Pilgrimage to Kilmuckridge, Co. Wexford

About 10 miles south of Riverchapel, Co. Wexford, where we had organised Mass in the Gregorian Rite in March, is Kilmuckridge.  St. Mary's is a hidden seaside gem built in 1796.  These stones, therefore, witnessed the rising of 1798 led by Fr. John Murphy, from nearby Boolavogue and the first victory of the 'men of Wexford' at Oulart Hill about 4 miles to the west.  On the Ember Saturday after Pentecost, 30th May, 2015, members and friends of our Association made their pilgrimage to Kilmuckridge.

Latin Mass - Carlow Cathedral - Thanksgiving for the appointment of Bishop Nulty

On The Day of Pentecost

This advent of the Spirit on the apostles was prefigured in the fire that came from heaven on the offerings of righteous Abel, as is testified in Genesis, (the book) of the Law, where it says,'respexit Deus ad Abel et ad munera eius,' when fire of God came from heaven on the offerings of Abel, for they were pleasing to God ; so, too, in the fire that came of yore on the Bush, in prefiguration of the descent of the Spirit on the apostles on this day of Pentecost; again, in the fiery column of old, that led the children of Israel out of the Egyptian captivity to go up into the land of promise, in prefiguration of the Holy Spirit, who summoned the apostolic people from the straits of Jewish persecution in which they were held, to go and preach to everyone in every direction; and He invites the people of the New Testament from the darkness of sins and transgressions to the light of virtuous and goodly deeds; so, too, in the sevenfold candelabrum, that illumined the tabernacle of Moses, in prefiguration and foretoken of the sevenfold Spirit, that illumined the Church of the Seven Orders in this seven-day festival of Pentecost; and in this same manner in many other places the advent of the Holy Spirit was prefigured. It was foretold by the prophets: by David, the son of Jesse, when he said, 'fluminis impetus laetificat ciuitatem Dei' [Ps. xl. 5], concerning that honour of the spiritual grace in which the Church rejoices; by the prophet Joel, son of Phathuel [Salahel], when he said, 'erit in nouissimis diebus, dicit Dominus, effundam de Spiritu meo super omnem carnem' [Acts ii. 17], 'the time will come, saith the Lord, when I will pour out the grace of the Holy Spirit on every holy man of faith in the Church' ; by the Author of every prophecy and of all true knowledge, Jesus Christ Himself, after His resurrection, when He said to His apostles, 'accipietis uirtutem superuenientis Spiritus sancti' [Acts i. 8], ' the grace of the Holy Spirit shall come upon you.'

Haec est historia huius lectionis.

'XII. On the Day of Pentecost', The Passions and the Homilies from Leabhar Breac - Text, Translation and Glossary by Robert Atkinson (Dublin, 1887), 439-40.

The Hymn and Sequence of Pentecost

Devotion to the Holy Ghost, it is sometimes claimed, was in ecclipse before the Second Vatican Council. With the multiplication of sins against the Holy Ghost and the loss of understanding of what they are, we might wonder if the Holy Ghost would agree. At any rate, what is unchallengable is that the music of Pentecost in the Gregorian Rite is among the most powerful of invocations and tributes that man has to offer to God. The Hymn of Pentecost Veni Creator Spiritus and the Sequence of Pentecost Veni Sancte Spiritus are among the most memorable pieces of the Church's repertoire. The first clip presents the familiar Gregorian Chants.

In the second clip, we hear Maurice Duruflé's variations on the theme of the Veni Creator. The French School of Organists, perhaps the supreme expression of Organ music, and of which Duruflé (1902-1986) and Dupré (1886-1971) were possibly the last giants, is famed for its variations. Even in it's basic forms, such as the Noël, variations upon Christmas Carols, the French School prides itself upon the skill of variations upon a theme. To obtain a post as 'titulaire' or official organist of one of the many great Cathedrals of France, it would be necessary to improvise, or create a spontaneous variation, upon a theme before the examiners.

Duruflé himself, friend of the great Louis Vierne (1870-1937), transcribed three improvisations by Vierne, who, as 'titulaire' of Notre Dame de Paris, was the acknowledged master of improvisation. In the third clip, we hear Dupré improvising upon the theme of Veni Creator at the organ of St. Suplice, where he was 'titulaire' for 37 years. Dupré's compositions, which include several Noëls and other variations, were declared by the great organist Widor to be unplayable, such was their complexity and technical difficulty. In a similar vein, when Vierne first heard the improvisations of Dupré, he declared that they sounded composed.

The great traditions of Ecclesiastical Organ Music have been lost almost entirely to the Church. Like Gregorian Chant, we may all have the opportunity to hear recordings in our own home but it is a rare thing that we have the opportunity to hear the Organ played fittingly in its own proper setting and played to the glory of God in our own Parish Churches.

To look, for a moment, to other forms of art, the next clip is taken from an odd but oddly Catholic 1948 film 'Portrait of Jennie,' a vehicle for Jennifer Jones who had played St. Bernadette in 'Song of Bernatette' five years earlier. It is the story of a painter who finds his inspiration in the apparition of a girl, the eponymous Jennie, who reappears to him, each time grown a little more. The theme is one of time and its interaction with eternity but hardly an orthodox treatment. However, the film co-stars Ethel Barrymore, from the great Catholic Hollywood dynasty and features the great Lillian Gish, herself a past pupil of the Ursuline Nuns, as Sister Mary of Mercy, one of Jennie's teachers. In this clip we see Joseph Cotton, the painter, drawn by Jennie to her Convent school to witness the profession of some of the Dominican Sisters while the students sing the setting of the Veni Creator composed by Fr. Lambiotte, S.J.

The final clip shows part of the controversial film 'A Nun's Story'. About three minutes in, there is a snatch of the Salve Regina. Towards the end of this clip, the ceremony of first profession contains both an improvisation upon the hymn and the first verses of the Veni Creator itself. As an aside, this film is a fairly faithful account of the traditions of Western religious life - a universal and living tradition at the time it was made in 1959. It is also a relic of a time when Hollywood took pains to present the Church's practices correctly. It was produced at the end of the era of Fr. Daniel A. Lord, S.J., and the Legion of Decency, an era when men were men and Popes were Pius.