Dominican Rite Candlemas Photopost

On February 2, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, commonly called Candlemas, a Dominican Rite Solemn Mass, the blessing and procession of candles, was celebrated at St. Albert the Great Priory in Oakland CA, the house of studies of the Western Dominican Province. Our new prior provincial, the Most Reverend Christopher Fadok, O.P., assisted and received the friars' candle-offering. Some of the sixty or so faithful who attended came from as far away as Fresno and Fullerton!

The celebrant was Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P., professor of history at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley CA; deacon was Fr. Christopher Wetzel, O.P., parochial vicar of St. Dominic's Church SF; subdeacon was Bro. Joseph Selinger, O.P.; first acolyte, Bro. Nathaniel Maria Mayne, O.P.; second acolyte, Bro. Matthew Heynen, O.P.; thurifer and holy water carrier, Bro. John Peter Anderson; crucifer and pax-bearer, Bro. Paul Maria Müllner, O.P.  The music from the Dominican Gradual was lead by the cantors, Bro. Patrick Rooney, O.P. and Bro. Elias Guadalupe Ford, O.P.

Highlights of the Mass follow.

Blessing of the Candles

The Provincial Receives his Candle

The Laity Receive their Candles

The Procession Enters the Cloister Garden Led by the Holy Water Carrier

Statue of Our Holy Father Dominic in the Cloister Garden

Some of the Laity Following the Procession

The Station Altar for the Procession

The Mappula is Placed on the Minsters' Laps as they Sit for the Kyrie

Intoning the Gloria

Subdeacon Arrives at the Altar during the Procession with the Chalice during the Gloria

The Singing of the Collect

Subdeacon Sings the Reading from Sirach

Preparation of the Chalice during the Responsorium (Gradual)

Deacon Sings the Gospel (Seen from North Passage Way)

Singing of the Creed

Et incarnatus est.

The Prior Provincial Receives the Friars' Candle Offering after the Offertory

Incensing of the Altar after the Offertory and Candle Offering

Bowing for the Gratias agamus

Incensing of the Minsters during the Preface

The Elevation of the Host

The Elevation of the Chalice

The Ministers Kiss the Pax Instrument

The First Cantor Kisses the Pax

Ecce Agnus Dei

Communion of the Friars

Communion of the Congregation

Ablutions

Deacon and Subdeacon Put the Corporal and Chalice in Order

Swinging for the Postcommunion Prayer

The Blessing

Swinging for the Last Gospel

Et verbum caro factum est

Recessional Procession

I thank Bro. Joshua Gatus, O.P., for these lovely photographs.

Dominican Rite Missa Cantata of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Holy Rosary Church, Portland OR

Holy Rosary Church has long celebrated the ancient Dominican Rite on a regular basis. Currently a Low Mass is offered every First Saturday of the month at 8:00 in the morning. Sung Masses are scheduled approximately once a month according to various feast days. Music for these Masses are offered by Portland’s own Cantores in Ecclesia. The most recent Missa Cantata was celebrated on the occasion of the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As customary on Candlemas, candles were disturbed to the faithful, a procession followed, and finally the Holy Sacrifice was offered. Last week Fr. Augustine Thompson posted the rubrics for the ceremonies of the Feast as observed by the Conventual Mass of a Dominican Priory. As is common in the Dominican Ceremoniale, rubrics for the laity are few. On such occasions, the rubrics of the Roman Rite can sometimes offer guidance.

Following are photos of the Missa Cantata celebrated by Fr. Vincent M. Kelber, O.P. The observance begins with the single prayer of blessing (as is found in the Dominican Missal), after which the candles are blessed with water and incense. The main celebrant is vested in cope for the procession that follows.



The faithful receive the blessed candles kneeling at the altar rail. Customarily they kiss the hands of the priest out of reverence for Christ in his minister. Here Francis-Hung Q. Le, O.P., pastor of Holy Rosary Church, helps distribute the candles.

The acolytes assist the people in lighting their candles.

A procession is made throughout the church by the minister and the servers. An acolyte serves the role of the friar in surplice who sprinkles Holy Water at the head of the procession. Following him are the acolytes with processional candles, the crucifer, friars and the celebrant. As is usual, the corpus of the processional cross faces not forward, but toward the friars and priests that “they may gaze upon the cross.” With its particular veneration of Christ Crucified and of the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, the Dominican Rite is at once manifestly Christocentric and soberly devotional.

Following the procession the priest returns to the sacristy to don the chasuble. Changing of vestments is not done at the chair as in the Roman Rite. Here the celebrant and servers recite the prayers at the foot of the altar asking God for mercy.

Candles are lit twice again during the Mass: during the singing of the Gospel, and from the lighting of the Sanctus candles until before Holy Communion. As to not inhibit the Gospel "procession" the candles were relit while the choir chanted.

Fr. Vincent contemplates the final words of the sequence.


The Elevation of the Sacred Body of Christ. Note the lit Sanctus candles upon the altar.



The moderate extension of the arms at the Unde et Memores.

As is permitted according to the custom of a place, the servers at Holy Rosary always pray a second Confiteor preceding the reception of the Holy Eucharist. Here Fr. Vincent is blessing the servers and communicants during the Absolutionem.

After the Mass Fr. Vincent returns from the sacristy to bless all the candles the faithful have brought from home for their own devotional use.


The next scheduled Missa Cantata at Holy Rosary Parish in Portland is Ash Wednesday on February 22, 2012.

Candlemas in the Dominican Rite

As Thursday is Candlemas, called in the traditional Dominican Rite the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I though that it might be a suitable time to post something about the rituals attached to this feast in the Dominican Rite. These rites are the same in both the 1933 and 1965 Dominican Rite Missals and seem to go back virtually unchanged to the thirteenth century.

After Terce on the feast, the prior, in cope, accompanied by the deacon and subdeacon in dalmatics, who carry the missal and the processional, enter the choir preceded by the acolytes in albs carrying lighted processional candles. If the feast falls on Sunday, the priest performs the Asperges, if not he proceeds directly to the blessing. Standing before the step to the sanctuary, where the sacristan has placed the candles to be blessed slightly to the prior's right as he faces the altar, he sings the blessing in a moderate voice, using the tone for collects at the Hours:

The Blessing

The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, who on this day presented your Only-Begotten Son to be received into the arms of the Blessed Simeon in your holy Temple; we humbly entreat your clemency that you would be pleased to + bless, to + sanctify and enkindle with the light of your heavenly blessing these candles, which your servants wish to receive and carry lighted to the honor of your name; that by offering them to you, our Lord and God, we being worthy and inflamed with the holy fire of your sweet charity, might deserve to be presented ourselves in the holy temple of your Glory. Through the same Christ Our Lord. R/. Amen.

The Distribution and Nunc Dimittis

The prior then sprinkles the candles with holy water from the stoop held by the acolyte. The cantor then comes forward and offers a lighted candle to the prior and intones the Antiphon Lumen ad Revelation Gentium. It is sung by the community and followed by the chanting of the Nunc Dimittis, during which the antiphon is sung again after each verse of the canticle. This chant is repeated as many times as necessary for lighted candles to be distributed to the whole community.

The Procession

When all have their candles, the community then moves in procession fashion into the main cloister. The procession has this order, 1. a friar in surplice with the holy water, who sprinkles as he goes, 2. the acolytes with processional candles, 3. the crucifer, 4. the friars, two by two, in order of religion, youngest first, 5. the prior, flanked by the deacon and subdeacon (who carries the book). The procession moves counter clockwise around the cloister, stopping for the four stations, at each of which the acolytes and crucifer turn to the friars so that they can gaze on the cross for a moment. The cantor then intones the antiphon that accompanies the move to the next station. These antiphons are:

At Station 1: Ave Gratia, which celebrates Mary's role the birth of Christ who is light of the world.

At Station 2: Adorna, which calls on all to prepare their hearts, as Simeon did, to be a bridal chamber for Christ, the world's savior.

At Station 3: Responsum, which recalls how Simeon had been promised that he would not see death until he took the Light of the Gentiles in his arms.

At Station 4: Hodie, which recalls how Joseph and Mary brought the Christ Child into the temple. It is fittingly sung as the friars, carrying their candles, reenter the chapel and take their places in their stalls.

The ministers, meanwhile, return to the sacristy and the prior puts on the chasuble for Mass. When the ministers are ready, the friars begin the Officium of the Mass, Suscepimus. Friars hold their lighted candles in their hands until the Offertory. I might add that in the Dominican Rite the famous sequence Laetabundus is sung at this Mass.

The Candle Offering

When he has finished the Offertory Prayers, the prior receives his lighted candle and comes with the deacon and subdeacon, holding their candles, to before the altar. The sacristan comes up with a basket to receive the ministers' candles, which he snuffs and places in it. The friars of the community then come forward in procession, in order of seniority, enter the sanctuary, and offer their lighted candles, handing them to the sacristan and kissing the prior's hand. When all have offered their candles, the prior returns to the altar, receives the censer, and does the incensing and the lavabo. The Preface of Mass is that of the Nativity.

The Proprium Missarum Ordinis Praedicatorum of 1983 provides that these ceremonies may be incorporated into the Mass of the Presentation in the new Roman liturgy. And this includes the Laetabundus, even if the candle rituals are not done.