Thursday, April 3, 2008

Hail Glorious St Patrick

Rather bizarrely - but it is the Pro., after all - we obeyed the rubrics and the Ordo, and had St Patrick today (in Australia his day is a 1st class feast, and it was presumed that the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference had not legislated in respect of the TLM when arranging for the feast to be anticipated on Friday before Palm Sunday).

Poor lucky me! I had to sing the Mass alone (though the very small congregation present did join in Mass VIII, de Angelis, and Credo III), and so psalm-toned the propers. At Offertory I sang the Office hymn Iste confessor from the common, plus the Regina cæli, and at Communion the first half of Ad regias Agni dapes, which was all I could fit in before the postcommunion. We sang "Hail glorious St Patrick", that sentimental ballad, as a processional,



and ended with "Christ be with me" as recessional, after Fr's Ite missa est from Mass II.

Poor Fr Rowe! While I was praying Vespers and Office of Readings in thanksgiving after the Sacrifice, I saw him catching up on his Office in the sanctuary... With the Sacred Triduum, the Easter Octave, and then the Annunciation, St Joseph, and St Patrick, he's had to say Psalm 118 every day at the little hours for a fortnight straight, ever since the 20th of March up until and including today; and the last three days have been Offices of three nocturns, too. It makes one wonder how anyone got through the Office prior to 1912. (Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it was very holy and good, but long!)

Troy - one of the regular servers (all of whom tonight were adult men, BTW) - had us over to his home for Guinness, pizza et al. afterward: Fr, Aaron, Michael, etc., getting together with Troy and Narie and their young family, which was great. Talk was of the madness of sedevacantists, and of building a grand church, to be dedicated to St James the Moorslayer...

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