The other day I wrote (HERE) about the great event of the translation of the relics of two saints to a new and grander location at the Cathedral of the Diocese of Louisville. In that post, I talked about the term “translation”.
That Cathedral in Louisville is privileged to have the full skeletal remains of two early martyrs Sts Bonosa and Magnus.
The rector dropped me a line with a link to photos of the event. HERE
Here is an evocative shot. I note with great satisfaction the ad orientem worship of God for the occasion and the missal being used.
It is a good idea to review the lives of martyrs, the times in which they lived, and the circumstances of their deaths.
Reflect on their witness and then think about the times in which we live.
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I wish this was at our Cathedral! This was at St. Martin of Tours, one of our parishes that regularly celebrates the E.F. The skeletal relics were removed in order to repair their glass reliquaries (using museum quality glass) beneath the side altars, add marble flooring, upgrade the lighting, and inspect/analyze the bones. They were processed up, displayed during the Sunday E.F. Mass (with commemorations from the Common of Several Martyrs outside Paschaltide), then reposed after the Mass. It was a great honor and pleasure to assist as the Subdeacon at that Mass.
I failed to say: Thank You Fr. Z for highlighting this event. We hope to give due honor to the parish and its many gifts and expand awareness of all that it has to offer.
Laudetur Jesus Christus!
How magnificent, and this in a Cathedral, thus an official liturgy of the Church, not to be dismissed by the scoffers as some peripheral eccentricity.
Brick by Brick, and the Mortar holding the Brick together is the Blood of the Martyrs. And the Walls are rising faster than we think.
matt1618: In the NLM pictures it appears that the Novus Ordo altar in front of the beautiful old high altar–at which was celebrated the last otherwise impressive solemn OF Mass I attended in this wonderful parish–is no longer present there. Is this a permanent change?
No, it’s… um… been mobilized. It is now able to be pushed off to the side to open up a clear view of the high altar during the E.F.
Does anyone know what color those vestments are? They look light orange or peach. Unusual.
They are actually a golden yellow. These pics look photoshopped in some way to accentuate the colors, which makes them appear a little off. This pic will give you a better idea of what they look like: http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/09/11/2882.jpg
Yes, they’re gold with a cream lining and a dark red orphery made of the same material as the saints’ new robes.
The priest who will be celebrating my nuptial Mass according to the 1962 Missal was the subdeacon for that Mass. :)
phatcatholic, matt1618,: thanks. the link you provided really helped!
The celebrant is Fr. Paul Beach, pastor of St. Martin of Tours, who we were priviledged to have regularly celebrate mass at our TLM community in Silver Spring, MD while he was studying in Washington.
Grotesque.
[You might want to review the inventory of your Catholic identity, and then revise and extend.]
JLCG: I hope this comment is helpful. When a person is holy, as is a saint, not only is the soul holy, but the body as well. We are both body and soul and come to God with both the body and the soul. This is why we honour relics. Catholics have risked their lives through-out history to garner relics. Relics strengthen us by giving us a connection to the saint whose soul is in heaven.
Something is grotesque only if it is separated from beauty or reality, as is something which is ugly or absurd. That word cannot apply to the body of a person who reigns with God in heaven.
One of the most moving sights for me in my lifetime was to see the skull of St. Thomas Becket in Rome. To see where the blade hit him brought me into a reality of my faith like very few images. Plus, I could sense the holiness of the relic. Do not turn away from such treasures of the Church. They are here for our benefit. By the way , the skull belongs to the Anglicans at this point, which is very ironic.
The vestments were hand-made by a parishioner by the way. It’s a full set, and very beautiful in person (I’m sure Father can attest to this as he wore them; I only got to admire them!).
@Henry Edwards, it not only provides a clear view for the EF, it also opened up space for the relics during Mass, so they could easily be transported left and right to the side altars after Mass.
@matt1618, I wish St Martin’s was the Cathedral. Since it never will be, perhaps applying to become a basilica is in order (Besides, a basilica gets cool liturgical privileges…).
I now know where I will have my Requiem Mass if I am still in the Louisville Metro area when I die!
A bit of liturgical minutiae: I see that my parish is not the only one where the MC assists the Deacon at the praedella during the Consecration. Some places do; others don’t. Somewhere in the world, at least two rubricians are arguing about it right now.
@supertradmum I didn’t know that any relics of St. Thomas Becket survived, I was under the impression that the Puritans had done such a thorough job that nothing was left of his crypt or its contents. Good to know that.
I look forward to the day after the inevitable collapse of the C of E that Canterbury is restored to the Catholic Church and his relics returned there. Not likely in my lifetime unfortunately.
@manwiththeblackhat: As O’Connell says, “At the words Hanc igiture he [the Master of Ceremonies], or an acolyte, puts incense into the thurible. Then he kneels with the thurifer at that side, or he may kneel at the gospel side, or on the footpace at the left of the deacon (holding the chasuble with him).”
Jon Patrick, in the Catholic Church in down-town Canterbury, a finger of St. Thomas a Becket is in the side chapel. Thank goodness it came to Rome and the story is interesting. You should go see it, as I did this summer. The church is called St. Thomas of Canterbury.
As an hagiographer, a New Yorker, and a Roman Catholic, I am speechless. And THAT is saying something! Wow! Wow! Wow!