In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.
Posted on 03/23/2008 4:48:18 AM PDT by billorites
A new generation of young altar servers captivated by the solemn rituals of Latin Mass is mastering the traditional rite in growing numbers in the Boston archdiocese as the liturgy makes a comeback after a four-decade hiatus.
“It’s really reverent. That’s why I like it,” said altar server Brendan MacKenzie, 12, of Marshfield, as he readied for the Tenebrae, or “Spy Wednesday,” service at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes in Newton during Holy Week. “It brings you closer to God.”
Since April, the number of young boys trained to perform Latin Mass in the Boston area has more than doubled, from eight to 18 servers, said the Rev. Charles J. Higgins, pastor at Mary Immaculate, where the old-style Mass is celebrated every Sunday at noon.
There are an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 altar servers throughout the Boston Archdiocese, a spokesman said. Keeping with the tradition, only boys serve at Latin Mass.
Higgins, 46, who is self-taught in the Latin liturgy, said the increase in boys studying the traditional Mass has more to do with his repeated appeals for volunteers than last year’s “motu propio” from Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican order reversed 43 years of near banishment of the worship service by allowing priests to perform the liturgy without the authorization of a local bishop.
The devoted altar boys agree with this interpretation of how the pool of servers took on a more youthful look after years of just adult men on the altar.
“As Father Higgins says, he wants an army of servers,” said Stephen Farynaz, 12, of Lunenberg, who has been serving at Latin Mass since he was 7 years old.
A minimum of nine servers is needed to perform the highly choreographed rite, which can be traced to the sixth century and is referred to as the Tridentine Mass. The training takes weeks and entails memorizing Latin responses and learning the ceremony’s many rubrics, such as how to walk, genuflect, hold your hands, stand and carry objects.
Frank Doyle Jr., 43, of West Roxbury, a veteran master of ceremonies who has been serving Latin Mass for 17 years, trains new servers in the nuances of the Mass while conveying that they need not be Thomas Aquinas to get the hang of it.
“When in doubt, genuflect. That’s an old MC’s joke,” said Doyle, who studied the work of English priest Adrian Fortescue to learn the Mass.
To teach some details, Doyle conjures up some fire-and-brimstone mnemonic devices. Take how to kiss the thurible, which contains incense.
“You kiss the top of the chain where there is a disc or you will be like the Prophet Isaiah and know what it’s like to have coal purify your lips,” Doyle said.
Angelus Davulis, 13, of Dorchester was first exposed to Latin Mass at age 7 when his uncle, the Rev. Dominic Gentile, performed a High Solemn Mass. Since the 1990s, the Boston archdiocese has offered Latin Mass at Holy Trinity Church in the South End. The Mass relocated to Mary Immaculate last year.
Davulis studies from a booklet titled “How To Serve Low Mass and Benediction” to learn the difficult Latin. He said he prefers serving at Latin Mass to serving at the Novus Ordo, or modern Mass, because he feels more involved.
“I just want to learn it now before it’s too late,” said Davulis.
MacKenzie’s older brother, Cameron, 14, said he resisted when his parents urged him to serve.
“I guess the first time when I served I realized I was serving God. I guess it just took me away,” he said.
Higgins said he is heartened by his new flock of servers and is training five priests to say Latin Mass.
“They have an openness to the religious practice, which is very refreshing,” said Higgins. “I see it as a hopeful sign that when they come of age, that whatever stage of life they choose, that they will be strong Christian men whether as priests or family men.”
Bump and Ping
Wow! Excellent article!
We should all be involved, but I hope to see men take their place as leaders in church and Godly leaders of their families. I would think service as an altar boy would only be a good influence towards these ends. And, of course, it is also a great encouragement for a boy to consider the priesthood.
Now I love the Traditional Latin rite but in Massachusetts's? So will John Kerry or Ted Kennedy or their constituents go to this beautiful Mass and then turn around and go support and give money to the abortion party? Maybe I should just have a little faith that this is a step in the right direction for the average Joe Massachusetts Catholic.
Massachusetts is like Austria, western Canada and England in some ways. The bad guys are definitely the dominant element, but there are still cadres of excellent Christians and conservatives who (for the time being) must lay low. In some ways, they are more serious about raising their children than those in less egregiously “bad” areas.
place keeper for later
Highly unlikely that the heretics at the Paulist Center, where Kerry claims he attends “mass”, would put forth the effort, or expense, to hold a Tridentine Rite Mass.
I served in the 50s and we always had four. I don't remember nine.
Low Mass only needs one. (I remember serving the 6AM “Bakers’ Mass” in Northern Minnesota. Shiver!)
In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.
We still have HOPE in this country. THANK GOD.
But we did our 6 am with four all the time or Sister would not be happy. Duty included going to the rectory to wake up Fr. McCafferty if he was late. I used to ride my bike in the snow in the winter and got to be the first to crunch on the Mayflies in the spring.
Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.
Quia tu es, Deus, fortitudo mea: quare me repulisti, et quare tristis incedo, dum affligit me inimicus?
Et introibo ad altare Dei: ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.
Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi: salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper: et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
BTTT! This is exciting. I am always talking to boys about being servers. I never talk to girls.
I wish you had requested Catholic Caucus status for this thread.
I wish you had requested Catholic Caucus status for this thread.
This is in the News Forum, so it can’t have it.
Well, then I would have posted it somewhere else.
Oh well.
bump
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