Fr. John Boyle, of Caritas in Veritate, now in Marquette, MI has a great account of a Pontifical Low Mass celebrated by my old friend H.E. Most Rev. Alex Sample, Bishop of the same Marquette.
Here are a couple photos, but be sure to go to Fr. Boyle’s blog and look at the rest.
I have written about Bp. Sample before here and here.
I am not quite sure, but it looks as if that altar boy on the right may have either a high and tight or a mohawk. OORAH!
Bishops don’t, or shouldn’t, say Low Mass in the manner of a priest. They have their own ceremonial to observe. For example, they are accompanied by their secretaries and they vest at the altar.
The underlying idea behind the different and more solemn Pontifical Low Mass seems to be theological. They act for the diocese and the larger Church when they say Mass in a difference way than a priest would.
But wait! There’s more!
According to Fr. Boyle:
He hopes to celebrate the Extraordinary Form Mass approximately once a month on Sundays.
WDTPRS kudos to Bp. Sample for desiring to do it right!
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Go bless Bishop Sample and the people of the Marquette Diocese. This is great news.
I meant God Bless. I’m having senior moments lately or something.
If da Yoopers can do it, anyone can. I’ll go bless Bishop Sample too! ;-)
God bless His Excellency!
Setting the tone for all Ordinaries, like this, is a wonderful example.
This is so cool! May more diocesan shepherds follow Bishop Sample’s lead!
It’s nice to see he’s a bishop for “all” of his flock. I hope his allegedly “liberal” confreres are paying attention, to see what liberal really means: generous, magnanimous (is that too hard of a word?) .
“Bishops don’t, or shouldn’t, say Low Mass in the manner of a priest. They have their own ceremonial to observe. For example, they are accompanied by their secretaries and they vest at the altar.”
Fr Zuhlsdorf,
Does this same vesting ceremony apply when Bishops are offering the Novus Ordo?
Beautiful, Ad Multos Annos to Bp Sample. May more Bishops be inspired by his example.
Wow, a bishop celebrating the TLM every month in his cathedral? Are there any other bishops in the United States who do this?
I just returned from the UP to attend the funeral mass of my grandmother. The parish was served by a fairly young priest who sang large portions of the NO, and gave fantastic homilies for both the 1st Sunday in Advent and for the funeral. In talking to him and learning of the large number of vocations in the diocese, it sounds like Bishop Sample is leading the diocese in the right direction.
From Wikipedia:
“At the time of his consecration, Sample was the youngest Catholic bishop in the United States and the first to be born in the 1960s”
When looking at the photos of the Mass it struck me that this bishop looks pretty young, so I decided to look it up. Bishop Sample was born in 1960, which means he is seven years older than I am. It also means that, like me, he is too young to remember the Liturgy as it was before the 1965 missal.
I can’t help wonder if when Bishop Sample discovered the TLM he was angered at what had been taken from Catholics, as I was when I discovered it. I’m hoping this is the beginning of a trend by younger prelates to reverse what many of their older brothers in the episcopate tried to eradicate from the face of the earth namely, our Catholic traditions. The younger bishops do not have to “save face” or feel threatened by a traditional ideology that many of their older brothers in the episcopate spent their lifetimes trying to destroy.
I think we need more bishops born after 1960 – and in time it will happen. I’m also in favor of lay Catholics using “The Bux Protocol” in specific cases to help move this process along.
everett, that sounds very encouraging indeed. Thanks for sharing.