FROM GRACE MUDD: MOTHER OF GOD, QUEEN OF PEACE

Blessed Virgin,
patient gardener of my troubled heart,
clear away the thorny weed and bitter root
that thrive so boldly where they will.
Tireless advocate,
pull up the blemished vines
and poison shoots
that hinder the growth of my virtue,
so the gentle winds of love
may soothe anew my spirit.
Queen of Heaven,
make straight a path in the garden of my heart
so the Savior may shine his endless light
unto the tender green shoots
of my grateful soul.

“The Patient Gardener,” Anonymous

In the lockdown spring of 2020, most of us scrambled to find different ways of keeping observances of the church year and so on the first Sunday in May, I set a sprig of flowers by a painting of the Virgin Mary on the wall of my little balcony garden. The sprig wasn’t at all a crown and there was no procession, no incense; I don’t remember if I sang anything or even prayed aloud, but I felt connected to my parish home and family, rooted in almost a century and a half of Marian devotion there.

It was a great privilege to make a proper floral crown for Our Lady the next year when in-person services had resumed. Choosing flowers to last the month and assembling the crown itself was a creative and logistical challenge, but also a tangible way of reconnecting with our tradition. Members of the Flower Guild have been doing this work a long time, and every year turns out a little differently.

It turns out also that the May Crowning has been different at various times in Saint Mary’s history. For twenty-five years, we have been accustomed to this taking place on the first Sunday in May and at the morning’s Solemn Mass for longer than that. But for a long time, the May festival took place later in the month and later in the day—sometimes as late as 8:00 PM! There were years that the Crowning coincided with conferences like the Catholic Clerical Union’s on a Saturday in 1988. A Catholic Regional Conference hosted at Saint Mary’s in 1932 even featured a procession of costumed children “dressed to represent characters of the Old and New Testaments and clerics and members of religious orders, both Eastern and Western—prophets, priests, kings, bishops, archimandrites, nuns, monks, friars, canons and knights” bringing a crown to the Mary shrine. (The June issue of Ave that year includes thanks to the ladies of the church who sewed those costumes).

Other reflections around the May Crowning at Saint Mary’s speak of their times, as well. In this war-torn year, I was struck by Father Taber’s reminder in 1963 that Mary “must grieve from heaven where she is now its Queen when she sees her children opposing one another in strife and hatred and selfishness, even slaughtering (there is no other word for it) one another with weapons that in this scientific age grow more destructive day by day. We may be sure that she prays for our reconciliation with her divine Son and with one another….” In May of 2020, I prayed more than usual for the health and safety of a world under viral attack. This year, following Father Taber, my May prayer is for peace. May the Queen of Heaven make in us all straight paths for the King of Peace to shine his light. — Grace Mudd

Grace Mudd has been a member of Saint Mary’s since 2007 and serves the parish in a number of ways. She has been a member of the Board of Trustees and is an active member of the Flower Guild. Grace is a member of the Sacristy Leadership Team, which means that she often serves as master of ceremonies at Solemn Masses as well as trains and mentors new acolytes. She is an assistant principal at the High School for Arts and Business in Queens, New York. Grace’s interests include knitting, scuba diving, and working on her Spanish. She can often be found lugging her cello around the city and performs with the New York Repertory Orchestra, which holds its concerts at Saint Mary’s. Grace and her husband, Jason Mudd, who is also an assistant principal and a member of the parish, live in Queens with their cats.

PRAYING FOR THE CHURCH & FOR THE WORLD

A Prayer to Mary, Queen of Peace

We ask you, Queen of Peace, to help us respond with the power of truth and love to the new and unsettling challenges of the present moment. Help us also to pass through this difficult period, that disturbs the serenity of so many people, and to work without delay to build every day and everywhere a genuine culture of peace. — Pope John Paul II (2001)

We pray for an end to war and violence, remembering especially the people of Gaza, Israel, the West Bank, Lebanon, Sudan, Ukraine, Russia, Iran, the Red Sea, and Yemen. We pray for justice and for an end to violence and division in our neighborhood, city, and nation.

We pray for the people and clergy of our sister parish, All Saints Margaret Street, London, and of the parishes of the Midtown Clericus.

We pray for those preparing for confirmation and reception on Ascension Day and for baptism on the Day of Pentecost.

We pray for Nicole Palma and Joe Rodriguez, who are preparing for Holy Matrimony.

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 migrants and those seeking asylum, 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 and around Times Square, for the theater community, and for those living with drought, storm, punishing heat, flood, fire, or earthquake.

We pray for those who are sick or in any special need, especially Richard, Josh, James, Nettie, Chrissy, Jan, Jeff, Aliza, Bob, Chuck, Eleni, Andrew, Maria, Erica, Veronica, Linda, Pat, Marjorie, Carole, Luis, Rahanna, David, Clark, Willard, Virginia, Rolf, Sharon, Quincy, June, José, Manuel, Robert, Randy, Carlos, Abe, Hardy, Giovanna, Rita, Margaret, Bob, Liduvina,  and Gypsy; James, Jack, Barbara Jean and Eleanor-Francis, religious; Lind, deacon; Rob, Robby, and Stephen, priests; and Michael, bishop.

We pray for the repose of the souls of William Ellwood (1911), John Thomas Barry (1912), Adelaide Harrout (1912), Henry Renling (1920), Catherine Chauncey (1934), Paul Craig (1942), Mamie Johnston (1943), Anna Davis (1945), and Elizabeth Perrigo (1965), whose year’s mind is on Sunday, May 5. 

PLEASE JOIN US ON SUNDAY, MAY 5

MASS (RITE ONE) 9:00 AM
ADULT FORMATION CLASS 9:45 AM
SOLEMN MASS & MAY CROWNING 11:00 AM
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE PARISH 12:30 PM
EVENSONG & BENEDICTION 5:00 PM

Ascension Day
Thursday, May 9

Morning Prayer 8:00 AM
Sung Mass 12:10 PM in the Lady Chapel
Organ Recital 5:30 PM
Procession, Solemn Mass & Confirmation 6:00 PM
The Right Reverend Matthew Heyd, Celebrant & Preacher

The Day of Pentecost
Sunday, May 19

Procession, Solemn Mass & Holy Baptism 11:00 AM
The Reverend Landon Moore, Preacher

AIDS WALK NEW YORK UPDATE: A BIG WEEK!

What an amazing week! Three more people joined the team and we are now up to fourteen members. Additionally, we had a remarkable week of fundraising and raised almost $40,000. We are now up to $41,695 out of our goal of $50,000! That catapulted us to second place in the standings, though there are still over two weeks to go. Let’s get past this goal and keep on going higher and higher. Thank you to all who have supported us!

This year, AIDS Walk New York takes place on Sunday, May 19. To join the team, to support us with a donation, or to follow our progress, please click here. We are grateful to all those who continue to support this ministry.

CONCERTS AT SAINT MARY’S

On Saturday, May 18, 2024, at 8:00 PM, The New York Repertory Orchestra plays its final concert of the 2023–2024 season. Program: Johannes Brahms: Academic Festival Overture; Hector Berlioz: La mort de Cléopâtre (Sarah Nelson Craft, mezzo-soprano); Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 4 (Requiem). Admission is free. A donation of $15.00 (or more) is gratefully accepted.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION AT SAINT MARY’S

The Sunday Morning Adult Formation Class . . . The last set of classes in the Conversion & Transformation series will take place on Sunday mornings in May—May 5, 12, and 19—when Father Jay Smith will lead the class in a series entitled Living in Hope: Following Jesus in the Second Half of Life. We’ll consider the work and thought of those who have written about regret, forgiveness, managing retirement, the “missed life,” the spirituality of aging, and living, thriving, and being transformed after fifty (or thereabouts). We will consider how one might experience the presence of God when one has become—sometimes unawares, sometimes unhappily, sometimes with expectation—an elder. This is a class for one and all, and we will benefit from the presence of both the young and those who have entered into this “second half of life.”

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is up and running on Sundays at 9:45 AM for the younger members of our congregation. Learn more about this formation program for children in an article by Renee Wood from a prior issue of The Angelus. Catechesis of the Good Shephard Level 1 formation is designed for ages 3-6. Older children are welcome to join and assist with the younger children. Parents can drop off their children at the Atrium (Parish House, Second Floor) at 9:45 AM and pickup is at 10:45 AM. If you have any questions about the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd or would like to enroll your child, please send Renee an email. Please keep this important program in your prayers!

NEWS & NOTICES

Would you like to donate altar flowers and support the work of the Flower Guild? We are hoping to receive donations for May 26, and all the Sundays in June, including June 2, Corpus Christi. The suggested donation is $250. Please contact Chris Howatt in the parish office for more information and to reserve a date.

The New York City Landmarks Conservancy Sacred Sites Open House 2024 will take place once again this year on Saturday and Sunday, May 18-19! Saint Mary’s has once again registered for the Open House and will welcome visitors to use our recorded self-guided tours.

Fulfilling a Pledge: A Gentle Reminder . . . As we begin to think about warmer weather and the approach of summer, we ask all of our members and friends not to forget Saint Mary’s during the summer months. If you have made a pledge, please try to stay up to date on your pledge payments. And if you would like to make a donation to the parish—or make a mid-year pledge—we would be very happy to receive it.

You may assist the work of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem through the Friends of the Diocese website. The website provides information about the work of the Diocese in the Middle East and updates concerning the Israel-Hamas War and the war’s impact on the region. We continue to pray “for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6) and all the peoples of the Middle East.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, MAY 5, 2024

The generic classification praeludium was used broadly and widely by composers of the Baroque period to identify keyboard pieces of various lengths and characteristics. Some were so short as to be little more than intonations while others were quite lengthy and included a variety of formal compositional procedures including free fantasia, pedal points, fugues, and variations over bass themes, in distinct, successive sections. These pieces were usually identified by the key in which they were written. The legendary Danish-born composer Dieterich Buxtehude composed four Praeludien in the key of G minor, all of the more extended sort. Two of these Praeludien in G minor are Sunday’s organ voluntaries. 

BuxWV 148, played as the prelude, well demonstrates the high Baroque “fantastic style” of keyboard writing. Its opening section establishes the G-minor tonality in free fantasia interrupted briefly by a patch of tight chromatic imitation. Two fugal sections follow. Buxtehude finishes this Praeludium with a set of variations on a repeating ground bass. BuxWV 150, played as the postlude, begins with a flourish and pedal-point on G. A slow fugue is then followed by an agitated imitative section. The final fugue has a jagged subject and develops in a jauntily syncopated style. 

On most occasions, the musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass at Saint Mary’s is the work of a single composer or taken from a single source. This week, however, the setting is a composite from three different sources, including the premiere of a work composed by a member of the choir.

The Gloria is from the Missa Brevis, also by Dieterich Buxtehude. Buxtehude’s fame as organist of the Marienkirche in Lübeck was amplified by his presentation of the pre-Christmas Abendmusiken. He is known to have composed substantial works for voices and instruments, unfortunately now lost, for those legendary annual public concerts at the Marienkirche. Buxtehude’s Missa Brevis, BuxWV 114, is described as in stile antico because, rather than reflecting the emerging musical styles of seventeenth-century Germany, it is fashioned after the imitative vocal polyphony of the Italian high Renaissance. The vocal writing is in five voices with two soprano parts. Although it would be appropriate for instruments to double the vocal parts and provide continuo, Buxtehude’s Missa Brevis also can be rendered very effectively by voices alone.

The Sanctus is from Mass I as found in the Liber Usualis (“Usual Book”), a comprehensive anthology of medieval Roman plainsong compiled in the nineteenth century by the monks of Solesmes, France. Like the several other numbered Masses of the Gregorian Missal, Mass I, subtitled Lux et origo (“Light and Source), is a collection of chants for the Ordinary of the Mass which likely were originally independent pieces brought together and associated with one another only by later custom. This particular combination was traditionally sung in the Easter season. All parts of Mass I are thought to date from the tenth century and are in the fourth mode.

The Agnus Dei is an expansive setting for eight voices composed by George Luton (b. 1997). George has sung in many church, concert, and theater venues across the country, and particularly throughout the northeast. He is a composer of sacred and secular works. His scores have been heard at several off-Broadway, developmental, and regional theaters around the country, and he has been active as a conductor in church, academic, and theater settings. George is a tenor in the Choir of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin this season. He has written the following about his setting:

“This setting of Agnus Dei frames this traditional prayer as a plea of yearning, emphasized by its elongated close-voiced suspensions, and thick texture that deepens as the piece progresses. Composed in 2020 amid domestic sociopolitical turmoil and a global pandemic, this Agnus Dei has awaited its premiere until today, when its entreaty to “grant us peace” still resonates in a world divided by fear and violence.”

The name of Healey Willan (1880–1968) is well known to Episcopalians because of his Missa de Santa Maria Magdalena, composed in 1928. His career and reputation, however, went far beyond composing this enduring congregational Mass setting. He composed more than eight hundred works including operas, symphonies and other music for orchestra and band, chamber music, and music for piano and organ, in addition to a great quantity of choral church music. Willan, who is said to have described himself as “English by birth; Canadian by adoption; Irish by extraction; Scotch by absorption,” was a champion of historic liturgical chant and the aesthetic of Renaissance church music. He incorporated these influences and mingled them with an appreciation of the rich harmonic palette of the late nineteenth-century masters. In 1956 Willan became the first non-English church musician to be awarded the Lambeth Doctorate, Mus.D. Cantuar. “Rise up, my love, my fair one,” Willan’s setting of Song of Songs 2:10–12, is the fifth of ten Liturgical Motets which he composed between 1928 and 1937. Scored in four parts with occasion divisi, this motet is modest in length and rich in expression. — David Hurd

AT THE CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY

The Golden Age of the Jews of Alandalus | La Edad de Oro de los judíos de Alandalús, Until June 14, 2024. 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY. Mon-Wed: 9:30 AM-4:30 PM; Thurs: 9:30 AM-8:00 PM; Fri: 10:00 AM-3:00 PM; Sat: Closed; Sun: 11:00 AM-5:00 PM.

The Jewish community of Alandalús gave the world extraordinary thinkers like Maimonides, diplomats like Ibn Shaprut, and poets like Ibn Gabirol and Judah Halevi, whose wisdom, works, and accomplishments resonate through the ages. 820 years after his death, the RAMBAM’s (i.e., Maimonides’) contributions to medicine, philosophy, diplomacy, and Jewish law continue to inspire wonder and influence till today. Across the Mediterranean in Fustat (Cairo) about two hundred thousand documents accumulated in the Ben Ezra Synagogue’s Genizah—a room or grave where obsolete sacred documents are respectfully discarded—over the course of nearly a millennium.

The geographical location of Egypt, a natural bridge between the Islamic East and Christian West, made it possible for many of these documents to be of Andalusian origin. This exhibition, curated by the University of Granada Professor José Martínez Delgado, takes us on a journey from the origins of this important community to its exodus and extinction in the nineteenth century. Although subsequently scattered all over the world, Sepharadim have maintained connections to their past by perpetuating traditions, the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) language, and exemplifying a seriously Jewish yet cosmopolitan worldview.

The exhibition has been organized by Centro Sefarad-Israel, with the collaboration of Casa del Mediterráneo, the Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, and The George Feldenkers Program in Judaic Studies of the University of Miami, the Red de Juderías de España, the World Jewish Congress, Fundación Hispano Judía, and the American Sephardi Federation. It also has the support of Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs – European Union and Cooperation, the Community of Madrid, the Madrid City Council, ElAl, Instituto Cervantes, the University of Cambridge, the University of Granada, Trinity College Dublin, and the European Research Council.

AN INVITATION TO THE PEOPLE OF SAINT MARY’S

The Sisters of the Community of Saint John Baptist would like to invite the people and clergy of Saint Mary’s to the Celebration of the Community’s 150th Anniversary of the Community in the United States. The Celebration will take place at the Convent of Saint John Baptist, 82 West Main Street, Mendham, New Jersey 07945 on Saturday, June 15. The Holy Eucharist will be celebrated at 10:30 AM. The guest celebrant and preacher will be the Right Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, XXVI Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. A luncheon will follow the Mass. RSVP the Sister Superior. Clergy: White Stoles

UPCOMING AT ROYAL FAMILY PRODUCTIONS

On Saturday, May 4th, at 3:00 PM, Royal Family Productions is kicking off a revival of their education program with an abridged version of Anne of Green Gables: Part 1. The Royal Family Performing Arts Space is located on the 3rd Floor of the Parish House (145 West 46th Street) at Saint Mary’s.

Anne of Green Gables: Part I shares the journey of Anne Shirley, an imaginative, red-headed, hot-tempered, eleven-year-old orphan and what happens when she is accidentally brought to the home of quiet siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert in Prince Edward Island. The performance features 10-year-old Emmaline Gioia as Anne Shirley as well as other characters. Maggie Langhorne, with dancers Emily Anne Davis and Maddy McLean, round out the ensemble. The running time is about 45 minutes.

RSVP via email. For more information, please visit www.royalfamilyproductions.org.

  We need your help to keep holding our services. Click below, where you can make one-time or recurring donations to support Saint Mary’s. We are very grateful to all those who make such donations and continue to support Saint Mary’s so generously.

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.