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.