Sacred Music and the Virtue of Religion: An Upcoming Talk in Portland, Oregon.

As part of an ongoing Dominican Forum speakers series, the church of the Holy Rosary in Portland, Oregon, will host a talk this coming Tuesday, May 20th, at 7:30 p.m., entitled “Sacred Music and the Virtue of Religion”.

Dominican Rite Solemn Mass: Feast of St. Cecilia, Portland OR

I am pleased to present to our readers images of the Dominican Rite Solemn Mass, celebrated at Holy Rosary Church on the Feast of St. Cecilia, November 22, 2010, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the dedication of the church's Baroque Tracker Pipe Organ built by Richard Bond Organ Builders. The celebrant was the pastor, Rev. Fr. Anthony-M. Patalano, O.P., and the preacher was V. Rev. Gerald Albert Buckley, O.P., prior of Holy Rosary.

The Mass was the Missa Brevis of Zoltan Kodaly, sung by Cantores in Ecclesia. James O'Donnell, Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey, was at the organ. The deacon was Father Eric Michael Andersen, Parish Administrator of St. Francis' Parish in Roy, Oregon, the subdeacon (as you know) was Mr. Jesson Mata, installed acolyte and lector. The crucifer was Mr. Thomas Setz; thurifer, Mr. Christopher Schmidgall; senior acolyte, Mr. Erin Staub; and junior acolyte, Mr. Harvey Fletcher.

Holy Rosary Parish is in the care of the Dominican Friars of the Western Dominican Province and the traditional Dominican Rite is celebrated regularly there both in the Sung and Low Mass forms. The next celebration will be tomorrow, December 7, at 7:30 p.m. a Dominican Rite Missa Cantata for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. For more information, visit the parish website.

In this first picture we see the three ministers and the acolytes have arrived in the sanctuary, the prior is visible in choro. The ministers wear apparalled amices over their capuces (hoods) that match the apparalled albs. These will be more visible later.


The Prayers at the Foot of the Altar: the candle-bearing acolytes have turned inward for the recitation of the Confiteor.


The priest and deacon have here ascended to the altar. The priest is reciting quietly the prayer Actiones nostras, while the deacon places the Missal on the stand.



The subdeacon here sings the Epistle, facing the altar.


The deacon sings the Gospel facing liturgical north. He is assisted by the subdeacon and the thurifer. According to Dominican practice on high feasts the Crucifer has preceded the candle-bears in the Gospel Procession and now stands behind the lectern. The painting in the Baptismal Font alcove shows the baptism of St. Dominic in Calaruega, Spain.


The Very Reverend Prior Fr. Gerald Albert Buckley, O.P. in the pulpit, about to begin his homily.

The ministers have returned from their positions on the Gospel side, where the priest has quietly read the Creed. They just about to genuflect for the Homo factus est, as you can see from the priest's posture. You can also see the veiled chalice on top of the humeral veil on the Epistle side.


The deacon and subdeacon have lined up behind the priest at the end of the Offertory.

Finally, a last photo from the side. Fr. Anthony has just blessed himself with the paten during the silent Embolism after the Pater Noster, and he is placing it aside.


My thanks to the parishioners who supplied these photos. I wish everyone a joyful feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Pastoral Visit of Abp. Vlazny to Holy Rosary Church, Portland OR

On January 18, 2009, the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, His Excellency John G. Vlazny, Archbishop of Portland in Oregon, made his formal Pastoral Visitation to Holy Rosary Church, the parish served by the friars of the Western Dominican Province. The Archbishop celebrated the 11 a.m. Sunday Mass. Through the kindness of the pastor, Fr. Anthony Patalano, O.P., I have a couple of pictures of this event. Readers already know Holy Rosary as one of the several places in the Western Province where the Dominican Rite Mass is celebrated regularly. Holy Rosary was a leader in the Reform of the Reform a decade before this term became popular. These photos give some idea of the renovation of the church and the way liturgy is celebrated.

Holy Rosary is an interesting building. Built in the 1890s with the intention that it eventual be a school gymnasium, it is essentially a large box. Under Fr. Patalano, especially for the 100th anniversary of the parish, much work was done to create a more suitable space for worship. In this first photo you can see the noble free-standing marble altar, which was originally the high altar of old St. Dominic's Church in San Francisco CA. It was salvaged after that church collapsed in the Earth Quake of 1906. Behind it you can see the tabernacle, designed to match the altar and the 19th-century Neo-Classical decoration of the church. The altar is prepared for Mass by the archbishop.


This next photo shows the Entrance Procession before the Mass. The parish Knights of Columbus stand at attention, saluting the archbishop as he enters. This photo also provides a view of the choir loft, from which Cantores in Ecclesia under the direction of Dean Applegate (a parishioner) sing the principal Mass every Sunday. You can see Baroque Tracker Pipe Organ built in 1995 (after the 1994 fire which destroyed the former 1920's organ). It is the work of Bond Organ Builders, Inc.

The stained glass windows depict Dominican saints connected with the Rosary: St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P. (author of a treatise on the Ave Maria), Pope Saint Pius V, O.P. (the Pope of the Battle of Lepanto), St. Louis-Marie Grignon de Monfort, T.O.P. (author of books on the Rosary and Our Lady) and Blessed Alan de la Roche, O.P. (the great preacher of the Rosary.

You cannot, of course, hear them, but the parish choir was singing Ecce Sacerdos Magnus by Maximilian Stadler (1746-1833) from The Saint Gregory Hymnal as His Excellency entered.


Here we see Archbishop Vlazny preaching from the pulpit, which is located on the old "Gospel Side" of the sanctuary---the altar boys call this the Sacred Heart side because of the side altar of the Sacred Heart. On that altar is an icon of Saint Paul the Apostle with a votive light. It will remain throughout the Year of Saint Paul. You may also see, above the archbishop's head one of the consecration crosses of the church.


Finally, we see the archbishop singing the Preface. To his left you can see the pastor, Fr. Anthony-M. Patalano, O.P. and one of the servers.

I thank Fr. Patalano for these pictures. Our Readers will also remember that Father is the Conference Chair for The Living Tradition (click for program and registration forms), next August's conference and workshops on the Dominican Rite Mass at St. Albert the Great Priory in Oakland CA.

Cantores in Ecclesia at Holy Rosary Church

Jeffry's excellent post on the new CD by Cantores in Ecclesia reminded me that Fr. Anthony-M. Patalano, O.P., pastor of the Dominican Parish in Portland, Holy Rosary Church, asked that I advise our readers of an up-coming event there.

Holy Rosary Church will mark its 115th Anniversary on Sunday, 25 August, at the 11:00 A.M. Mass. The V. Rev. Gerald A. Buckley, O.P., Prior of the Western Dominican Province House of Studies, Saint Albert the Great Priory in Oakland CA, who was pastor at Holy Rosary from 1981-83, and who brought Cantores to this parish will celebrate Mass in Latin according to the Ordinary Form.

Cantores in Ecclesia will sing Palestrina's Missa Emendemus and the Plainsong Propers for the Feast of the Dedication of a Church. Holy Rosary is a dedicated church, and the date of the consecration was 28 January 1894, then the feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Thomas. In the new calendar, so as not perpetually to impede the Feast of the Angelic Doctor, Holy Rosary Parish celebrates the dedication on the closest Sunday. Fr. Patalano invites any readers in the Portland area to attend the celebration and introduce themselves.

I might add that Fr. Patalano is the conference chair for The Living Tradition: The Dominican Rite in the Twenty-First Century, which will be held at Saint Albert the Great Priory in Oakland CA, 5-9 August 2009. This event is open to anyone interested in the Rite, not just Dominicans. The Program and registration forms may be found here.