Christmas 2008 - Midnight Mass in Extraordinary Form at Grotto: Photopost 3

After the altar is incensed, the priest, and other members in the sanctuary are incensed, followed by the faithful. In the photo above, the humeral veil is now draped over the shoulders of the subdeacon who uses it to hold the paten from the close of Offertory until after the Pater Noster.


The priest prays the words of Consecration....

The Elevation of the Host permits all to briefly adore Our Lord in the Eucharist.


The priest consumes the Body of Christ with Deacon and Subdeacon off to either corner, bowed in reverence.

More Pictures:

• Christmas 2008 - Midnight Mass in Extraordinary Form at Grotto: Photopost 1
• Christmas 2008 - Midnight Mass in Extraordinary Form at Grotto: Photopost 2
• Photopost of the Extraordinary Form on 4th Sunday in Advent
• A Snow-Capped Assumption Grotto in December
• Gaudete Sunday 2008 at Assumption Grotto - TLM

To view even more pics of this event, visit my smugmug gallery for Midnight Mass 2008 and view it in slideshow mode.

• Christmas 2008 Midnight Mass Slideshow (interesting effects between some pics where tripod was fixed, but priests were in motion - i.e., bowing to standing, etc.)
  
• Christmas 2008 Midnight Mass Lightbox (view pics individually at your own pace)
  

Te Deum Laudamus! Home

The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Christmas 2008 - Midnight Mass in Extraordinary Form at Grotto: Photopost 2

I'm continuing to edit the photos in batches so that I can free up time to do some other things while I have some time off. Once again, as a note, I am having some difficulty with picture quality and I'm not sure if there is something wrong with the camera or not. I took some test pictures last night and have not yet looked at them.

This post covers the reading of the Epistle (first pic, through the homily).



Below, the Deacon (Fr. Paul Ward), kneeling holds up the Gospel before the Priest (Fr. Wolfgang Seitz, ORC).


He provides a ceremonial kiss to the celebrant's hand in what are called, the solita oscula. When the deacon hands something to the priest, he kisses the thing then the hand of the priest. When he receives something, he kisses the priest's hand, then the thing. It is, as I said, ceremonial. In some old texts, I've seen it referred to as a "liturgical kiss". But, we always keep in mind that the hand of the priest will soon confect the Body and Blood of Christ. Hence, it is not the hand of a mere man that the deacon kisses, but a man who, during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is in persona Christi.

The Word of God is now incensed by the Deacon as the Subdeacon (Fr. John Bustamante) holds it.

The Priest turns towards the Word of God to hear it, the maniple on his left arm now clearly visible.


The Subdeacon brings the Book back to the priest, who kisses it in an act of love and reverence.

Altar boys, deacons, and priests in choir, listen to the homily......

Priest, Deacon and Subdeacon listen to the homily. But, wait...who delivered the homily?



We see our pastor, Fr. Perrone getting ready to conduct the orchestra and choir ahead of one of the numbers.



Fr. Perrone then emerged from the left side of the sanctuary and delivered a wonderful homily which I will try to get.



He then made his way to the back of the Church to begin the Credo...

I know for a fact, he did not bilocate. I was in the balcony and can verify he was not with the orchestra while he was giving us the homily.

More pictures to come when I edit them.

Update: See photopost 3 for a set of links to all photos taken.


Te Deum Laudamus! Home

The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Christmas 2008 - Midnight Mass in Extraordinary Form at Grotto: Photopost 1

A photo taken at Midnight Mass as the Gloria was well underway in the orchestra Mass. Alexandre Guilmant's 3rd Solemn Mass was conducted by Grotto's pastor, Rev. Eduard Perrone. During longer versions of the Gloria or Credo, the priests will sit - a signal the faithful follow, as well. As you will see below, in the Extraordinary Form, or Traditional Latin Mass, those wearing biretta's will tip them at the name of Jesus.

If you want to catch an orchestra or symphony Mass, there are still two opportunities: The 9:30am Mass on December 28th (Extraordinary Form), and the Noon Mass on Epiphany (Ordinary Form). These Masses will run between 1.5 and 2 hours, so plan accordingly. However, the time flies by very fast. Also, you will want to get there about 30-45 minutes ahead of the Mass (the sooner the better with regards to parking and seating).

This Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form was celebrated by Rev. Wolfgang Seitz, ORC. Rev. Paul Ward and Rev. John Bustamante, both Grotto associates, were Deacon and Subdeacon respectively.

You may wonder why there are no pictures of the orchestra. This has much to do with contractual issues so you won't see many, if at all.

Clicking on any pic will enlarge it, but I have recently discovered some kind of camera problem that is causing a haze or lack of clarity upon enlarging. More on this later.

A closeup of the above pic reveals a beautiful, detailed reflection, only hindered somewhat by the camera problem I am currently having.

Grotto altar boys will be dressed in the celebratory white cassocks with red shoulder capes throughout the Christmas season.

The Infant Jesus is draped, awaiting the blessing of the Creche which takes place before the Mass begins.

After the blessing took place, all left the Sanctuary and re-emerged moments later in the aisle, ready to process in for the beginning of Mass.

Several of these photos below may look alike. However, if you look carefully, you will notice that the formation of the three priests is different, as well as their position relative to the altar. Each of these things happen at specific points in the liturgy. I hope to come back to it in a future post which is why I am collecting photographs of these things. For example, the first two pics take place during the Confiteor - the first one of the celebrant, and the second part normally done by altar servers. There are times they bow straight forward, and other times they bow toward's each other. Understanding when these things happen during the respective prayers can signal a casual observer to know exactly where we are in the Mass. This is true throughout the Traditional Latin Mass when things like elbow movements can give you a clue as to which prayers are being recited silently.

These last two shots were taken during the Gloria, in wihch the celebrant chose to sit after he recited it from start to finish at the altar and awaited the orchestra to finish. It is a good time to sit in quiet meditation. At the name of Jesus, not only do the priests and deacons remove their birettas, but all should bow their heads in reverence for the name of Our Lord. This is exemplified by the altar boys who can often teach us subtle cues with regards to reverence.

More photos to come, but I need more time to process them.

Te Deum Laudamus! Home

The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!