FROM FATHER SAMMY WOOD: ON CHASUBLES OVER THE AGES

One of a handful of garments mentioned in the Bible is the “cloke” or phaelonen, a heavy overcoat of woolen cloth that fell round the wearer’s body like a large cape. Saint Paul, quite the traveler, asked Timothy: “When you come, bring the cloak (φαιλόνης) I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” (2 Timothy 4:13) Worn over other garments, it provided extra warmth and protection from the elements. By the 4th century, the small Pænula was worn by common Roman citizens, but senators and officials used a larger, much richer version, which in time was adopted by bishops, priests, and other church officials. In one of our earliest monuments of a bishop, the mosaic of Saint Ambrose in his church in Milan, he is depicted wearing a Pænula. By the 6th century, it had acquired another name: Because the garment enveloped the body like a little house, the word casula—a diminutive of casa, “house”—came to be used for the cloak the priest wore. And casula, in English, became chasuble, the word we still use for these garments today. 

The shape of the chasuble has changed through the ages. Until the thirteenth century, it was ample and conical, made from a semi-circle of material, folded, and sewn up the front. In the medieval period, it grew smaller and resembled a bell; by the fifteenth century it had reached its familiar, even smaller, modern shape. Cutting away the sides allowed more freedom for the celebrant’s arms as he elevated the host. Percy Dearmer, in his influential The Ornaments of the Ministers (1908), writes that in “the decadence of the Rococo period it went to extreme lengths, and the Chasuble, once so graceful and stately, became at last an ugly little apron shaped like a fiddle.” Today chasubles are typically classified as “Gothic” (a floppy triangle of material) or “fiddle-backs” (smaller, stiffer vestments shaped, front and back, roughly like a violin—thus Dearmer’s quip). Chasubles are often beautifully decorated with borders, orphreys, and ornate designs, and the color is generally that of the liturgical season. Relevant guides to church ritual and ceremony, such as Ritual Notes, direct that the chasuble always be worn, “as a matter of obligation,” by the priest who celebrates at Mass, and it is the last of several “Eucharistic vestments” a priest dons for this most sacred task.

In a delightful little unpublished work called The Epic of God, or the Freeze-Frame Mass (available online via the website of the Church of the Ascension & Saint Agnes in Washington, DC, where I was ordained to the priesthood), Father Richard Major says: 

The first point about wearing special clothes at Mass is that it blots out individuality. That might not sound like a good thing, but it is. The clergy and servers are not moving about the sanctuary in their own right, as holy individuals, but as representatives of the congregation — and of the universal Church through all time and place, and of humanity at large, and even of all creation. On behalf of the universe, they are offering God an elaborate motion (rather like a dance, rather like a love-song, very like an opera). Their own individuality is not the point, and the uniform of sacred garments is meant to render them invisible as individuals.

For the priest, the symbolism of the chasuble is expressed in the prayer I pray each time I put one on: O, Lord, who hast said “My yoke is easy and my burden is light,” grant that I may so bear it as to attain thy grace. 

In the coming days, you’re likely to see a few new chasubles, at least new to Saint Mary’s. During my tenure at Saint Bartholomew’s Church in Nashville, I obtained a few fiddlebacks, whether as gifts or through special donations, and as they weren’t being used in that parish, the new rector of Saint Bartholomew’s generously donated them to Saint Mary’s where they will be woven into the rota of vestments we use at Daily Mass. When you see them, say a prayer for Saint B’s, for Fr. Josh Condon’s ministry there, and for Saint Mary’s commitment to worshiping God in the beauty of holiness. — Father Sammy Wood

PRAYING FOR THE CHURCH & FOR THE WORLD

We pray for peace in Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Mali, Iran, the Red Sea, and Myanmar. We pray for an end to violence and division in our neighborhood, city and nation.

We pray for the sick, for those in any need or trouble, and for all those who have asked us for our prayers. We pray for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this week; for those who are traveling; for the unemployed and for those seeking work; for the incarcerated and for those recently released from prison; for all victims of violence, assault, and crime; for all refugees and migrants, especially those sheltering in our neighborhood; for those struggling with depression, anxiety, or addiction; for those whom we serve in our outreach programs, for our neighbors in the Times Square neighborhood, for the theater community, and for those living with drought, storm, punishing heat, flood, fire, or earthquake.

We pray for those for whom prayers have been asked Elizabeth, Bill, Avdi, Glenn, Freia, Hemmi, Larry, Theodore, Lexi, Violet, Liz, Juan, Jonah, Cara, Barbara, Robert, Jennifer, Frank, Richard, Charles, Robin, Tatiana, Emily, Mary, Eleanor, Eugene, Steven, Quincy, Claudia, June, Joyce, Bruce, Robert, Sandy, Christopher, Carlos, José, Brian, Susan, Carmen, Antony, Manuel, Abe, Bob, Gypsy, Hardy, Margaret, and John Derek; Jamie, David and Curtis, religious; Lind, deacon, Matthew, Sammy, Robby, Allan, and Stephen, priests; and Andrew, Matthew, and Michael, bishops.

We pray for the repose of the souls of Mack Lewis Page, Lydia Nuñez Bojkovic, Karen Wells, Tom Wilkinson, Glynis Johns, and of those whose year’s mind is on Sunday, January 7—Ida Hardy (1872); Edward Henry Wells (1890); Gulielma Perry (1904); Annie Gentle (1906); Annie Currie (1923); John Shenton Eland (1933); Lillian Forge (1968); Robert Howell Schumann (1977). May they rest in peace and rise in glory. 

COMING UP AT SAINT MARY’S

Monthly Requiem
Saturday, January 20
Said Mass in the Mercy Chapel, 12:10 PM

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
January 18–25, 2024

The Confession of Saint Peter the Apostle
Thursday, January 18, 2025

The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle
Thursday, January 25, 2024

The Presentation of
Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple
Friday, February 2
Organ Recital 5:30 PM, Solemn Mass 6:00 PM
A reception in Saint Joseph’s Hall follows the Solemn Mass.

STEWARDSHIP UPDATE

We are only about $50,000 short of our $450,000 goal!

If you haven’t already, please take a moment and fill out your pledge card
and mail it to the parish office or put it in the collection basket.
You can also make your pledge online.

We invite you to help us make our goal—and even more!

We are grateful to all those who continue to support the ministry of Saint Mary’s.

Pledge commitments are critical to plan accurately for 2024.

WE THANK YOU

The clergy and staff continue to be grateful for all that the members and friends of the parish did and accomplished in the days before Christmas and in the days that have followed.

We are grateful for all the teamwork that went into adjusting our worship schedule last week because of the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square. Thank you, all, for your flexibility, creativity, and good spirits. Happy New Year, one and all.

Thank you, Tom Heffernan, for your extremely generous gift that has allowed us to buy new mats for all the entrances in the complex. They look so clean and new. Thank you, Tom. As one of our ushers, you understand what it is to make a good impression. We are grateful for your ministry and your generosity.

We are so grateful to our partners at the Times Square Alliance and the Midtown North Precinct of the New York City Police Department, who worked so closely with us last week so we could still worship on Sunday morning.

Please join us for Evensong & Benediction
Sunday, January 7, 5:00 PM

 Music at Evensong to include works by Richard Massey (1798–1883), David Hurd (b. 1950),
James Turle (1802–1882), Thomas Hunt (c. 1580–1658), and Jane Marshall (1924–2019)

LIFE AT SAINT MARY’S

Our regular daily liturgical schedule: Monday through Friday, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM. On Wednesdays, Holy Hour is also offered at 11:00 AM and an additional Mass is said at 6:00 PM. Thursday’s Mass includes anointing and prayers for healing. On Saturdays, Confessions are heard at 11:00 AM, Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer is prayed at 5:00 PM. On the third Saturday of each month, a Requiem Mass is normally celebrated at 12:10 PM in the Mercy Chapel. On Sundays, a Low Mass (Rite One) is celebrated in the Lady Chapel at 9:00 AM. Solemn Mass is offered at 11:00 AM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Evensong and Benediction (E&B) is normally offered on the first Sunday of every month and will next be offered on January 7 and February 4.

Saturday Confessions at 11:00 AM . . . The priest-on-duty can be found in one of the confessionals at the back of the church, near the 46th Street entrance, at 11:00 AM on Saturdays to hear confessions. Once nobody is left waiting, if it is after 11:15 AM, the priest will return to his office. If you arrive later, the sexton will be able to call him if it is not too close to the midday Mass. On the Epiphany—Saturday, January 6—confessions are heard only by appointment.

Friday, January 5, Eve of the Epiphany, or the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, Organ Recital 5:30 PM, Solemn Mass 6:00 PM, Reception in Saint Joseph’s Hall 7:45–9:00 PM.

Saturday, January 6, The Epiphany, or the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, On the Epiphany, confessions are heard by appointment only. Mass 12:10 PM, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM. At Evening Prayer, the psalms and readings are those appointed for the Epiphany.

Sunday, January 7, The First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Lectionary Year B, Daily Office Year Two), Mass 9:00 AM, Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Evensong & Benediction 5:00 PM. The Adult Formation class will not meet on January 7 or 14. Classes resume on Sunday, January 21, at 9:45 AM in Saint Joseph’s Hall.

Wednesday, January 10, William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1645, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Holy Hour 11:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, Bible Study 12:45 PM, Evening Prayer 5:30 PM, Mass 6:00 PM, Anglicanism 101 6:30 PM

Friday, January 12, Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167, ✠ Special Devotion, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, Evening Prayer 5:30 PM

Saturday, January 13, Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, 367, Confessions 11:00 AM, Sung Mass 12:10 PM, Parish Retreat 8:30 AM–3:00 PM, The Eve of the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM

Sunday, January 14, The Second Sunday after the Epiphany, (Richard Meux Benson, Priest and Religious, 1915, and Charles Gore, Bishop and Religious, 1932), Mass 9:00 AM (Rite One), Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM, The Adult Formation Class will not meet this morning at 9:45 AM. Confirmation Preparation for Young People 13-18 will meet this morning at 9:45 AM.

NEWS & NOTICES

Parish Retreat: January 13, 2024, 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. In early January, we will be hosting acclaimed scholar and author, Dr. Derek Olsen, for a free Saturday event called “Life, the Universe, and Everything: Finding Holiness through Anglican Prayer.” With Derek’s help, those of us looking for answers to life’s biggest questions will be asking ourselves what resources can the church offer that the secular marketplace does not? And what does this mean for faith communities in the modern world? The post-Covid American context offers a host of ways to make meaning and form communities. Join biblical and liturgical scholar Derek Olsen in exploring how classical Anglican spirituality speaks to our deepest desires and forms a framework for meaning-making and engaging questions about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. The day-long event is free, but registration is appreciated. Click here to register for this event or follow the link on the parish homepage.

Derek Olsen is a biblical scholar and engaged layman in the Episcopal Church. He earned an M.Div. from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, an S.T.M. from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and served as pastoral vicar of a large Lutheran (ELCA) church in the Atlanta suburbs before beginning doctoral work (and being received into the Episcopal Church). He completed a Ph.D. in New Testament in 2011 from Emory University under the direction of Luke Timothy Johnson. His chief areas of interest are the intersection between Scripture and liturgy, the history of biblical interpretation—particularly in the Church Fathers and the Early Medieval West—and liturgical spirituality. He has served on the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music. He is the author of Inwardly Digest: The Prayer Book as Guide to a Spiritual Life (Forward Movement, 2016). Derek will show us how the resources that are very close to home—as close as the Book of Common Prayer in the pew or on the bookshelf—can be used in the ongoing work of conversion and transformation.

Adult Formation Classes . . . Correction: The Sunday morning class will not meet on January 7 or January 14. The class which normally meets at 9:45 AM on Sunday mornings will meet next on Sunday, January 21, at 9:45 AM in Saint Joseph’s Hall.

On Sunday, January 21 (not January 14, as previously announced) Father Jay Smith will resume the series, “Conversion, Transformation & Life in Christ.” On two Sundays—January 21 and 28, 9:45 AM to 10:40 AM—the class will be discussing the Rule of Saint Benedict and Benedictine spirituality as a resource for developing a “rule of life,” and for living that rule, with the help of the grace of God, who is ever merciful and compassionate. On Sunday, February 4, Father Jay will welcome Brother Ephrem Arcement, OHC, to Saint Mary’s. Brother Ephrem will lead the class at 9:45 AM that morning, and he will preach at the Solemn Mass at 11:00 AM. Brother Ephrem entered monastic life in 2010. He was for a time a monk of Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Louisiana. He earned his Ph.D. in spirituality from The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, and has taught courses in Scripture and spirituality at Saint Joseph Seminary College in Saint Benedict, Louisiana. He came to the Order of the Holy Cross, and to the Episcopal Church, several years ago and is now the Guest Brother at the monastery in West Park. He was recently received as a priest of the Episcopal Church by the Bishop of New York. His first book, Intimacy in Prayer: Wisdom from Bernard of Clairvaux, appeared in 2013. A second book, In the School of Prophets: The Formation of Thomas Merton's Prophetic Spirituality, was published in 2015. Then, on Sunday, February 11, Father Jay will lead the class in a summary discussion of this ancient way of life that has done so much to shape Western Christian spirituality, Anglican prayer and worship, and Western European culture.

Catechumenate: Anglicanism 101 . . . The class resumes on Wednesday, January 10, at 6:30 PM, following Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM and the evening Mass at 6:00 PM. If you are an adult and are interested in being confirmed this spring, you are most welcome to join the class as we begin the second semester. No prior preparation is required.

Confirmation Preparation for Young People 13-18 . . . Beginning on Sunday, January 14, at 9:45 AM, Father Sammy will be leading a confirmation class for young people. The class will meet on Sunday mornings, January 14 to May 5, except on the Last Sunday after Epiphany (February 11), Palm Sunday (March 24), or Easter Day (March 31). If you are interested in the class, please speak to Father Sammy.

Brown Bag Bible Study will resume on Wednesday, January 10, at 12:45 PM following the noonday Mass. We will begin our reading at Mark 2, with the story of Jesus’ healing of a man who is paralyzed.

Donating Flowers for Altar and Shrines . . . To make a flower donation, please contact Chris Howatt or donate online. We hope to receive donations for many of the Sundays in January and February before the beginning of Lent.

Neighbors in Need . . . Urgent Needs: We need warm-weather jackets and coats in all sizes—though we especially need sizes Large, XL, and XXL—for both men and women. We also like having some jackets and coats for children, toddler to adolescent in ages. We would also gratefully receive new or lightly-used shoes and sneakers in all sizes for men and women. We also depend on cash donations to support this work. Our next Drop-by will take place on Friday, January 19, 1:30 to 3:00 PM. Please speak to Father Jay Smith or MaryJane Boland, if you are interested in volunteering.

The Diocese has made a new permanent link for their online Morning Prayer, weekdays at 8:00 AM. Consider joining others from our Diocese online if you aren’t able to make it to Saint Mary’s: https://dioceseny.org/online-morning-prayer

Father Matt Jacobson will be away from the parish until January 25.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY:
THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD, SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 11:00 AM

The organ prelude on Sunday morning is an extended setting from the third part of J. S. Bach’s Clavierübung that is based upon the traditional melody for Luther’s text on the baptism of our Lord, translated “Christ, our Lord, to the Jordan came” (cf. Hymnal 1982, # 139). The melody is played on the pedals of the organ, sounding in the alto register, while consistent scale-wise motion of the left hand suggests the flowing of the Jordan River. The right hand, at the same time, provides additional rhythmic and harmonic texture. This chorale prelude anticipates the singing of the hymn at the Offertory of the Mass.

The choral setting of the Mass this coming Sunday is Mass in the Dorian Mode by Herbert Howells (1892–1983). This posthumously published work of Howells was his first to receive a professional London performance when it was sung at Mass in Westminster Cathedral in November 1912 under the direction of Sir Richard Terry, just six months after Howells became a student at the Royal College of Music. Over the next four years Howells composed several more pieces in Latin for the liturgy at Westminster Cathedral, all of which soon slipped into obscurity, and none of which were published in his lifetime. Fortunately, these remarkable earlier pieces subsequently have been published and are taking their place along with Howells’ many later beloved settings for Anglican services. Howell’s Dorian Mass is clearly a product of the resurgence of Renaissance polyphony which the papal Motu Proprio of 1903 had encouraged, and which Dr. Terry’s work at Westminster Cathedral had anticipated. Almost a decade later Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor (1921) would similarly reflect the inspiration and influence of Renaissance church music in early twentieth-century England.

Calvin Hampton (1938–1984) was a vibrant member of the New York music scene his entire adult life. A brilliant organist and imaginative composer, Hampton was music director at Calvary Church, Gramercy Park, from the early 1960s until shortly before his death. His distinctive art-song styled hymn settings and liturgical service music brought a distinctive spark to congregational singing in the years after the Second Vatican Council and the ecumenical wave of liturgical renewal which followed. The motet at Communion on the First Sunday after the Epiphany is one of the yet unpublished choral pieces which Calvin Hampton shared with the Mississippi Liturgy and Music conference in 1983. The bookend events of the Epiphany season are the Baptism of Christ and the Transfiguration. In both of these events, according to the synoptic Gospels, a voice from heaven affirms Jesus as the Son of God (e.g. Matthew 3:17 and 17:5). In the motet to be sung today, Hampton gives musical illumination to a small segment of scripture which resonates with these two occasions.

The postlude on Sunday is the fourth of David Hurd’s Four Spiritual Preludes and was composed in 2000. The set, which is dedicated to Dr. Mickey Thomas Terry of Washington, D.C., is a suite of four short organ pieces modeled on the examples of the Baroque masters’ chorale preludes. (Dr. Terry is to play the organ recital here at Saint Mary’s on Ascension Day, May 9.) In Four Spiritual Preludes, each piece presents a well-known spiritual melody in an expressive texture and fresh harmonic context. In Deep River, which concludes the set, the melody of its chorus is largely supported by augmented triads and thirds in triplet figures. In the verse, the melody and alto voice are heard over repeated chords in triplet patterns. A reprise of the chorus ends the piece emphatically. — David Hurd

CONCERTS AT SAINT MARY’S

New York Repertory Orchestra, February 10, 2024
Saint Mary’s Resident Orchestra

Michael Griffith, guest conductor
Radamés Gnattali: Sinfonia Popular
J.S. Bach/Stokowski: “Little” Fugue in G minor
César Franck: Symphony in D minor

Admission is free. A freewill offering of $15.00 is encouraged.

AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
1000 FIFTH AVENUE AT E. 82ND STREET

Africa & Byzantium. Through March 3, 2024. From the museum website, “Art history has long emphasized the glories of the Byzantine Empire (circa 330–1453), but less known are the profound artistic contributions of North Africa, Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, and other powerful African kingdoms whose pivotal interactions with Byzantium had a lasting impact on the Mediterranean world. Bringing together a range of masterworks—from mosaic, sculpture, pottery, and metalwork to luxury objects, paintings, and religious manuscripts—this exhibition recounts Africa’s central role in international networks of trade and cultural exchange. With artworks rarely or never before seen in public, Africa & Byzantium sheds new light on the staggering artistic achievements of medieval Africa. This long-overdue exhibition highlights how the continent contributed to the development of the premodern world and offers a more complete history of the vibrant multiethnic societies of north and east Africa that shaped the artistic, economic, and cultural life of Byzantium and beyond.”

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Saint Mary’s is a vibrant Anglo-Catholic witness in the heart of NYC. With our identity in Christ and a preference for the poor, we are an inclusive, diverse community called to love God and each other for the life of the world.

This edition of The Angelus was written and edited by Father Jay Smith, except as noted. Father Matt Jacobson also edits the newsletter and is responsible for formatting and posting it on the parish website and distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt, parish administrator, and parish volunteer, Clint Best.