As part of a recent jubilee year pilgrimage to Rome, the Institute of the Good Shepherd celebrated Vespers in the Pantheon on December 11th, the feast of Pope St Damasus I. The main celebrant was Monsignor Valentin Miserachs Grau, a canon of the basilica of St Mary Major who has been an important figure in sacred music in Rome for many years; he was formerly the director of the choir at Mary Major, and served as dean of the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music from 1995-2012. Once again, we are glad to share some very beautiful photos taken by our friend Don Elvir Tabaković, a former professional photographer from Croatia who is now in religious life.
Mons Miserachs meets members of the Institute in the porch of the Pantheon.
On Saturday, February 19, His Excellency Dom Fernando Guimarães, C.Ss.R, Bishop of the Military Ordinariate of Brazil, ordained Thiago de Oliveira Pino, a member of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, to the priesthood at the chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows in Brasília. The Mass was a votive of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, during which choir sang Palestrina’s Missa brevis and various motets by the same author such as the Sicut Cervus, as well as the Pange Lingua by the Brazilian Friar Jesuíno do Monte Carmelo. NLM is very happy to offer warmest congratulations to the newly ordained priests and to his family, as well as to the Institute, and likewise, our thanks to Dom Guimarães for his pastoral solicitude on behalf of the Institute and the faithful who follow the traditional liturgy. Let us remember to thank God for all the blessings and mercies He gives us through the ministry of the priesthood, for the families in whom religious vocations are born and fostered, to pray for their increase, and for all of our bishops and clergy.
This past weekend, the Populus Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage to Rome was celebrated once again, coinciding with the EF feast of Christ the King. Here are some photographs of the various events; the photographer really outdid himself with the last group of shots, with some very nice photos from the little choirs that overlook the sanctuary of Trinità dei Pellegrini
On Friday, October 25th, the Premonstratensian Fathers of the Abbey of Gödöllő in Hungary, assisted by the schola and servers of St Michael’s Church in Budapest, Hungary, celebrated a Solemn Votive Mass of the Holy Cross in the church of St Mary of the Martyrs, better known by its secular name, the Pantheon.
Earlier that same day, the clergy of the Institute of the Good Shepherd led the Stations of the Cross at the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, with a solemn exposition, blessing with and veneration of a relic of the True Cross.
Last Friday, a solemn votive Mass for Vocations was offered at the Pantheon; this event was organized by Tridentini, a newly formed group of students from the Roman Pontifical University who gather each month at a different church to offer a Mass for Vocations under the auspices of Don Matthieu Raffray, IBP. Here are some photos, courtesy of Mr Marc Williams.
A fresco of the Annunciation by Melozzo da Forlì, ca. 1480, in one of the side chapels.
A particular good shot of the famous oculus, the large hole it the middle of the Pantheon’s dome. Crux stat!
As some of our readers may remember from previous articles, there was a long-standing custom in parts of Croatia that the Roman Rite be celebrated in the Croatian recension of Old Church Slavonic, rather than in Latin. Shawn Tribe published an article about the Glagolitic Missal, as it was called, from the ancient script originally created for the Slavic languages, back in 2011. Recently, a Mass was celebrated according to this Missal for the first time in 50 years in Zagreb; we are grateful to one of the faithful who were present for providing us with this account of it.
Let me start with a brief introduction. The current situation concerning the Extraordinary Form in Croatia is that there is not a single diocesan Mass available anywhere in the country. The only regular Sunday Mass was available from February 2011 to October 2014 , when the priest assigned by the Archdiocese of Zagreb suddenly died. So now, we, the Coetus fidelium of Zagreb, the capitol of Croatia, have been without a priest for almost two years, so we have to rely on the generosity and availability of the visiting priests to at least have occasional Masses. Such was the recent case when a priest from the Institute of the Good Shepherd, Fr. Mateusz Markiewicz, currently stationed in Bordeaux, was on a three day long visit in Zagreb.
During those three days, Father Markiewicz celebrated the Traditional Mass in the church of St. Martin. For the first two days, these were Latin Masses, but on the third day, we had a Low Glagolitic Mass, a first public Mass of its kind in Croatia after approximately 50 years. It was a votive Mass of St. Joseph, the patron of Croatia, and also of our local ordinary, Cardinal Josip Bozanić. The Mass was celebrated from the so-called “Vajs Missal” (Missale Romanum Slavonico Idiomate), the last printed Glagolitic Missal from 1927, written in the Croatian recension of Church Slavonic. This Missal was transliterated to Latin script, unlike the previous Glagolitic missals, see other examples here: http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/parcic_misal.html.
As a side note, the first printed Croatian book was a Missale Romanum Glagolitice dating from 1483. You can find the digitized version here: http://dk.nsk.hr/stara_knjiga/NSK_SK_ID01/.
The copy of the “Vajs Missal” we used was purchased recently from the United States by the society “Benedictus”, the Croatian chapter of the Una Voce Federation. As the celebrating priest is a Slav, he had no problem in reading the Church Slavonic or Croatian. Here is a short clip of the prayers at the foot of the altar.
As a gift from a local priest, we also had the Church Slavonic altar cards. A small curiosity - it was not unusual in southern parts of Croatia along the coast of Dalmatia, to have two-sided altar cards, one side containing the Latin text and the opposite side the Church Slavonic – here is an example of the Church Slavonic side from a church in Split.
Unlike the southern parts of Croatia, the Glagolitic Mass was not something usual in northern Croatia, Zagreb included. However, it was regularly celebrated in the 20th century by the Zagreb Third Order Franciscans (TOR). A common name for them in Croatia was “Popi glagoljaši”, or Glagolitic friars/fathers). The Blessed Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac celebrated a Glagolitic Mass in 1942, during the opening of a new TOR parish in Zagreb.
Sadly the TOR friars completely abandoned the Glagolitic Mass, a tradition that lasted over thousand years, after the Second Vatican Council. Nevertheless, a big part of our Glagolitic legacy, for instance praying the old Breviary, was preserved on some islands in Dalmatia, especially in the Zadar Archdiocese. You can hear the examples of the ancient Glagolitic chant still used today on the island of Iž here:
or here (singing of Vespers):
There are plans for celebrating a sung Mass with the Glagolitic chant in Croatia for the next year, so we will keep you informed. We sincerely hope that this Mass in Zagreb will serve as an encouragement for priests in Croatia, especially the younger ones, to learn the old rite, and to embrace the ancient Glagolitic legacy passed to us from the “Apostles of Slavs”, the saintly brothers Cyril and Methodius. A fun fact to end with – one of the oldest monuments of the Croatian language is the “Baška tablet,” dating from around 1100, who has an inscription in the Croatian recension of the Church Slavonic language. The tablet itself is part of a pluteum, or a partition that separated the sanctuary from the nave, so this remains one of the few communion rails that actually survived the numerous “renovations” following the Second Vatican Council.
The Populus Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage will take place next weekend in Rome and Norcia, with a large number of liturgical events scheduled from October 23-26. A flyer with all the information in English can be downloaded here, and a map with the locations of the various events can be consulted here.
Thursday, October 23, 7:15 pm
At the F.S.S.P. parish of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, Solemn Pontifical Vespers, presided over by His Grace Archbishop Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Ecclesia Dei Commission. The musical service will be provided by a choir of seminarians of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, directed by Fr. Matthieu Raffray.
Friday, October 24, 9:00 a.m.
At the Basilica of Saint Augustine (Sant’Agostino in Campo Marzio), recitation of the Holy Rosary for children to be born, before the statue of the Madonna del Parto. (This statue of the Virgin Mary is still to this day a popular place for women to pray for a safe childbirth, and is constantly covered with colored ribbons and other ex votos left by grateful mothers.)
3:00 p.m.
On the Palatine Hill, the Stations of the Cross of Saint Leonardo of Port-Maurice. Meeting at the beginning of the via di San Bonaventura, near the Arch of Titus. (St Leonard was the great Italian promoter of the Stations of the Cross, and persuaded Pope Benedict XIV to allow him to set the Stations up in the Colosseum. The large cross which he placed in the middle of the ancient arena was later removed to the tiny church of San Gregorio de’ Muratori, the F.S.S.P.’s former Roman church.)
6:30 p.m.
At Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, Pontifical Mass celebrated by His Eminence George Card. Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the Internation Federation Juventutem. The musical service will be provided by the choir of the Basilique de Notre-Dame, the F.S.S.P. church in Fribourg, Switzerland, directed by Mrs. Christiane Haymoz.
Saturday, October 25, 9:30 a.m.
At the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Damaso, Eucharistic Adoration, lead by Fr. Marino Neri, secretary of Amicizia Sacerdotale Summorum Pontificum, with organ accompaniment by Mr Jean-Yves Haymoz, followed by a procession to St Peter’s Basilica.
12:00 p.m.
At the Basilica of Saint Peter, Pontifical Mass celebrated by His Eminence Raymond Card. Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Segnatura. The musical service will be provided by seminarians of the North American College, directed by Mr. Leon Griesbach, and accompanied by Mr. Garrett Ahlers on organ.
5:00 p.m.
At Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, a spiritual concert of Gregorian chant and polyphony, by seminarians of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, directed by Fr. Matthieu Raffray.
Sunday, October 26, 11:00 a.m.
At the Basilica of St Benedict in Norcia, Solemn Mass for the feast of Christ the King, celebrated by Fr. Cassian Folsom, prior of the Abbey. The homily will be given by His Eminence Walter Card. Brandmüller, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Historical Commission. (Pilgrims will depart by bus for Norcia from Termini Station in Rome at 8 a.m., reservation information at nitorin@tin.it, or by calling (+39) 05 23716510. A buffet lunch will be served for the pilgrims; reservation required by writing lazio.cnsp@gmail.com)
In Rome, 11:00 a.m.
For those pilgrims who are not traveling to Norcia, at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, His Grace Archbishop François Bacqué, Nuncio Emeritus to the Netherlands, will celebrate a Pontifical Mass.
On Monday, the Pope appointed new members to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, presided over, of course, by one of the greatest patrons of the usus antiquior, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke. One of the new members is Mons. Fernando José Monteiro Guimarães, C.Ss.R., Bishop of Garanhuns (Brazil). Mons. Guimarães had been, until his appointment as ordinary of Garanhuns in 2008, head of department in the Congregation for the Clergy. In this capacity, and as collaborator of the then-Prefect, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, he has been instrumental in the regularisation of Campos and the creation of Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney, as well as the erection of the Institute of the Good Shepherd (IBP).
Here we see the founders of the IBP and Card. Castrillón on the day of its erection; then-Father Guimarães is to the very left:
Fr Guimarães celebrated Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form in the main church of the Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney at Campos on 14 September 2007, the day the motu proprio Summorum Ponticum came into effect:
As bishop of Garanhuns, he again celebrated Mass according to the usus antiquior there in 2009:
From 15 to 19 September, a course to learn the usus antiquior of the Roman Rite was held in Toledo, Spain's Primatial See. The workshop was jointly organized by the Archdiocese of Toledo and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest; the vicar general of Card. Cañizares gave some of the talks. All participants learned to say Low Mass and the basics of the missa cantata. There also were classes about Gregorian chant, the Breviary, the Rituale and the liturgical year. Una Voce La Coruña brings us these pictures of a solemn Mass celebrated during the workshop (click to enlarge):
Speaking of workshops for the Extraordinary Form in Spain, another such workshop will be held from 24 to 28 November in Pontevedra, organized by the Fraternity of Christ the Priest and St. Mary Queen in cooperation with the Institute of the Good Shepherd. It will include above all practical formation in the celebration of Low, Sung and Solemn Mass, as well as the rites for the faithful departed. Gregorian chant and the traditional Breviary will also be part of the classes. For more information see here.
Some of the first (unofficial) photos of the recent Institute of the Good Shepherd ordinations this past Saturday in Courtalain, France are starting to appear on Le Forum Catholique.
Of course, we will bring more photos as we receive them, and we look forward particularly to the forthcoming ordinations in Rome at the Lateran Basilica -- the Pope's own Cathedral. Needless to say, that will be a significant event not only in the life of the Institute of the Good Shepherd but for those attached to the usus antiquior generally.
