Quantum potes tantum aude
This is a line in the sequence Lauda Sion, composed by St. Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi.
“However so much as you are capable of doing, dare to do that much.”
More smoothly, “Dare to do as much as you can accomplish”.
Yesterday I was in St. Paul, MN, and participated in the Corpus Christi procession at the Cathedral of St. Paul, perhaps the grandest Catholic Cathedral in the USA. The builders of that church understood Quantum potes tantum aude.
The new Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Most Rev. John Neinstedt said in his sermon during Exposition that Corpus Christi should not be celebrated without a procession.
Anecdote: One day in May I was hanging around outside the Paul VI audience hall (Vatican) during a plenary of the Italian Bishops Conference waiting for my bishop to emerge, chating with fellow journalists and the bishops’ drivers and secretaries a couple bishops who had simply fled the hall in desparate boredom. I had just been to a Eucharistic procession the day before held by the Teutonic College that went through the Vatican gardens, Swiss Guards carrying the canopy, … stunning. Deep in his chest this one old bishop rumbled “Meno chiacchiere – più processioni. … Less jabbering – more processions.”
The tide of anti-devotional madness is passing away. The days of sneering critics of Eucharistic devotion are over. No longer will we hear, as I did in seminary in the 1980’s, “Jesus said ‘Take and eat, not sit and look!’”, as if “looking” was opposed to “receiving”.
I am hearing from many people that Eucharistic devotion is on the rise.
Our Holy Father Pope Benedict had changed the conversation. He has set in motion his “Marshall Plan” to reinvigorate our Catholic identity especially through a shift in liturgical awareness and practice. Liturgy is, after all, the tip of the spear. Summorum Pontificum is exerting its gravitational pull on liturgical worship. A new wave of Catholics desire all that Holy Church has to offer. Our world needs an encounter with Mystery in the midst of ever more difficult challenges.
Taking Jesus into the streets must be both figurative and literal.
Perhaps if some of you readers care to take the effort, you might send me some of your Corpus Christi photos. If they are usable, I will do my best to post them in a timely manner.
Please attach the photos to your e-mails, or I will have a hard time working with them.
In the meantime, here is yesterday’s Procession making its way up the hill toward the Cathedral of St. Paul, which looms high above the downtown district.
And the Archbishop incensing the Blessed Sacrament.
Quantum potes tantum aude
The forces which worked for decades to diminish these devotions – doesn’t it seem as if they always sought to make Christ smaller somehow? – have faded in influence.
That doesn’t mean that we will be able to build back everything in a day.
In many places it take a lot of hard work to organize a first Eucharistic procession ever… or in many years.
Thus, not ever procession can immediately look like what the Holy Father has in Rome, or what the Institute of Christ the King may have at some grand church they have remodeled.
We must work patiently, brick by brick.
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I received the following:
A reader sent this:
The graces that flow from Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is all we need to ‘rebuild’ the Church.
We did ours inside St. Mungo’s on Thursday, when Msgr Boyle celebrated a sung Latin Mass. I think we may have stayed inside because there was a Football Situation going on at the same time, but maybe not. (Celtic won the league championship. Woot!)
There were at least 5 processions in our diocese yesterday, including at the Cathedral, which was put together at the last minute. Unfortunately we had “multo chiacchiere – no processione” in our parish. Corpus Christi was mentioned, and our pastor did try to make a connection between Corpus Christi and the Memorial Day, making reference to all the Catholic chaplains who brought Holy Communion to countless soldiers in all our wars, bringing them comfort and healing. While a procession would have been very beautiful, I was told that our parishioners’ fixed interval schedules would have been disrupted had we made them 45 minutes to an hour late for lunch at local restaurants, and that their tables would be taken by the Southern Baptists who get out at that time. I suggested a parish luncheon after the procession next year. We’ll see what happens…
Fr. Molinari lead the people in a procession in Salem, OR. This, from a reader:
This was a great weekend for the archdiocese of St. Louis. Archbishop Burke ordained nine men to the priesthood and Sunday evening led a Corpus Christi procession around the neighborhood of the Cathedral. In attendance were the local priests from Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest. Rome of the West, a great photo blog, has a shot here:
http://www.romeofthewest.com/2008/05/corpus-christi-procession-at-cathedral.html
This was a great weekend for the archdiocese of St. Louis. Archbishop Burke ordained nine men to the priesthood and Sunday evening led a Corpus Christi procession around the neighborhood of the Cathedral. In attendance were the local priests from Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest. Rome of the West, a great photo blog, has a shot here:
http://www.romeofthewest.com/2008/05/corpus-christi-procession-at-cathedral.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mil_tridentine/sets/72157605263804658/
photos from Corpus Christi at Holy Trinity, South End, Boston, MA
a few from Mary Immaculate of Lourdes, Newton, MA
Some from St Patrick, Nashua, NH
Fr. Z,
I can’t but agree with you about the Cathedral of St. Paul…it’s just amazing.
Question: Is it correct for the acolyte doing the incense to walk backwards?
Is it correct for the acolyte doing the incense to walk backwards?
I would guess only, that it isn’t.
On the side note, it is very common among Byzantines (Great Entrance immediately comes to mind).
Yes, the thurifer will have to walk backwards a few steps when he turns around to incense the Blessed Sacrament during the procession.
Thank you. How often should the incensing be done during the procession?
From a reader:
“We” just sat around and sang “To be Your bread now.” The lector read the short form of the poetic translation of the sequence. By himself. (We finally did get around to singing something appropriate for Communion: “Gift of Finest Wheat.”) After Mass, “we” sang a medley (!) of “God Bless America” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
So it was nice to see how things were going back at the ranch, at Our Lady of the Atonement.
Father,
After participating in a beautiful first Corpus Christi Mass here, http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/222016 on Saturday night. On Sunday we were at our usual parish, the FSSP apostolate in Harrisburg. There, we processed from our church, about 200 yards from the cathedral, to the cathedral, where the Blessed Sacrament was adored on the altar there, and processed back to our church, where benediction was completed.
All along the way, the 200 participants literally stopped traffic, and sang Pange Lingua at the top of their lungs.
Regarding the above link, I don’t know if you received it, as I sent it to you privately. It includes a few splendid pictures, and is about the first TLM in Lancaster, PA, in over forty years. THREE HUNDRED people showed up. It was splendid. You can see my son, ahem, in the large picture. He’s one of the altar boys up there on the left, closest to the altar. It was magnificent.
I stand corrected Father. How the should the incensation be carried out – by holding the chain half-way, or full length swing?
I stand corrected, Father.
How should the incensing be carried out – by holding the chain half-way, or a full length swing?
I don’t have any photos but we had a beautiful Corpus Christi procession at our parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Turners Falls, MA. The canopy over the priest and monstrance must have been 100 years old if it was a day. There were about a dozen altar boys and various parish groups carring statues of Our Lady, St. Jude and various banners of the same vintage as the canopy over the Blessed Sacrament.
We processed to 4 outside altars led by young girls strewing rose petals before Our Lord in the Blessed sacrament. At each altar there was a reading corresponding to the institution of the Eucharist from each of the 4 Evangelists. The Blessed sacrament was incensed at each altar and the priest blessed us with the monstrance while we all knelt on the grass. The procession ended with the Tantum Ergo and Divine Praises.
I have been Catholic all of my life and this is the first outdoor
Corpus Christi procession that I have ever attended. I am grateful to the Holy Father that orthodoxy is making a comeback…we can surely benefit from liturgy and devotions “done right” in today’s troubled times.
George Festa
Orange, MA
According to Msgr. Elliott, the two thurifers walk in front of the canopy and “They should not walk backwards. But the boat bearer walks to one side of them, not at the center. When required, he goes to the thurifiers and places incense in the thuribles in the course of the procession.” But that’s from the “Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite” perhaps there is also a tradition of having the thurifers walk backwards. We had ours walk frontwards in front of the canopy.
Here in Texas, we had our annual procession, though this year we remained indoors. I was torchbearer… that was new for me…
And yes, we had the two thurifers…
One parish in Ft Worth processes through the surrounding neighborhood… Last year, they lost a few folks to the heat… Did they give up? NO! This year they set up water stations for people! Wonderful!!!
Jon: If I might expand on your modest reference to what I believe was a remarkable event, an unanticipated crowd of over THREE HUNDRED for the first TLM in four decades in a small but beautiful church in Lancaster:
“Return of Latin Mass fills church
At St. Anthony, the past becomes present
Et cum spiritu tuo ….
Oremus ….
“It’s been nearly 40 years since the words of the Latin Mass — The Lord be with you; And with thy spirit; Let us pray — echoed through the sanctuary of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. ….. A congregation estimated at 300 — including many young families with children — filled St. Anthony on East Orange Street for the return of the Latin, or Tridentine, Mass on Saturday, the first of what will be weekly services.”
The picture to which you referred:
http://images.lancasteronline.com/local/222016mass1_ful.jpg
Am I mistaken in thinking that’s you in the front row on the Gospel side, in the black coat, just to the right of the gentleman in a bright pink shirt? And a somewhat more beguiling member of the congregation, one of an age so commonly seen at traditional Latin Masses these days:
http://images.lancasteronline.com/local/222016mass4_ful.jpg
On vacation last weekend: At Mass Sunday, there was no sequence. But we did have a lounge singer with a great voice being backed by a soft jazz piano. What to do?
Our procession was very modest, but overall a success. We had about 60 people, including many children. This was the first procession we’d tried since anyone in the parish can remember, and I think it went well.
By the way, our parish is St. Laurence O’Toole in Laramie, Wyoming, which is 7200 feet above sea level. Trying to walk and sing at this altitude was more challenging than we had anticipated.
Henry,
Good eyes you have! As you know, it was my wife and I in the front row, where we sat to give the uninitiated a lead in when to sit, kneel, and stand.
The experience was overwhelming, as signatures had first been gathered more than a decade ago and presented to the late bishop, who consistently refused the request for any thing further than a monthly Mass. Much work and prayer went into this effort.
The most surprising element of the wonderfully high attendance however is that the Mass wasn’t as thoroughly advertised as we otherwise would have liked. It was advertised in St. Anthony’s bulletin, and in a few, but not all, the other parish bulletins in the deanery. The diocesan newspaper, which came out only the middle of the previous week, carried a gracious but very modest announcement.
The crowd was actually precipitated by word of mouth, borne forth on angel’s wings, I’m guessing. We couldn’t have been more pleased. The feeling was enthusiastic, all comments after the Mass I heard were joyfully positive, and everyone was profoundly grateful to Bishop Rhoades, with whose active approbation this has been made the second regular, weekly Mass in the diocese. There are a few others I know of, but they’re done at the initiative of the local pastor. The difference here is that attendees are guaranteed pastoral care by a Fraternity, or assisting priest. Should they become sick, they’ll be visited and given Extreme Unction. Should they wish to marry, their marriage will be solemnized in the Extraordinary Form. Should they want their children baptized, or their wives churched, should they desire Confirmation by the ’62 books, or in the end, should they desire a Requiem Mass, they WILL have it.
As I’ve quoted the 118th Psalm elsewhere regarding this, I’d like to do it again.
The Lord has done this; and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Please pray for the Diocese of Harrisburg, and for Bishop Kevin Rhoades. We are truly blessed indeed to have him at as our shepherd.
Before closing my post, I might also mention one other event. On Sunday, June 15th, at 2:30, the newly ordained Father Jonathan Romanowski will celebrate a Solemn High Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Harrisburg.
Then-to-be Father Romanowski is one of four FSSP candidates being ordained by Cardinal Hoyos in Nebraska this coming weekend. Father Romanowski grew up in our apostolate when it was only a weekly Mass. Bishop Rhoades graciously gave his permission for this Mass. Father Eric Flood, North American Suprerior of the FSSP, will serve as deacon, and I understand our very own chaplain, Father Frank Parrinello, will act as subdeacon.
This will be the first time the Traditional Mass will have been celebrated in the Harrisburg cathedral since 1965 – all thanks to Bishop Rhoades.
I assisted at two Corpus Christi processions in the Archdiocese of Omaha. The FSSP parish (Immaculate Conception) in Omaha had a procession on Thursday followed by a Solemn High Mass. There were not massive numbers of people there, but there was a good number and it was a very beautiful procession and Mass.
We also had a sort of city-wide one organized by St. Peter’s parish in Omaha. It took place on Sunday and went from Our Lady of Lourdes to St. Peter’s (about 2 miles or so). A good number of priests and seminarians assisted and I heard an estimate of about 800 people taking part. I’ll try to round up some pictures.
In Brazil, Corpus Christi Thursday is a national holiday, so, in my parish we had a beautiful Mass and procession with 3 thousand people attending.
Dear Fr Z,
Thank you so much for drawing to our attention that lovely quote from St Thomas. It is a long story, but that little bit of Latin was the perfect answer to a prayer today (and very sensible advice too!).
God bless you,
Paul
St. Stephen the First Martyr in Sacramento, CA (FSSP), celebrated the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on Sunday. Sadly, it isn’t a Holy Day on the actual Thursday. This year we were only able to process, with candles, to one outside altar after Solemn High Mass. Usually it’s three. It was truncated because two of our three priests each travels 150 miles in different directions on the 2nd and 4th Sundays to Chico and to Fresno to say the TLM for the waiting faithful. We had to cut things short so that they could share our beautiful Mass. Our schola and choir led us in the Pange Lingua and Adoro Te as we processed out onto the public sidewalk and back into the Church for Benediction, etc. There is a new priest in charge (not designated pastor yet) at St. Patrick’s in Grass Valley, CA. He is originally from Poland where Corpus Christi is a national holiday. He organized a procession, the first EVER in Grass Valley, to share what he knew and loved in Poland. It was not entirely successful, with altar girls, people in shorts – you get the picture – but, besides the Corpus Christi procession, he is trying to bring some tradition back to a Novus Ordo parish. His efforts are not widely appreciated by liturgical committees and parishioners. He needs a lot of prayers. By the way, the City charged him $1000 to hold the procession which covered two city blocks. Gloria
Nothing to report from Los Angeles…
The pictures are beautiful!
May I ask what might sound like a dumb question and perhaps a bit off topic? Is it the general practice in the US for acolytes and servers to wear cassocks and surplices? They look wonderful and I wish we saw more of them here.
In some places, cassock and surplice is customary. It varies from parish to parish.
Fortescue & O’Connell (my edition is 1935) are very opposed to the thurifers walking backwards. They say there is no authority for the practice, quoting the Rituale Romanum & various Italian rubrical sources. While walking in the procession, the thurifers walk forwards swinging the thuribles in the normal way.
Frank,
That’s interesting and seems to be what the modern roman rite calls for as well. Perhaps it is a spontaneous tradition that has taken hold.
Fortescue & O’Connell (my edition is 1935) are very opposed to the thurifers walking backwards.
The 14th revised edition (2003) seems less concerned about this. On page 329 it says “the two thurifers–walking forward but slightly turned towards the Blessed Sacrament, swinging their thuribles at the inside continuously … .”
But on page 378 a footnote says simply “It is better to walk straight, not backwards or sideways. Each thurifer swings his thurible by the inside hand.”
I don’t have pictures, but the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and the
archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas held a joint rosary crusade at Kauffman
Stadium. It included a Corpus Christi procession, benediction and adoration.
The crowd was estimated at 25,000.
I know that Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary walks backward, at least in some cases. I went to the College and at the annual Eucharistic retreat put on by the seminarians (Mount 2000), there is a Eucharistic procession and the thurifers (always a seminarian) always have walked backwards.
I believe our Diocese of Cleveland had a procession down-town Saturday. Unfortunately, we were not able to attend due to the fact that we were out-of-town (I was quite surprised by the news that there was a procession; our diocese is one of the more “progressive”. No kneeling through Mass is the norm, I believe.
Saint Mary of the Isle parish in Long Beach, NY had a beautiful Corpus Christi procession – the first that
any living parishioner can remember – thanks to our wonderful new Pastor, Rev. Christopher Nowak. The Church
was overflowing with flowers, and some parishioners made a gold canopy. First Communicants and other children
were in the front, sprinkling rose petals along the path Our Lord would take. Four altars were set up in the
parish field and the traditional office of St. Thomas was prayed.
Images here: http://www.stmaryoftheisle.com/corpus_christi_procession.htm
For most of our procession, I walked backwards myself.
According to the extraordinary form, though, it’s supposed to be forwards, with head turned towards the Sanctissimum.
But I think it’s more reverent to walk backwards and such a joy, then, to see the incense rise and touch where you see Our Lord or go through the monstrance’s rays.
For practical reasons, I did walk forward when I descended and ascended stairs, and for a moment when I turned street corners.
Father, I love the Cathedral, but I have to stay that isn’t the grandest table I’ve ever seen. Perhaps a real altar is on the way, one day. Deo Volente.
For most of our procession, I walked backwards myself.
According to the extraordinary form, though, it’s supposed to be forwards, with head turned towards the Sanctissimum.
But I think it’s more reverent to walk backwards and such a joy, then, to see the incense rise and touch where you see Our Lord or go through the monstrance’s rays.
For practical reasons, I did walk forward when I descended and ascended stairs, and for a moment when I turned street corners.
Father, I love the Cathedral, but I have to stay that the altar table isn’t the grandest I’ve ever seen. Perhaps a real one will come one day or the old one (I couldn’t tell whether it was still there but if so) will be used again. Deo Volente.
As you can see, I revised my comment a little. Remember, everything old is new again!
The young men of our parish in the Liguori Society sponsored the Corpus Christi procession. A humble yet Catholic affair.
See photos at http://liguorisociety.blogspot.com
Benedicite Domino semper!
The young men of our parish in the Liguori Society sponsored the Corpus Christi procession. A humble yet Catholic affair.
See photos at http://liguorisociety.blogspot.com
Benedicite Domino semper!
I didn’t take any photos, but we had a Eucharistic procession at the end of Mass, complete with an outdoor Benediction where all knelt on the grass beside the statue of the Blessed Virgin. The children sprinkled rose petals in front of the Blessed Sacrament’s path, which the priest carried on high underneath a canopy. Out Mass included the Lauda Sion sequence by St Thomas Aquinas regarding the miracle and doctrine of Transubstantiation. It was very beautiful.
I got this from a reader:
From a reader:
A reader sent this:
My good friend Fr. Robert Pasley of Mater Ecclesiae in New Berlin, NJ sent a note with images of this evening procession:
NB: The practice of the thurifer turning toward the Blessed Sacrament, in the procession, when incensing.
This is in from Long Beach, NY:
Dear Father,
I thought you might enjoy some of the photos from our parish’s first everCorpus Christi procession – well, first-ever if you don’t count the old pastor walking out the side door and back in the front sans cope and humeral veil.
We built a canopyand set up four altars in our parish field. First Communion children sprinkled the pathway with rose petals.
Not surprisingly, many of the parishioners had no clue what this was all about, but afterwards, were very glad to experience it.
and to have a larger procession through the streets.
Happily our new pastor, Rev. Christopher Nowak, hopes to join with the other parishes on our isl
Additional photos here: http://www.stmaryoftheisle.com/corpus_christi_procession.htm
This has come from Providence, RI:
I received this:
Hello Father:
This is our Corpus Christi procession for 2008 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Wyandotte, MI. Our pastor is Fr. Walter Ptak and I am Deacon Richard Bloomfield.
Our first Mass in the extraordinary form will be held next month.
Thanks for all you do.
At last something from outside the USA:
From Assumption Grotto, Detroit, where they do things right.
Priests should carry their birettas when in a procession.
From a poor parish in Medellin, Columbia:
THANK YOU for posting these wonderful and uplifting news items on the
glorious celebrations of Corpus Christi.
I was actually in Detroit for a wedding on Sunday and could not make
the noon Mass at Assumption Grotto or the procession but did attend
the 9:30 am Latin Novus Ordo–a pretty full church and most seemed
to have a great grasp of Latin. One day, God willing, I will too!
The 25,000 in KC really caught my attention! Deo Gratias!
Ave Maria!
Jon,
The procession after Mass in Harrisburg was great. What a public manifestation of our faith!
A lot of people were staring at us:^)
I think I know you, at least to see you. My daughter received First Holy Communion on Trinity Sunday. We usually sit on the Gospel side, my wife, myself and three children.
Phil
Here is one from Spokane, WA. You can see the Planned Parenthood sign in the upper left.
My friend Fr. Paul LaFontaine sent this from the procession at St. Charles Borromeo in
Minneapolis.
No procession in my parish.
But I agree that the days of the sneering critics are over. Eucharistic Adoration is alive and well in Hampton Roads. I know you’re not inclined toward Charismatic practice, but I have to say that XLT and the adorations at the Franciscan conferences have introduced hundreds of thousands of young people to the practice of adoration. We also add more traditional silent adorations to our catechetical program. This gets the youth into the regular nocturnal and monthly Eucharistic Adoration times in the parishes as well as the praise and worship adorations. Not either or, but both. Now if we could just convince father to hold more Eucharistic Processions, never very popular down here in the Protestant south.
Here are some from pictures from the Netherlands:
Amsterdam
Leiden
Duivendrecht
In the protestant part of the Netherlands (above the rivers) procession were since the reformation forbidden. It is only since 1989 that they are allowed again.
Here are more photos from the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis: Photos of the Corpus Christi Procession at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
From the EF Community in the Diocese of Cubao, Metro Manila, the Philippines
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2008/05/corpus-christi-in-philippines.html
Eucharistic Processions on Corpus Christi are common in the Philippines
Father, in one of the photos, at least from Providence, RI, a Bishop/Abbot was wearing his mitre as well as the priests wore birettas. Is this lawful in the eucharistic procession? In some other pictures you see exactly how the heads are uncovered.
This just in. He didn’t attach photos, so I can’t ost them with out creating a lot more work. However, this is a very worthy cause. We must support places where the Novus Ordo is celebrated in Latin: