A commenter has directed me to a
video site of the
Heralds of the Gospel. There you can watch videos of their Maundy Thursday (click on "5ª Feira Santa") and Good Friday (click on "Sexta Feira Santa 2008") liturgies in the ordinary form of the Roman rite (there is also one of Easter Sunday [click on "Domingo da Ressurreição 2008"], but it's mainly the sermon). While the chivalric flair of their habits and movements may not be to everyone's liking, and some of the ceremonial might be deemed a little "over the top" by some, I think these are very dignified celebrations, with the Good Friday Passion in the vernacular, but sung to the traditional chant tone, and the prayers in Latin, as on Maundy Thursday. There are certainly points that could be improved (it may be hoped, especially, that at some point they adopt the
versus Deum position, or at least the "Benedictine" altar arrangement), but this is very encouraging indeed, especially for a country like Brazil, particularly seeing the vast numbers of young, earnest and devoted men they have. The liturgies are celebrated in their new church of Our Lady of the Rosary to the north of São Paulo, Brazil, which was only dedicated last 24 February by Cardinal Franc Rodé (Prefect of the Congregation for the Religious; you can view a video of the beautiful dedication by clicking on "Dedicação da primeira igreja dos Arautos" [short summary, 5 min.] or "Dedicação da Igreja Nossa Senhora do Rosário" [full version, over two hours]).
Maundy Thursday: The translation of the Blessed Sacrament:
A very evocative Stripping of the Altars:
Good Friday
The have veiled the entire apse:
Their impressive choir:
The apse unveiled on Easter morning:
Speaking of the Heralds, this is the Church they have been given in Rome: San Benedetto in Piscinula.
This is were St. Benedict lived while he studied in Rome at the end of the 5th century (on this site was originally the house of his family [
gens], the Anicii). His cell has been preserved:
The rector of this church, Mgr Angelo di Pasquale, is reportedly involved with the Benedictine restoration of papal ceremonial, as has been mentioned
here. As I found out while perusing their site in different languages, this Rome apostolate of theirs has its own blog,
http://sanbenedettoinpiscinula.blogspot.com (in Italian). There you can find this image of their Holy Sepulchre on Maundy Thursday evening:
