FROM THE RECTOR: DYING IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

Father Edgar Wells was gravely ill at the beginning of June 2020. He died at home on Trinity Sunday, June 7. His companion, Evan Wong, was at home with him. His body was taken to the funeral home before we knew of his death. His body was cremated. Father Jay Smith officiated at the Reception of the Body and the Commendation of the Dead for him on Wednesday, June 17, at the Vault in the Lady Chapel. A Memorial Eucharist will be celebrated for him when it is possible for us to gather safely in church and sing. He will be buried at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in a niche with his parents and a dear friend, the Reverend Walter Edgar Hartlove, who died in 1996.

Michael Merenda, Leroy Sharer’s spouse, was also gravely ill in June. He was hospitalized at Mt. Sinai. He suffered from a rare blood cancer, myelofibrosis. It was possible for him to be visited in the hospital. Father Smith prayed with him and anointed him on Trinity Sunday at Mt. Sinai. Mike was able to go home a few days later. Father Smith prayed with him and anointed him on Wednesday, June 17. He was able to receive Communion on Wednesday, June 24. A week later, Father Smith again brought him Communion. I visited Mike at home on Sunday, July 5, to anoint him and pray the prayers for the dying appointed by the Prayer Book. He died on Friday, July 17. Leroy was at work. I joined him at their apartment so that we could offer the prayers at the time of death together. On Friday, July 21, Leroy brought Mike’s ashes to the church. He and I prayed the Reception of the Body for Mike. When we opened the Lady Chapel Vault, we realized that the obvious place to put Mike’s ashes was right on top of Father Wells’s. We will also celebrate a Memorial Eucharist for Mike when it is possible to do so.

Barbara Larsen Klett died at the New Jewish Home Manhattan on Thursday, January 28, 2021, after a long illness. For some weeks Barbara had been either in the hospital or in a nursing home for care. Visiting her was not easy either for friends or for the clergy. At Lenox Hill Hospital, she was allowed a single visit per day. At the nursing home, she was allowed only one visit per week, and then only if the visitor had had a recent COVID test. Father Smith received special “compassionate” permission to visit Barbara at the New Jewish Home, and he anointed her there on Friday, January 22. Her husband, John Cleveland Klett, Jr., (Jack) died in 2011. He was buried in the Mausoleum at Trinity Church Cemetery & Mausoleum in Hamilton Heights. Mr. David Duffy, funeral director at Redden’s Funeral Home, contacted me earlier last week about Barbara’s interment, which was to be in the Mausoleum at Trinity with Jack. It was time, he said, to bury her. I kept my calendar open for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons. Trinity called David on Friday morning and told him that a short Committal service would be possible that afternoon and that is what we did. There will also be a Memorial Eucharist for Barbara at a later date.

All three of the people I have written about needed others to care for them and to make decisions for them at the end of their lives. I encourage everyone to have the legal documents necessary for those you want to care for you if you cannot care for yourself. Being married does not cover all of the bases, as it were. For whatever reason, far too many people avoid the reality of the burden “dying suddenly and unprepared,” to use a Prayer Book phrase, will place on those who love and care for them. We are not short of good attorneys in New York City. If you need a recommendation, ask a friend, a fellow parishioner, or ask Jay or me. We very much want to be available as your pastors whenever you need us. —Stephen Gerth

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Hilary, Aston, Burton, Victor, Peter, George, Bob, Glee, Caryn, Trevor, Marilouise, Quincy, Florette, John, Shalim, José, Abraham, Dennis, Emil; Ethelyn, Hardy, and Robert; for all who suffer from COVID-19; for Gaylord and Louis, priests, and Charles, bishop, for all those who work for the common good, for all the members and friends of this parish, and for the repose of the soul of Jay Howard Reynolds . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . February 7: 1916 William Gordon; 1917 Albert Roswell Hosford; 1937 Adelaide Cleminshaw Norton; 1950 Newbury Frost Read; 1954 John Henry von Rummen.

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE . . . Jay Howard Reynolds, the father of parishioner Dale Reynolds, died on Monday, February 1, near his home in Red Bank, New Jersey. He is survived by Dale and Dale’s wife, Elizabeth Nisbet, their daughter, Joanna May Reynolds, Dale’s brother, Bryan Reynolds, and Bryan’s family. Please keep Jay, Dale, their family and friends, and all who mourn in your prayers.

THE ORDINARY FRIDAYS OF THE YEAR are observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial in commemoration of the Lord’s crucifixion.

STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN 2021 . . . As of January 26, 2021, we have received $344,139.00 in pledges from 104 households, 86% of our goal. We are eager to hear from those who made a pledge for 2020, but who have not yet made a pledge for 2021. We know that time are tough, and, if making a commitment at this time is not possible, we will gladly receive pledge cards at any point during the coming year. Our needs are urgent, especially in these days of the pandemic. Our mission is clear. We invite your support.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Sunday, February 7, The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Mass 11:00 AM. The church opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 12:30 PM. The preacher is the Reverend Stephen Gerth. The service is played by Dr. David Hurd. He will be joined by cantor, Sharon Harms, soprano . . . Tuesday, February 9, Racism Discussion Groups, 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Please contact Brother Damien Joseph or Brother Thomas for more information . . . Wednesday, February 10, Scholastica, Religious, c. 543, Mass 12:10 PM . . . Saturday, February 13, Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818, Mass 12:10 PM.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Sermons by Father Stephen Gerth for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany and by Father Pete Powell for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany have been published on the parish website . . . It makes us very happy to be able to open our doors again for public worship, on weekdays as well as on Sundays. The surge of infections in our city and around the country is concerning. We have committed ourselves to redoubling our efforts to keep every member of the community safe and healthy. If you are at all unwell, do not come to church. If you are experiencing symptoms, contact your primary-care physician and get tested. If you have a fever of 103.5, which is not being handled by an analgesic, and/or you are having difficulty breathing (by difficulty we mean you must stop talking in order to focus on your breathing), go to an emergency room immediately.

THE HISTORY OF SAINT MARY’S . . . This coming Sunday is the seventy-first anniversary of the death of Newbury Frost Read, who died at Saint Vincent’s Hospital, after a brief illness, on February 7, 1950, at the age of sixty-two. Mr. Read was born in New York in 1888. In 1917, he joined the real-estate firm founded by his father, which was then located downtown on Nassau Street. (Mr. Read’s obituary, published in the New York Times on February 8, 1950, does not tell us where he was educated or how he spent his twenties.) He joined the Navy in 1918 and was discharged the following year, at the end of World War I. Mr. Read is remembered in his obituary as an authority on Charles Dickens; a bibliophile, who was a member of the Grolier Club; and the author of a book, The Story of St. Mary’s, published in 1931. The book, long out of print, but still available online at used bookstores, tells the story of Saint Mary’s founding and its history up to around the year 1930. It is also posted online at Project Canterbury. Mr. Read served as a member of the parish’s board of trustees and was, for a time, it’s secretary-treasurer. At the time of his death, Mr. Read was living with his wife, Marie, at 57 West Fifty-second street, within walking distance of Saint Mary’s. We give thanks for his life and ministry and for all those who have served this parish so faithfully during the past 150 years.

LENTEN QUIET DAY . . . On Saturday, March 13, Brother Thomas Steffensen SSF will lead a virtual quiet day via Zoom. The structure of the day is still being worked out, but it is likely that the day will have three parts: a morning session, followed by a break for reflection at midday, and then a second session in the afternoon. Brother Thomas hopes to use the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) as a way of considering our relationship with God and our inherited images of the divine. Stay tuned for further details.

MUSIC AT SAINT MARY’S . . . The organ prelude on Sunday is Fantasia on “Wondrous Love” by David Hurd, organist and music director at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. Fantasia on “Wondrous Love” was composed in the spring of 2016 for an anthology of organ pieces entitled Let All That Hath Breath, published in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Association of Anglican Musicians. It is dedicated in thanksgiving for David and Cecile Hurd, parents of the composer. The Fantasia is based on a melody from Wm. Walker’s Southern Harmony, 1835, and sets three stanzas of the hymn continuously. The first stanza, “What wondrous love is this,” is a gentle trio with the melody played on the pedals in the alto register. The second stanza, “To God and to the Lamb,” finds the melody in the tenor register, and this is a stronger and more dramatic section. In the third stanza, “And when from death I’m free,” the melody is in canon at the fourth in the alto and soprano register against an undulating accompaniment. A brief concluding coda references the opening trio.

The postlude is the last of Four Spiritual Preludes, a suite of short organ pieces, also composed by David Hurd, based upon traditional melodies. Each piece presents a traditional Black Spiritual melody in an expressive texture and distinctive harmonic context. Deep River begins with the melody of its chorus harmonized largely by augmented triads and thirds in triplet figures. In the verse, the melody and alto voice are heard over chords in triplet patterns. A reprise of the chorus leads to a strong final cadence.

The musical setting of the Mass today was commissioned in 1974 from Calvin Hampton (1938–1984) by the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship. When the Standing Commission on Church Music of the Episcopal Church compiled its 1976 Church Hymnal Series I, Hampton’s setting was included as the fifth of five new musical settings for Eucharist Rite II. Hampton’s eight-movement setting includes Kyrie, Trisagion, Lord’s Prayer, and Jesus, Lamb of God, in addition to the Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei to be sung at Mass today. The Gloria is in a flowing 6/8 meter with largely stepwise melodic motion supporting a gentle lyricism throughout. The Sanctus is in common time but maintains a similar lyricism through the fluid movement of the accompaniment. This Sanctus is the only movement from the setting which was included in The Hymnal 1982. (Hampton’s well-known setting of the Nicene Creed which is often sung at Saint Mary’s—S105 in the Hymnal—is from his Mass for the New Rite, also dating from 1974.) Calvin Hampton was organist and choirmaster at Calvary Episcopal Church in Gramercy Park, Manhattan, for much of his active professional life. He was especially admired for his brilliant organ playing, his wide-ranging and eclectic compositional palette and his imaginative liturgical and concert programming.

The musical setting of Sunday’s Mass was commissioned in 1974 from Calvin Hampton (1938–1984) by the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship. When the Standing Commission on Church Music of the Episcopal Church compiled its 1976 Church Hymnal Series I, Hampton’s setting was included as the fifth of five new musical settings for Eucharist Rite II. Hampton’s eight-movement setting includes Kyrie, Trisagion, Lord’s Prayer, and Jesus, Lamb of God, in addition to the Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei to be sung at Mass today. The Gloria is in a flowing 6/8 meter with largely stepwise melodic motion supporting a gentle lyricism throughout. The Sanctus is in common time but maintains a similar lyricism through the fluid movement of the accompaniment. This Sanctus is the only movement from the setting which was included in The Hymnal 1982. (Hampton’s well-known setting of the Nicene Creed which is often sung at Saint Mary’s—S105 in the Hymnal—is from his Mass for the New Rite, also dating from 1974.) Calvin Hampton was organist and choirmaster at Calvary Episcopal Church in Gramercy Park, Manhattan, for much of his active professional life. He was especially admired for his brilliant organ playing, his wide-ranging and eclectic compositional palette and his imaginative liturgical and concert programming.

The Cantor on Sunday morning is soprano Sharon Harms. During the Communion she will sing the solo motet Deus Abraham by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921). Saint-Saëns’ involvement in Paris church music began when he was appointed at age seventeen to an organist post at Saint Séverin. Soon thereafter he was appointed to similar post at Saint Merry. His last and most remembered tenure as organist was at the Church of the Madeleine where he served from 1857 to 1877. The genre of the “solo motet” may have originated in Italy with works by Lodovico Viadana (c.1560–1627) that specified solo vocal performance. In France, this genre was distinguished from vernacular sacred songs (cantiques) by its adherence to Latin liturgical texts. Such solo motets and similar works for two, three, or four voices and organ became fashionable in later nineteenth-century France as a practical response to the short supply of trained church musicians resulting from the social, political, and ecclesial instabilities which characterized the earlier part of the century. Saint-Saëns’ Deus Abraham takes its text from the Tobit 7:15 and Psalm 127.

More about Sunday’s cantor: Praised as “superb,” “luscious-toned,” “extraordinarily precise and expressive,” and “dramatically committed and not averse to risk" by the New York Times, American soprano Sharon Harms is known for fearless performances and passionate interpretations of works new and old for the recital, concert, and operatic stage. A member of the Argento Ensemble, Ms. Harms has premiered the music of some of today’s leading composers and her repertoire spans a versatile spectrum of periods and styles. She has sung with Da Capo Chamber Players, East Coast Contemporary Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Signal, International Contemporary Ensemble, Juilliard Center for Innovation in the Arts, Limón Dance Company, MET Opera Chamber Orchestra, New Chamber Ballet, Pacifica Quartet, Princeton Festival Opera, Simon Bolivar Orchestra, Talea Ensemble, and Third Coast Percussion, among others. She has also been a guest artist with the American Academy in Rome, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Columbia University, Cornell University, June in Buffalo, MATA Festival, University of British Columbia, University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame, Radcliffe Institute, and Resonant Bodies Festival and a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Ms. Harms is soprano faculty for the Composer’s Conference at Brandeis University and was a visiting guest instructor at East Carolina University in 2017. She appears on the Albany, Bridge, and Innova labels. You may visit Sharon’s website for more:www.sharonharms.com.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED . . . Our next Drop-by Day will take place on Friday, February 19, 2:00–3:00 PM in the church and Lady Chapel. We need eight (8) volunteers for the event. (Volunteers work from 1:30 to 3:30 PM. However, doors do not open to guests until 2:00 PM.) If you would like to volunteer or make a donation of cash, clothing, or toiletry articles, please contact Brother Desmond Alban, SSF . . . Saint Mary’s has long provided assistance to our neighbors at the Saint Clement’s Food Pantry, sending cash donations, but also receiving non-perishable food items which were then delivered to the Pantry. The pandemic has made collecting and delivering difficult for a number of reasons. However, since food insecurity has increased in the city—also because of the pandemic—we would like to re-double our efforts in assisting the Saint Clement’s program. Cash donations are gratefully received. Please put Saint Clement’s Food Pantry in the memo line or field when you make your donation, and we thank you.

THE GIFT OF FLOWERS . . . We are hoping to receive donations for Sunday, February 14 (The Last Sunday after the Epiphany), Sunday, March 14 (The Fourth Sunday in Lent), and Palm Sunday (March 28). Donations for flowers at Easter are also very welcome. If you would like to make a donation, please contact Chris Howatt in the parish office. If you are interested in the work of the Flower Guild, please speak to Brendon Hunter, Grace Mudd, Marie Rosseels, or Brother Thomas.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . . Please note: all the adult-education classes this year begin at 9:30 AM, NOT at 10:00 AM. They normally conclude at 10:30 AM, allowing those attending the class to serve at the altar or to attend Mass in the nave.

If you would like to attend Brother Damien’s five-week series via Zoom, please send an e-mail to Grace Mudd or to Brother Damien, who will send you a link.

Brother Damien writes, “On Sunday, January 10, we began our five-part introduction to mystical theology in the Western Christian tradition, “Christian Mysticism and the Secret of Knowing God.”. On Sunday, February 7, we will discuss Ablatio—the way of negation and unknowing. The pinnacle of experiencing God, according to virtually all of the great mystics, is the entry into a state of unknowing, beyond conceiving or describing. In this session, we’ll use selections from Angela of Foligno’s Memorial to approach the mystical via negativa (“way of negation”) and the compelling, if counter-intuitive idea, of the “darkness of God.” (Please note: Brother Damien Joseph has kindly agreed to extend his series one week. There will be a class on February 7. There will not be a class on Sunday, February 14.)

Next Up: Father Peter Powell will resume his series on the Revelation to John, the Christian Bible’s final book, on February 21. (There will be no class on February 14.) Father Powell will teach on all the Sundays of Lent and on Palm Sunday. His classes in the fall on Revelation were extremely interesting. Our current political situation reminds us that certain ways of apocalyptic thinking persist in our society. Reading Revelation together and confronting that text’s beauties and its challenges has many benefits. We invite you to join us.

For all these classes, seating in Saint Joseph’s Hall will be arranged to maximize social-distancing. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide refreshments. All those attending the class must wear a face covering.

This edition of the Angelus was written and edited by Father Stephen Gerth and Father Jay Smith. Father Gerth is responsible for posting the newsletter on the parish website and for distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt and parish volunteer, Clint Best.