Saturday 30 April 2011

The ones the got away - Emo

It has been pointed out to me that this series is (inadvertently) providing a 'hit list' for the wreckovators. Sadly, as I said in my first post, the (misplaced) zeal of architectural modernists has by no means been abated either by the pastoral failure of their plans, the increasing poverty of the country or by Pope Benedict's hermenutic of continuity. If I were to make a guess, nothing this side of the grave is going to abate their zeal to destroy beauty.

Another example of the beauty of traditional ecclesiastical architecture is the Church of St. Paul at Emo, Co. Laois, which has been featured several times on this blog and which has occasionally welcomed the celebration of Mass in the Usus Antiquior since the promulgation of Summorum Ponfiticum.

The details of the Church will be found on previous posts here and here but I include a few of the earlier pictures by way of illustration:







It's our Catholic heritage and we want it preserved!

Friday 22 April 2011

Conclusion, conclusion, conclusion

You know when I was doing my exams they told me that for the English essays, come hell or high water, the conclusion had to be proper. That was the one essential component to getting a good grade. So the Pope has released a new prayer for the Jews - sadly only for the Extraordinary Form. I reserve all opinions to myself about it except this one. Which imbecile underling didn't check the rubrics?

All the Good Friday prayers end with what is known as the "long conclusion" - Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat, in unitate Spiritu Sancte, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum - Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, unto all ages, world without end. Some "Per eundem Dominum..." - I hope you'll remember that post about the bishop who wrote to Rome over eundem (or in his case eumdem)

Back in the 'good old days' of reform (*cough) , the revisers decided to eliminate this long conclusion which has been attached to all the Collects, Secrets and Postcommunions due to Gallican influence and return to the simple Roman ending "Per Christum Dominum nostrum" - Through Christ our Lord - for the retitled Super oblata, the Postcommunion and many of the prayers, blessings and certain collects (like Good Friday) And looking at the new prayers for the Jews, what do my eyes behold but "Per Christum Dominum nostrum" instead of the long ending.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! Hope they correct this one! Unless maybe the Holy Father is hinting that he is going to change the OF prayer. Hmmmmmm.........

Casting my mind back I was just thinking about the changes to this oration on Good Friday. Incremental is the word I'm looking for. In 1948, it was allowed to translate "perfidi" with a little more leeway. This lead to a good many hand missals switching from "perfidious" to "unbelieving" or similar. This was re-enforced when Pius XII quite firmly explained its meaning later. Then in 1956, the words "Oremus. Flectamus Genua. Levate" was added in the new order of Holy Week and everyone knelt before the prayer for the Jews. In 1959, in a letter to the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, later communicated to the world's bishops, John XXIII excised "perfidi" from the prayer. In 1965, the prayer was retitled, the introduction was changed and the prayer itself was the one that would later be used in the 1970 Missal. As follows:

Pro Iudaeis Oremus et pro Iudaeis: ut Deus et Dominus noster faciem suam super eos illuminare dignetur; ut et ipsi agnoscant omnium Redemptorem, Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Oremus. Flectamus genua. Levate.Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui promissiones tuas Abrahae et semini eius contulisti: Ecclesiae tuae preces clementer exaudi; ut populus acquisitionis antiquae ad Redemptionis mereatur plenitudinem pervenire.

And then in 1970 the introduction was once again changed and the kneeling exhortations made according to local custom.

Oremus et pro Iudaeis, ut, ad quos prius locutus est Dominus Deus noster, eis tribuat in sui nominis amore et in sui foederis fidelitate proficere. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui promissiones, etc.
First published in February, 2008

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Sixth Anniversary of the Election of Pope Benedict XVI

Today is the sixth anniversary of the election of Our Most Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.



TE DEUM LAUDAMUS!

Saturday 16 April 2011

Mass for the Pope's Birthday

This afternoon Mass was celebrated in the Gregorian Rite for the Pope's intentions on the occasion of his 84th birthday in St. Andrew's Church, Bagenalstown (Muine Bheag), Co. Carlow.

Bagenalstown is a town of about 2,500 souls, although it didn't see any noticable increase in population between 2002 and 2006. The town's motto is 'The Irrepressible Number,' which seems to be 65, the number of Bagneltonians who turned out today to celebrate the Pope's birthday with the members of St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association.

The body of the Church of St. Andrew c. 1817 is attributed to Thomas Cobden, the architect of Carlow Cathedral. The Church was renovated, with the addition of the steeple, and was rededicated on 9th October, 1893. Dr. Shennan, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore (r.1892-1915), preached the sermon on the occasion in the presence of Dr. Lynch, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin (r. 1888-1896). The porches were added in 1917, and the Sodality Chapel was added for the Marian Year, 1954.

The Sanctuary extension is the work of William Hague (1836-1899), the Diocese's most prolific architect, who had already completed Churches at Clane (1876-1884), Monasterevin (1880), Rathvilly (1883-1887), White Abbey, Kildare (1884-1889), Rathanna (1885), Rathoe (1885-1889), The Hollow (1887), and commenced at Abbeyleix (1892-1895) before working on the Sanctuary of St. Andrew's, Bagenalstown (1893) for Very Revd. Fr. Edward Burke, P.P., who had been a Professor in Carlow College when Hague had built a new wing (1879) and a College Chapel (1885-88)(now a library!) After Bagenalstown, Hague went on to build the Parish Church at Stradbally (1893-96). He had submitted designs for additions to the Parish Churches of Kildare Town and Newbridge. Certainly Kildare had reason to wish they had accepted his design, as the proposal that was accepted included a statue that fell upon and killed the Parish Priest, Dr. Kavanagh, who had rejected Hague's design as too expensive.







Walter Bagenal (1670-1745) of nearby Dunleckney House laid out the town in an attempt to establish a profitable trade route through his land based upon the River Barrow. It is laid out on a grid pattern lying upon the River Barrow in imitation, it is said, of Versailles. However, the only evidence of the 'New Versailles' planned is the fine old Courthouse overlooking the river that is built in the form of a small classical temple modelled on the Parthenon in Athens. Bagenal had been able to regain the family estates from the Crown by perverting to the Church of Ireland. He was the father of the famous rake Beauchamp Bagenal. References to 'the Lord Bagenal' appear to have arisen from the 'lordly bearing' of Beauchamp. There was never a title in the family.

Walter's father, Colonel Dudley Bagenal (1638-1712) had his Carlow estates, lost previously under the Cromwellian regime, restored by King Charles I. He fought in the Battle of the Boyne as a Colonel of an Infantry Regiment, was declared a traitor by William of Orange and his estates were again forfeit. He was Gentleman Usher to King James II at the Stuart Court in Exile at St. Germains.

Walter's grandfather, and namesake Colonel Walter Bagenal (1614-1652) was executed by Cromwellian troops. He had been Governor of County Carlow in 1641 and Colonel in the Leinster Army of Catholic Confederacy. Walter the elder was the son of George Bagenal (d. 1625), who built Dunleckney House, and Lady Joane Butler, daughter of James Butler, 11th Earl of Ormonde and 4th Earl of Ossory (1569-1632). One of the famous Butlers of Kilcash, James was known as James of the Beads for his great devotion to the Rosary and the Catholic Faith. We spent many years imprisoned in the Fleet Prison in London for opposing James I's disposition of the Butler estates to a cousin who had married one of his Protestant favourites.

George's father, Dudley (d. 1587), who was the grandfather of Walter the elder and the great-great grandfather of Walter the younger (who laid out and built Bagenalstown) was the first of the Bagenal family to come to Carlow and was engaged in a long-running feud with the Kavanaghs of Borris, who were original owners of the lands. Dudley's father, Sir Nicholas Bagenal (c. 1590), was an English adventurer from Newcastle upon Lyme who fled England after killing a man in a brawl in 1539 to became a mercenary for the O'Neills of Ulster. He was pardoned by Henry VIII, who granted him lands in Newry, Co. Down, and created him Marshal-General of the Army in Ireland from 1550 to 1553, a post he held again under both Mary I and Elizabeth.






















Happy Birthday Holy Father!

On this day in 1927, Our Most Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, was born in Marktl, Bavaria.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLY FATHER!

Monday 11 April 2011

Beatification Report - The London Oratory Church

The London Oratory was founded in 1849, the year after John Henry Newman established the Birmingham Oratory, by Frederick Faber and some companions. However, it was not until 1854 that the community moved to its present site, then the outskirts of London, described by Father Faber as "The Madeira of London". By contrast, today sees its nestled amongst trendy stores and coffee bars, a quick stroll from Harrods, with the constant bustling of London traffic outside and the rumbling of tube trains beneath. The present church was consecrated in 1884 built to the design of a recent convert, Herbert Gribble, although the facade on the south end was not finished until 1893 and the dome completed in 1895. Building the Oratory cost £93,000 with a further £14,000 spent during the next decade. Until the opening of Westminster Cathedral in 1903, the London Oratory was the venue for all great Catholic occasions in London, including the funeral of Cardinal Manning in 1892. The Oratory is both internally and externally, a splendid building but the decoration we see today owes much to an Italian architect and local resident, Commandatore CTG Formilli who both designed and carried out the work between 1927-1932. The Oratory is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Oratory Church

View of the North Transept and Pulpit
Mater Dolorosa Chapel
S. Philippo Neri Altar
Our Lady's Altar, originally from the Chapel of the Rosary in the Church of San Domenico, Brescia
Central Dome
Sacred Heart Chapel
West End of Nave
St. Peter and Newman Shrine
Arch, Entableture, Nave Window
St. Wilfred's Chapel

St. Wilfred's Chapel
St. Wilfred's Altar
Fr. Faber's Monument
Dome in St. Wilfred's Chapel
Side Altar and Tomb
Funerary Chapel in St. Wilfred's Chapel
Side Altar in St. Wilfred's Chapel
Side Altar of the English Martyrs
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Altar
Towards the Rear
Side view of Our Lady's Altar from St. Wilfred's Chapel