The origin of the tradition of Marian devotions in May is not certain, but it is known that as far back as the thirteenth century King Alphons X of Castile, Spain, wrote in his Canticles of Holy Mary of the many days in May dedicated to Our Lady.

During the Middle Ages devotion to the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin also grew, and later, in the Renaissance, devotion to Mary in May became a widespread practice in Italy. Devotion to Mary in this month increased in the nineteenth century in the English-speaking world, including here in America.

The May Crowning, an act of homage wherein we recognize the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, occurs in most countries on or around May 1.  Because Mother’s Day falls on the second Sunday of May in the United States, we typically celebrate the May Crowning on that day.  The girls of a parish process in with flowers in hand, to lay them up in a basket near a Marian statue, followed by a maiden, often in blue, who places a crown upon Our Lady’s head.

Enjoy images from May Crownings in the District, including Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, Saint Michael’s in Scranton, and Holy Family in Dayton.

Enjoying a beautiful sunny day of spring, Bishop Timlin began with a firm exhortation to those receiving the Sacrament of the need to always remain close to Christ and His Church as they grow into adulthood. He then cautioned the confirmandi against the dangers of this world: secularism and the tendency to irreligion, the attacks upon the Faith, and the temptations that come with life in the modern world, exhorting them to prayer and the Sacraments, and above all a firm love and trust in the Lord for guidance and grace.

Assisted by Fr. Jose Zepeda, FSSP, pastor of Saint Michael’s, and Fr. Joseph Poisson, FSSP, Assistant Pastor, the bishop then began the prayers and blessings of Confirmation. As each child and sponsor approached, he sealed them with Sacred Chrism, blessed them, and gave the slap of admonition. This is the gentle warning that each confirmandi is now strengthened in their Baptismal graces and expected to be able to suffer affronts at the hands of the world.

After the concluding prayers and final blessing, Bishop Timlin then joined the parish in the hall for refreshments and congratulations of the newly Confirmed. Enjoy pictures of this joyous day.

Holy Week at North American Martyrs in Seattle began with a Solemn Mass on Palm Sunday in which Fr. Robert Skeris, a well known professor of Theology and Sacred Music, served as Deacon.

Fr. Skeris was seminal in founding Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae, the International Association of Sacred Music, and has contributed much to the preservation of Sacred Tradition and music in the Church and at the University of Dallas, the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Christendom College and the Catholic University of America. The chaplain of our apostolate, Fr. Gerard Saguto, FSSP, who is also dedicated to the study of Sacred Music, is a former student of his.

The Mass of Palm Sunday celebrant was Fr. Simon Harkins, FSSP, Assistant Administrator of North American Martyrs. Fr. Skeris was Deacon. Enjoy pictures from the Mass and procession.

The clergy and laity of Immaculate Conception, our parish in Omaha, Nebraska, recently rendered an act of special adoration to Our Lord with the Forty Hours Devotion. Fr. John Brancich, FSSP, pastor, Fr. Terrence Gordon, FSSP, assistant pastor, and Rev. Mr. Paul Leung, FSSP, one of our newly ordained deacons, led the Forty Hours Masses and adoration.

This traditional act of devotion and piety can be offered in a single parish or series of parishes where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed and adored for a consecutive forty hours.  When offered as a series, as the Forty Hours ends in one church, a Forty Hours commences in another church. This devotion developed in Milan in 1537, and spread quickly in Italy. In an interesting fact of history for the Fraternity, by the year 1550 St. Philip Neri had begun to offer the Forty Hours devotion for the Confraternity of Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, our parish in Rome. Three Masses are typically offered during the Forty Hours: a solemn Mass of Exposition begins the devotion, a solemn Mass for Peace is offered during the second day, and the devotion concludes with a Mass of Deposition.

A good explanation of the purpose of the Forty Hours is offered by Pope Paul III in granting his approval of the devotion, and its first indulgence:

“Since … Our beloved son the Vicar General of the Archbishop of Milan at the prayer of the inhabitants of the said city, in order to appease the anger of God provoked by the offenses of Christians, and in order to bring to naught the efforts and machinations of the Turks who are pressing forward to the destruction of Christendom, amongst other pious practices, has established a round of prayers and supplications to be offered both by day and night by all the faithful of Christ, before our Lord’s Most Sacred Body, in all the churches of the said city, in such a manner that these prayers and supplications are made by the faithful themselves relieving each other in relays for forty hours continuously in each church in succession, according to the order determined by the Vicar … We, approving in our Lord so pious an institution, and confirming the same by Our authority, grant and remit…”

Enjoy a gallery of pictures from the Forty Hours in Omaha.

The Mass of Easter Day is full of the images of Resurrection, Baptism and new life in Christ. The color of vestments and ornamentation is white, signifying the purity and joy, the joyful threefold alleluia, alleluia, alleluia returns, the Vidi Aquam, referring to the waters of Baptism, is chanted instead of the Asperges before Mass, and the Pascal Candle burns signifying Our Lord’s earthly presence, until His Ascension on Thursday 40 days from now.

The Fraternity’s Director of Development, Fr. Gregory Pendergraft, FSSP, joined with the clergy and faithful at Holy Family, our apostolate parish in Vancouver, in the celebration of Easter Sunday. Fr. Daniel Geddes, FSSP, celebrated the Mass, with Fr. Pendergraft as Deacon and Fr. Eric Deprey, FSSP, pastor of Holy Family, as Subdeacon.

Holy Saturday is the day of mourning and waiting. No Mass is offered, and the altar is laid bare as we mediate on the Passion and Death of the Lord and await His Resurrection.

Moving into the darkness of night, the Church moves towards the Resurrection, and the altar is prepared once again for Sacrifice.

The Easter Vigil begins with the sacred ministers gathered outside the church to bless the new fire. The new fire both signifies the Light of Christ, and serves to light the Pascal Candle and the candles of the altar and the laity within the church. Once lit and prepared, coals are taken from the fire and placed in the thurible, so that incense can be blessed and burnt, and the fire sanctified.

The Pascal Candle is then blessed and lit by the celebrant, being inscribed with a cross, the alpha and omega, and the year, lastly having five large grains of incense fixed to it to signify the five wounds of Christ upon the Cross. All candles within the church are extinguished as the sacred ministers and acolytes process into the Church. The Deacon processing in pronounces Lumen Christi (“The Light of Christ”) and then the candles of the faithful and altar are lit from the fire of the Pascal Candle.

The Exsultet, a hymn of praise to the Risen Christ, is then sung by the Deacon, followed by the final blessing of the Pascal Candle by the priest. The great lessons from the prophecies of the Old Testament are then offered, showing the great act of salvation history.

The great Litany is then offered in two parts. The first part is offered, the blessing of the Baptismal font is made, Baptismal promises are renewed, and then follows the conclusion of the Litany.

At or about midnight, the rites of the Easter Vigil concluded, the first Mass of Easter commences. What follows are images of Holy Saturday and midnight Mass in our apostolate in Sacramento, St. Stephen the First Martyr parish.

Fr. James Buckley, FSSP, spiritual director of Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary and perennial retreat master, will be giving a series of three day retreats, and a five day retreat, based on the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola during the summer of 2013.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary

3-Day Men’s Retreat: June 20-23, 2013 (Thu-Sun)

Cost is $195.00

Includes private room and meals. Begins with dinner at 6:00 pm on Thursday; ends with brunch at 11:00 am on Sunday. Call Mr. Kilcoyne at (402) 797-7700, or  e-mail business@fsspolgs.org.

Regretfully, the seminary is not able to offer a retreat for women this year.

White Post, Virginia

3-Day Men’s Retreat: June 27-30, 2013 (Thu-Sun)

San Damiano Spiritual Life Center

Cost is $310.00

Includes meals, room and board. For information please contact Aimee Nichols at (202) 255-3552, or e-mail Retreat4Men@gmail.com (e-mail is preferred).

Upper Marlboro, Maryland

5-Day Women’s Retreat: July 14-19, 2013 (Sun-Fri)

Our Lady of Mattaponi Retreat & Conference Center

Cost is $375.00

Includes meals, room and board. For information please contact Aimee Nichols at (202) 255-3552, or e-mail Retreat4Ladies@gmail.com (e-mail is preferred).

St. Benedict Abbey, Still River, Massachusetts

3-Day Women’s Retreat: July 26-28, 2013 (Fri-Sun)
3-Day Men’s Retreat: August 9-11, 2013 (Fri-Sun)

Cost is $285.00

Includes all materials, meals, private room and board. Arrival time is the Thursday evening before the retreat begins. For information, contact Mr. James Buxton, preferably by e-mail: janthonybuxton@yahoo.com, or call (978) 957-3118 and leave a message. (you will hear the phone message “You have reached Pa and Babchi.”)

The commemoration of the Passion of Our Lord begins as Holy Thursday ended, in silence.

The sacred ministers enter in alb and black stole, lying prostrate before the altar, before the celebrant arises and all kneel for the opening prayer. The two lessons from the Old Testament that are read explain the mercy of God poured out for our redemption and the instructions for the sacrifice of the Pascal Lamb for the Passover.  In this second lessen we see the fulfillment of the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God, so that by the Precious Blood of Jesus, the lintel and posts of our soul are covered.

The Passion of Saint John is then read or chanted, followed by the sacred ministers vesting in black as the  great intercessions are chanted from the altar:  for the Church, the Pope, the people of God, public officials, catechumens, the needs of the faithful, unity in the Church, conversion of the Jews, and conversion of unbelievers.

Adoration of the Cross follows, with the sacred ministers divesting of their chasuble or cope. The celebrant unveils the cross for adoration, calling the people to “come, let us adore” the Cross of Christ. During Adoration of the Cross the schola offers the Reproaches — a litany of intercessions and blessings given to us by God throughout the history of salvation. The hymn Crux Fidelis … Dulce Lignum (“Faithful Cross … Sweetest Wood”) is then offered.

As part of the restoration of Holy Week in 1956, reception of Communion is restored to the Mass. For this part of the service, the sacred ministers vest in violet vestments as the Deacon retrieves the ciborium from the Alter of Repose, processing back to the high altar. Communion prayers are offered and Holy Communion administered.

The service completes with a genuflection of the sacred ministers, and recession to the sacristy in silence. What follows is a gallery of images from our Dallas apostolate, Mater Dei.

Holy Thursday commemorates several of the most important acts in our Catholic Faith.

• The Institution of the source and summit of our Faith, the Most Holy Eucharist
• Ordination of the Apostles by Our Lord
• Our Lord’s Mandatum to the Apostles with the washing of the feet
• The Chrism Mass, where the bishop consecrates the three oils for the next year, that of Confirmation and Consecration of Bishops, of Baptism and Ordination of Priests, and that of Extreme Unction

There can only be one Mass for the day, and the Mass of Holy Thursday begins in full regalia, with the altars and priests dressed in white. The long Lenten omission of the Gloria is forgotten as it is sung in Mass, and the Gospel of the day is Saint John’s account of the washing of the feet.

After the Gospel, the celebrant washes the feet of twelve men in the parish.  In Rome the Holy Father traditionally washes the feet of twelve priests.  The rest of Mass continues as usual, whereafter the Hosts necessary to administer Communion on Good Friday, called the Repository, are processed in silence to an altar of repose, where the faithful may adore Our Lord, as He admonished, “And He cometh to His disciples, and findeth them asleep, and He saith to Peter: What? Could you not watch one hour with me? Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak.” (Matthew 26: 40-41)

Services after the Mass are then completed with signs of mourning: altars are stripped of their garments, stripped of any ornamentation, the tabernacle door is left open, and the lights of the sanctuary are extinguished. This act both mourns Our Lord’s coming Passion, and signifies that no Sacrifice will be offered until Holy Saturday has ended with the commencement of Mass at midnight.

What follows are a gallery of images from the Holy Thursday Mass at Saint Michael the Archangel, our apostolate parish in Scranton, PA.

Entering the holiest of week of Passiontide, we look at images from Palm Sunday at Holy Family, our apostolate parish in Dayton, Ohio.

Commemorating Our Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, palms are blessed before Mass begins and the Gospel account of Our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem from Saint Matthew is read. As the palms are distributed, a pair of antiphons are sung in the midst of chanting Psalms 23 and 46.  Afterwards, the faithful process in commemoration, palms in hand, to give glory to the Lord of Hosts. As they do, a series of hymns, psalms and seven antiphons are chanted, including the hymn Gloria, Laus et Honor, composed by Theodulph of Orléans in 810.

Mass of Palm Sunday then continues as other Sundays, with the Passion of Saint Matthews as the Gospel of the day, sung or chanted by three clerics. Msgr. John Fritz was celebrant for the Mass, assisted by Rev. Mr. Michael Flick, FSSP, as Deacon and Fr. Mark Wojdelski, FSSP, as SubDeacon.