On the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, His Excellency Dominique Rey, bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, France, ordained Dcn Danka Pereira, a member of the Fraternity of St Joseph the Guardian, to the priesthood in the traditional rite. Three days later, Fr Pereira celebrated his first solemn Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help; both of these celebrations took place at the church of St Trophime in the town of Bourmes Les Mimosas, which is under the Fraternity’s care. Our thanks to them for sharing these photos with us, and our congratulations to Fr Pereira, to his family, friends, religious family, and diocese - ad multos annos!
Bishop Rey reads the admonition to the ordinand from the Pontificale.
The Litany of the Saints is sung, led by two cantors who kneel at the entrance to the sanctuary; the ordinand prostrates himself, while all others kneel.
After the bishop has imposed hands on the ordinand, all the priests in the church do the same.
The bishop clothes the newly-ordained priest with the chasuble...
the back of which is left pinned up until the end of the ceremony. Here we see the anointing of the hands...
which are then bound with a manuterge until this part of the ceremony is over.
The newly ordained priest concelebrates Mass with the bishop, kneeling at a small desk with a Missal on it; he is traditionally accompanied by an older priest to help him through the ceremony.
He then receives the peace from the bishop.
Fr Pereira gives Bishop Rey his priestly blessing.
First solemn Mass. Note the large collars on the vestments, known as “collarin” in Spanish; the custom of using these comes from Spain, and spread from there to many of her former colonies, including Chile, where most of the Fraternity’s members come from.
