FROM THE RECTOR: CORPUS CHRISTI 2021

The traditional day to celebrate Corpus Christi is the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. In 1871, almost seven months after Saint Mary’s first church opened on December 8, 1870, Corpus Christi was June 4. The annual conference of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament was held at the new church that day. Corpus Christi has been celebrated here ever since.

On January 1, 1929, the Reverend Dr. Selden Peabody Delany (1874–1935) succeeded the Reverend Dr. Joseph Gayle Hurd Barry (1858–1931) as rector of Saint Mary’s. On June 2, 1929, the Sunday after Corpus Christi was celebrated with a High Mass that included a Procession. The word “Benediction” does not appear in the program, but it’s clear from the music that Eucharistic Benediction was given. On Thursday, May 30, 1929, Corpus Christi had been observed with three said Masses, Morning Prayer, and Evening Prayer. This pattern would continue until 1979.

Most Anglo-Catholic congregations still celebrate Corpus Christi on its traditional day. This is the practice of the Roman Catholic Church, where, in many places, the day is a “holy day of obligation” (The Roman Missal, United States 3rd ed. [2011], 111). It is not, however, a day of obligation for Roman Catholics in the United States; they only celebrate it on Sunday. With the adoption of the 1979 Prayer Book, the then-new rector, the Reverend Canon Edgar Fisher Wells, Jr. (1930–2020); rector 1979–1998), decided to follow the American Roman Catholic practice of observing Corpus Christi on the Second Sunday after Pentecost, and not on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

Since my first Palm Sunday in 1999, following the Blessing of the Palms, our congregation has processed through Times Square and distributed palms to all who wished to have them. Until the pandemic, I think there has only been one year we were not been able to process because of the weather. On Corpus Christi Sunday 1999, we also had a procession of the Blessed Sacrament through Times Square. I don’t think this procession has ever been stopped by rain. But it has been on hold since the pandemic began. It will return when COVID-19 is behind us. I wish it were possible to have a Mass with a Eucharistic Procession on a Thursday evening in our neighborhood. It is simply not practical because of the crowds in the square and the traffic on our streets.

Eucharistic devotion has been a part of my life since I began my journey as an Episcopalian. As I write with Sunday’s celebration before us, I want to share a memory from my first year at Nashotah House Seminary that remains in focus for me. During that year, there was a weekly one-hour class with Father Louis Weil. Its purpose was to help us new students join in the ongoing worship of the community. At some point, a classmate asked why the ministers of the Bread did not make the sign of the cross with the Bread when it was given to a communicant. Father Weil responded by holding up his hands as if he were holding a paten with one hand and the Bread with the other. He said slowly, if memory serves, “The Bread itself is the dominical sign of Christ’s Presence.” He stopped speaking and let his words sink in. —Stephen Gerth

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Roman, Ronald, Danny, Christopher, Liduvina, James, Jonathan, Emerson, Rita, Marilouise, Quincy, Florette, John, Shalim, Peter, George, Abraham, Burton, Dennis, Emil, Ethelyn, Hardy, Margaret, and Robert; for James, Randall, and Louis, priests; for all those who suffer from COVID-19; for all those who work for the common good, and for all the members and friends of this parish. Grant that we may serve Christ in them and love one another as he loves us . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . June 6: 1884 Anna Scannell; 1897 Emma Lucie Pauline Klein Wilson; 1900 Elizabeth Funck; 1907 Margaret Collins; 1919 Everett C. Plack; 1931 Reynold Webb Wilcox; 1937 Teresa Maria Baker; 1959 Grace Frisby Conklin; 1966 Dudley Harrison Briggs; 1968 Mary E. Longley.

WE NEED YOUR HELP . . . If you have made a pledge for 2021, please continue to make payments on your pledge, if possible. If you have not yet made a pledge for 2021, we urge you to do so. If you can make an additional donation to support the parish at this time, we would happily receive it. Donations may be made online via the Giving section of the parish website. You may also make arrangements for other forms of payment by contacting our parish administrator, Christopher Howatt, who would be happy to assist you. We are grateful to all those who continue to support Saint Mary’s so generously. —Stewardship Committee

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Sunday, June 6, The Body and Blood of Christ: Corpus Christi. No adult-education class. Classes have ended for the summer and will resume in the autumn. Mass and Eucharistic Benediction 11:00 AM, Father Jay Smith, celebrant and preacher; Evening Prayer 5:00 PM . . . Monday–Saturday, June 7–12, Mass 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer 5:00 PM. The church is open from 11:00 AM until 5:30 PM . . . Tuesday, June 8, Racism Discussion Group Meeting, 7:00 PM via Zoom. For more information about this ongoing weekly meeting, please call the parish office . . . Next Sunday, June 13, The Third Sunday after Pentecost: Mass 11:00 AM, Father Stephen Gerth, celebrant and preacher; Evening Prayer 5:00 PM. The adult-education program has begun its summer break. Classes will resume in the fall.

SAINT MARY’S ONLINE CENTERING PRAYER GROUP . . . The Saint Mary’s Centering Prayer Group continues to meet! The Group meets online, via Zoom, every Friday evening at 6:30 PM. If you are interested in participating, please send an e-mail to this address. The convenors of the group will then send the link to the Zoom meeting.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED . . . At our monthly Drop-by Days, we distribute clothing and toiletry and hygiene items to those in need in the Times Square neighborhood. Last Friday, May 21, we served 29 guests. Our next Drop-by Day is scheduled for Friday, June 18. (The next two Drop-by Days will take place on Friday, July 16, and Friday, August 20) Volunteers work from 1:30 PM until 3:30 PM. Our guests are invited into the church at 2:00 PM and we close our doors at 3:00 PM. We need six (6) volunteers for each Drop-by. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Marie Rosseels, MaryJane Boland, or Father Jay Smith. You may reach them by calling the Parish Office at 212-869-5830.

You may also support this ministry by making a cash donation (if using PayPal, please write “Neighbors in Need” in the memo line); or by making a donation of clothing or hygiene items. We welcome donations of gently used or new clothing and footwear; unopened toiletry items; backpacks, or small rolling suitcases. All these items should be clean and in good repair. Everyday wear is desirable, which is to say, no formal wear, party clothes or high-heeled shoes. We are not in need of men’s or women’s suits or evening wear at this time. Popular clothing items are: T-shirts, socks (e.g., white and black ankle socks), polo shirts, shirts, and blouses with collars; underwear for men and women in all sizes, including bras, slips, briefs; thermal underwear, sweaters, sweatshirts; slacks/blouses; caps, and scarves. Small blankets, towels and wash cloths, rain slickers, umbrellas, and zippered jackets are also desirable. Please speak to MaryJane Boland, Marie Rosseels, Sharon Stewart, or Father Jay Smith about scheduling a donation.

MUSIC AT SAINT MARY’S . . . The organ prelude on Sunday morning is a setting by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) of the chorale Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (“Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness”). The words of this Eucharistic chorale are by Johann Franck (1618–1677). Three of Franck’s nine original stanzas are retained in The Hymnal 1982 (# 339) as translated by Catherine Winkworth (1827–1878). The music is by Johann Crüger (1598–1662), first published in his 1649 Geistliche Kirchen-Melodien (“Spiritual Church Melodies”). Bach’s organ setting is an expression of serene spiritual confidence. Found among the “Great Eighteen” Leipzig chorales of his mature period, this setting features the chorale melody, in an elegantly understated ornamented form, singing above the bass line and two accompanying voices.

The setting of the Mass on Sunday is Missa “Ich segge adieu” by Johannes de Fossa (c. 1540–1603). The precise identity of this setting’s composer is difficult to verify, but this Johannes de Fossa is probably the Franco-Flemish composer, singer, and kapellmeister whose family of origin came out of the village of Fosses in the province of Namur, a small town in the diocese of Liège. In 1559, he was appointed vice-conductor of the Munich Court Orchestra which was directed by Orlando di Lasso. Fossa’s surviving works include several sacred works—mostly for four voices and some with instruments— and six Masses. Missa “Ich segge adieu” (“I bid farewell”) is a parody Mass based upon a secular farewell song from a 1544 Antwerp Song Book. The first phrase of the source song’s melody is clearly recognizable in the top voice at the beginning of each movement of the Mass. A 1572 choral setting of the song by Ludovicus Episcopius (1520–1595) may have been Fossa’s model for his Mass movements in which the liturgical texts are dispatched clearly and efficiently.

The Communion motet on Sunday is a setting of the fourteenth-century Eucharistic hymn Ave verum corpus by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). The words are attributed to Pope Innocent VI (d. 1362). As a meditation on the presence of Christ in the sacrament and the relationship between suffering and redemption, this text has been sung consistently for centuries in various Eucharistic contexts. It has been set to music by the leading composers of sacred music for generations. In very recent years, settings of Ave verum corpus by a diverse array of composers have been sung at Saint Mary’s. Those composers have included William Byrd, Orlando di Lasso, David Hurd, Colin Mawby, and Peter Philips. Today we add Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s setting, K. 618, to those included in our liturgy. Mozart composed his well-known setting of Ave verum corpus for a friend, Anton Stoll, who was the musician of St. Stephan in Baden bei Wien. It was written for the feast of Corpus Christi and the autograph is dated June 17, 1791. Scored originally for four voices and strings, Mozart’s setting is often performed with organ accompaniment as it is heard today.

The French composer and organist Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986) was steeped in liturgical chant from his childhood as a chorister at the Rouen Cathedral choir school. He first entered the Paris Conservatory in 1920, becoming Professor of Harmony in 1943, a position he retained for nearly thirty years. He is remembered for his lifelong association with the stunningly beautiful church of St. Étienne-du-Mont, Paris, where he was named titular organist in 1929. The fourth of his Quatre Motets sur des Thèmes Grégoriens (1960) is his setting of Tantum ergo, the final two stanzas of the Eucharistic Hymn Pange lingua, the text of which is attributed to Saint Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274). In his setting, Duruflé quotes the familiar Pange lingua chant melody in the soprano voice and provides elegant harmonic support from three other voices in identical music for both stanzas.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Would you like to donate altar flowers? We are looking those willing to donate altar flowers for all the Sundays in July and August, except for August 15. The suggested donation is $250. Donors often give flowers in memory, thanksgiving, or celebration of people or life events they would like to pay tribute to. Please contact Chris Howatt, if you would like to donate or speak to Brendon Hunter for more information . . . Please speak to the rector if you’d like to volunteer to take photographs on Sunday morning, during Mass or the adult-education classes. The photographs are used to illustrate the weekly newsletter. —David Hurd

MARK YOUR CALENDAR . . . Friday, June 11, Saint Barnabas the Apostle . . . Saturday, June 19, Juneteenth, Celebration of the Emancipation of the Enslaved People of the United States . . . Thursday, June 24, The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist . . . Friday, August 6, The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mass 12:10 PM . . . Sunday, August 15, The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . Tuesday, August 24, Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, Mass 12:10 PM . . . Monday, September 6, Labor Day . . . Tuesday, September 14, Holy Cross Day, Mass 12:10 PM.

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.