Our resident Dominican rite expert is, of course, Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P., and we have a second Dominican in our midst in the person of Brother Lawrence Lew, O.P., resident at Blackfriars, Oxford.
I mention all of this because I wish to draw your attention to something which should be of great interest, not only to our Dominicans and to those who have adopted a particular attachment to the richness of the Dominican spirituality, but to any and all interested in the liturgical traditions of the Catholic West.
It was in January of 2006 that I first drew NLM readers attention to a video that had been put out by the Rosary Center -- attached to the Portland Dominicans -- of a Solemn Mass in the Dominican Rite. At the time, only a VHS was available, which was rather unfortunate given that not all have the ability to play VHS videos.
I was therefore delighted when I learnt that a DVD of this Dominican Rite recording had been produced, which not only afforded the opportunity for more viewers to purchase and watch the recording of a Solemn Mass in the Dominican rite, it also afforded the NLM an opportunity to provide a better review, complete with screen shots.
(Incidentally, the subdeacon for this Mass is none other than the NLM's own Fr. Augustine Thompson.)
(The Mass was celebrated in the presence of then Archbishop Levada)
(The procession. Note the use of the amice instead of the biretta.)
(In the Dominican rite, the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar do not include the Judica Me or its corresponding Introibo antiphon. Instead there is a versicle and response and the priest proceeds into the Confiteor.)
(The chalice placed upon the altar by the subdeacon, Fr. Thompson, during the Gloria.)
(You will also note that the deacon, subdeacon and servers line up in a different fashion than in the Roman rite)
(The feast day was that of St. Thomas Aquinas, Dominican and Angelic Doctor)
(While I am not showing it in any of the stills here, when seated, the priest, as well as deacon and subdeacon use the gremial.)
(In the Solemn form of the Dominican rite, the chalice is brought over in the humeral veil and the water and wine is put into the chalice at the sedilia; it is then taken back to the altar.)
(Following the gospel and homily, the incensation of the altar.)
(You'll note the location of the subdeacon which is different from the Roman rite.)
(The use of the Pax instrument. Fr. Thompson posted on this just the other day.)
Musically, a professional choir was used for the liturgy, which sung a polyphonic Mass setting with precision.
There was evidently a slight recording problem of some sort since you can see even in the stills above a slight distortion at the bottom of the screen, but it is not enough to distract you from the liturgy itself and really is only mentionable since this is a review and it seems I would be remiss to not mention it. Despite that one technical flaw, the video is well worth acquiring and I would encourage you all to do so, not only to support the Fathers who produced it, but also to show your support and interest in the Dominican Rite liturgy.
The video is priced extremely reasonably at $15.00 USD for the DVD and $10.00 USD for those who still might prefer the VHS recording.
To order the video, click here and go to the Audio/Video tab. There you will see listed: Solemn High Mass, Dominican Rite.
A great opportunity to see the Dominican rite liturgy in action.
