Event Annoucements and a Reader Question about the Academic Biretta

A few miscellaneous event announcements have come in, as well as a question, so I will post them all here in this post. If you have additional events you'd like to note, please use the comments in this post.

Missa Cantata, Church of Our Saviour, NYC

A Missa Cantata will be celebrated on the Vigil of the Feast of the Ascension, Wednesday, April 30, in the Usus Antiquior (Latin), fulfilling the Holy Day Obligation, at 6:00 PM.

Music for the Mass will be the Missa Choralis of Franz Liszt. He wrote this work during a difficult period in the history of Church music. As a result of the increasing secularization of the nineteenth century, the practice of liturgical choral music had declined. Liszt attributed the low state of Church music in his time to a crisis in the Church. The Missa Choralis was written for the Sistine Chapel in 1865. In this work, Liszt makes use of both elements of Gregorian tradition and contemporary hymn tunes, thus taking advantage of a wide spectrum of musical possibilities. This single work combines modal writing, passages with simple harmonies and colorful chromatic sophistication.

Good attendance at these events will be an impetus to the more frequent use of the usus antiquior in this parish.

Solemn Mass, Seton Hall University

There will be a Solemn Mass at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ, Monday night at 6 p.m. Father John Grimm JD,STL of Diocese of Wilmington, DE will be the celebrant. The Mass will be in the temporary Chapel in the basement of Boland Hall. This is because the main campus Chapel is being restored. To keep the Mass going they need a steady attendance and all are welcome to come. Please call the University if you have any questions or concerns about parking or special needs: (973) 761-9000.

Liturgical Conference in Budapest, Hungary

Just a reminder about the excellent liturgical conference on "Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy" coming up this August in Budapest, Hungary. The line-up of speakers is quote something: R. Skeris, T. Kocik, M. Schmitz ICRSS, Z. Rihmer, L. Pristas, L. Hemming, M. Földváry, S. Conrad FSSP, E. Alácsi, D. Kolinski SJC, M. Kubilius, G. de Tanoüarn IBP, P. Ullmann OPraem, A. Reid, H. Hoping, L. Dobszay.

See the "Forthcoming Events/Conferences" section in the NLM sidebar. If you can only make it to one liturgical conference this year, it would seem to me that this is the one given all the well-known liturgical speakers that will be present.

Westminster bishop to confer Traditional Latin Rite Confirmations, London, UK

Bishop George Stack, auxiliary bishop in Westminster, will administer Confirmations in the Traditional Latin Rite at St James’s Church, Spanish Place, London W1 on Saturday, 15 November at 11.00 am at the request of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster. This will be the fifth consecutive year that Westminster auxiliary bishops will have conferred Confirmation in the Traditional Rite. Last year in November 2007, a record 54 candidates received the sacrament at the hands of Bishop John Arnold – 50 children and 4 adults.

Parents who require Traditional Confirmation for their children in November 2008 should contact the LMS office for full details of how to register.


Reader Question: Academic Biretta

A reader who is a graduate from a Pontifical faculty in Theology is looking for a vestment maker who can make an academic biretta (black, red piping, red pom), and in fairly short order. If anyone has any ideas of a firm or person who could make one, please send an email to stribe@rogers.com and I will pass it along to him.