The adventure continued yesterday with a visit to the now defunct Huntington Seminary of the Immaculate Conception. This was the once mighty seminary of the once mighty Diocese of Brooklyn. It had hundreds of seminarians. Then it had tens. Then it had none and was closed. Back in the 50’s, the Diocese of Rockville Centre (pretty much the entirety of Long Island) was sliced off from Brooklyn. The result was that Brooklyn was all urban and poorer by the year. The money was in Long Island. Rockville Centre got the seminary (and the landed gentry), Brooklyn’s dead bishops in crypt were translated, and eventually things petered out.
I took lots of photos (new phone… difference?) but here are a few just to provide a taste of what seminaries were, back in the day.
Look at this deeply deeply silly altar. The main altar was as wide as you can easily envisage. But, no. They had to follow the chimera, the non-existent lie-based propo after the Council, and put something barely wide enough to hold the corporal and bookstand in the nave. If there were any environment in which it is would be important to stress the concept of a sanctuary, it would be a seminary. So, that’s where they did the stupid stuff.
A small bright spot in the sacristy.
The other day I mentioned prayers to be said commanded by the local bishop. Here is an example at the bottom of the chart with vesting prayers framed on a cabinet over the vestment case.
Who would like to offer a precise and yet smooth translation of the Latin at the bottom?
This oratio imperata reveals the deep culture of prayer for benefactors. This is way, dear readers, I always mention that I pray for and say Mass for the intention of those who send donations, either monthly or ad hoc and who send wishlist items and also notes about their prayers for me. I, too, at the Mementos of the living and of the dead in the Roman Canon remember my benefactors. It is a duty and pleasure.
The bishop’s chapel in the level below the main chapel, below which there is the crypt. The chapel is decidedly eschatological and very well done. The mosaic of the reigning Christ is raised above the broken symbols of episcopal office, such as the crozier, and the human bones are a memento mori. Moreover, this is directly above the crypt the the bishop’s dead predecessors are entombed!
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The one wing from the back of the sprawling place.
We headed over the the house where President Theodore Roosevelt died. Alas, it was closed.
Nice people! Great service!
Supper: We stopped at a local butcher in what seemed like a shabby bodega in a not so appealing area. Great butcher! Friendly and helpful. Happy to talk about the cut, fat content, etc. High quality meats. Always chat with the butcher. My experience is that even in grocery stores they are often the most helpful, in fact eager to. It makes their day a lot more pleasant and they are, in general, happy to cut something special for you. These guys had various steaks cut, but we asked for something thicker. Here is a shot with a dry rub I often use. It’s about 1 3/4″.
In the pan with clarified butter.
Simple greens and tomato and garlic vinaigrette. A good, sturdy Zin.
Speaking of altars, this is fun. Note the image over this altar. It is a riff on a theme.
If you were building a home chapel, and could pick any image to put above your altar, what image would you choose? pic.twitter.com/xLYO0teoZw
— That Trad Gal (@thattradgal) May 2, 2024
In the Two Trinities Chapel, there is a hi res print of Murillo’s The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities (National Gallery, London).
In chessy news, it looks like another chess movie may be coming out, this time based on the huge cheating controversy from the Sinquefield Cup a couple years ago. Magnus Carlson abruptly left the tournament levelling an accusation of cheating against the rather unlikeable Hans Neimann.
Frankly, I am amazed that more chess related movies and shows haven’t been produced lately, given the huge and growing popularity of chess around the world.
Also, The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has invited private bids for the 2024 World Championship. Get this: Minimum total budget $8,500,000, minimum total prize fund $2,500,000, FIDE fee $1,100,000. I dunno. Chess is growing. One of these days large sponsors will get involved, as they have in other sports.
Black to move and mate in 4.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
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All those seats in the choir I imagine were all filled at one time with seminarians. Certainly before Vatican 2.
I think the colors in your photos are brighter (or maybe it is my imagination though I thought it before you asked). Nevertheless, reading about your adventures is a favorite part of my day.
I did not even notice the deeply, deeply silly altar in the wide view photo. In that photo, my eyes were drawn to the main altar in all its glory followed by the ceiling. I completely missed the dark, puny altar until you mentioned it.
By order of the bishop, each celebrant of the mass will remember the living and the deceased benefactors of the seminary.
Thank you for the seminary photos, Father.
My late father was a son of New York, Brooklyn, and Long Island; and the dioceses of Brooklyn & RVC. I’ve heard about and/or seen some of the other links in his educational chain – Cathedral High (at their old home), Cathedral High (their current location), Cathedral College (Douglaston, where he did his undergrad) – but he turned from the seminary path before getting out to Lloyd Harbor.
Thank you for the pictures of the seminary I attended in the 1960s.
We were read the documents of the Vatican Council in that very chapel as they were published in, of all places, the New York Times.
The late 60s was when the bottom fell out of what had been a traditional priestly education, especially in the area of moral theology.
In another life, when I was a seminarian, I was in charge of washing the Purificators in the special sink that drained into the grass outside.
Android or iOS on the new phone?
Sadly the only sacristy where I have ever seen framed vesting prayers was at the Anglo Catholic Episcopal church I attended in the 1990s (as part of my long transition from Atheism to reverting to Catholicism) and where I learned to serve at the altar. Although these vesting prayers were in Cranmerian English.
I have yet to see these in any Catholic sacristy that I have been in.
Thank you, Fr. Z, for your excellent Blog.
Your new Camera’s Phone is “wundebar”. Great definition and clarity of photos.
The photos of the Seminary are truly heartbreaking: Such are the benefits of Vatican II.
Your current Headline on today’s Post reads: “Brooklyn 24/4– Day 3”. I believe it should read: “Brooklyn 24/5– Day 3”.
Jet Lag ?
Welcome back to The States. Rome must be grieving over your absence.
And, as for the Ave Maria Bell . . .
In Domino
What a once beautiful seminary and such a sad little altar. Speaking of “stupid stuff”, I keep wanting to ask you, Father, if there was a point in seminaries everywhere that future priests were told, that in every instance in the Mass it was “sins” (plural), it was now to be “sin” (singular)? For instance, “…forgive us our sin…” etc. It gives the impression of only one universal sin for mankind, vs. individual sins. One of my pet peeves!
Thanks for this interesting revelation on the Brooklyn Seminary, Father. Another sad story of the destruction of the visible Church. Also the comments of those here who were at that seminary are interesting! [my eldest brother did not survive the Jesuit seminary in the 60s either – out of HUNDREDS
It was unclear to me how the property was being used today, along with the preservation of the interiors, so I found this on Wikipedia:
“In November 2011, it was announced that the seminary would stop training new priests as of September 2012. Instead, the Diocese of Rockville Centre merged their seminary program with the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Archdiocese of New York at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers. As of January 2024, the seminary continues to offer theological courses, including a master’s degree in theology to the general public, as “a satellite campus of St. Joseph Seminary”.
The library continued to operate after the end of the seminarian theology program, but closed its doors on December 16, 2020. It housed Catholic, Protestant, and theological texts and contains their own private archive of rare books.
The seminary building continues to host retreats for Catholic schools and colleges and other Catholic groups such as the Knights of Columbus.”
Wondering what happened to the books of the library, since “it housed” is past tense. It must have been a heckuva treasure trove for an order dedicated at one time to the education of clergy. My blood runs cold at the thought of that library being emptied and those books tossed out. I’m hoping the library simply closed but wasn’t emptied.
Do you know Father?
aack, user error. my comment posted with a slip of the finger before I finished editing…
Was adding ” [my eldest brother did not survive the Jesuit seminary in the 60s either – out of HUNDREDS of seminarians in his class, only ONE was ordained. yea, religious orders were decimated everywhere in the 60s].
I once had the privilege of serving in “The Largest Sacristy in the Diocese” which featured a framed prayer for altar servers. Also, I believe, vesting prayers for the priest, but I tried not to linger by his station.
Another cool secret of that place was the altar’s built-in switch panel. This was 1980s construction and such techno-wonders were disused by the 21st c. But I believe that the switches were intended to control dramatic lighting designed to augment a liturgy that’s moved beyond candles, but hopefully not Jesus.
Gimmicks notwithstanding, our parish won an award for an extensive and wholly reverent conversion to LED lighting.
Our priest used to take our catholic school’s confirmation students on a field trip to visit the seminary at Huntington. Our boy scout troop also had a campout or two on the grounds.