epistle
The Gospel
The assistant priest incenses the bishop after the Gospel.
The sermon.
Incensation at the Offertory

Elevation of the Host...
...and chalice.
The peace




Pontifical Blessing

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