'Pontifical High Mass in St Peter's, Rome'

With the magnificent spectacle of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations still fresh in our mind, it seems appropriate to mention a celebration of a rather different event, an event of worldwide significance which occurred many years ago, but within the lifetime of our Queen, namely the ratification on 7th June 1929, of the Lateran Treaty between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See, which recognised and accepted the sovereignty of the Holy See with its own 'Vatican City' State.

Cardinal Gasparri and Benito Mussolini (seated) after exchanging treaty ratifications in the Hall of Congregations, the Vatican, June 7th, 1929

Thus ended a period of 58 years during which the incumbent Pope had been a virtual prisoner within the Vatican itself, and ‘persona non grata’ without. The Vatican having refused to recognize the 'Law of Guarantees' (1871) on the grounds that in the exercise of its spiritual jurisdiction, the Law failed to guarantee Vatican independence from political influence and interference.

 Benito Mussolini reads his credentials prior to signing the Lateran Treaty on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III.    Cardinal Gasparri (seated) signed on behalf of Pope Pius XI. (February 11th, 1929)

After the signing of the Treaty, Pope Pius XI made his first public appearance at a Pontifical High Mass in St Peter’s. The author H.V. Morton, in his superb book, ‘In the Steps of St Paul’, has this to say about this momentous and historic occasion:-

                ‘I obtained a ticket for the Pontifical High Mass in St.Peter’s. Pope Pius XI, no longer “the prisoner of the Vatican”, was to make his first public appearance. The snow had turned to rain.
Early in the morning, and in full evening dress, I went to St Peter’s, and never have hours passed so easily, as I sat watching the crowds that swiftly filled the gigantic building. The Vatican Guard patrolled the aisles of the church. They wore bearskins, white doeskin breeches and black thigh-boots and, as their spurs rang on the marble floor, I thought that they might be a squadron that had strayed from history at the time of Napoleon.'

The Vatican Guard, also known as the Noble Guard - disbanded by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

'The Swiss Guard was on duty round the Baldacchino, which rises above the tomb of St Peter. They wore their full dress uniform, which is said to have been designed by Michelangelo: steel casques, doublets and hose slashed with stripes of red, yellow, and blue. Each guardsman grasped a pike. As the hours passed, Vatican officials, who might have stepped from the canvasses of El Greco, came softly down the nave to show distinguished visitors to their seats, their pointed white beards lying against starched ruffs, swords slanting against black satin breeches.'

                    Band of the Swiss Guards outside St Peter's Basilica

'Words of command rang out suddenly from some distant archway. Troops all over the church stood to attention with a ring of pikes and spurs. Then through St Peter’s rang a fanfare of silver trumpets at the sound of which, to my amazement, the thousands of men and women rose to their feet and began to cheer.
                I looked down the nave towards the great west doors, and I saw what seemed to be the splendour and chivalry of the Middle Ages coming in slow procession up the church. I saw the burnished casques of the Swiss Guards moving slowly above the heads of the standing people. I saw the Papal Bodyguard, carrying drawn swords and wearing scarlet tunics and helmets from whose crests hung long plumes of black horsehair. I saw members of the Vatican Chapter walking two by two, representatives of every Catholic Order, and many a monk walking in a brown habit. When the cheering died down and there was a second or two of silence, I could hear the steady tramp and the ring of spurs on marble.'

The dome of St Peter's, designed by Michelangelo and others, and completed in 1590, the last year of the reign of Pope Sixtus VI. Height 136.57 metres from the floor of the basilica to the top of the external cross - the tallest dome in the world.

'As the procession came at funeral pace up the nave, the great church, lit hitherto by the pale daylight, blazed suddenly with countless lights; and the trumpets ceased their fanfare. The sound of a solemn march now filled St Peter’s, and I saw Pope Pius XI far off at the east end of the church, seated in the state palanquin, the sedia gestatoria, clothed in white. There was a jewelled tiara on his head, and he sat motionless, except when he slowly raised his hand to trace the Sign of the Cross in the air.'

                                                            Pope Pius XI

'Two 'flabella', great fans of ostrich feathers, moved slowly above the Pope’s head, and they reminded me of Constantinople and of the Byzantine emperors, and of the time when the representative of St Peter ruled the church of Eastern Christendom. There was not one meaningless thing in all this rich display. There was not one piece of embroidery that had not been pinned in position by Time. All the centuries had combined to make this progress of the Pope. St Peter’s was suffocating with its memories. I could not understand how people could find breath to cheer and shout their “vivas”. The centuries had flooded the church to the roof, and in that flood the imagination struggled like a drowning man.'

Interior of St Peter's Basilica - painting by Giovanni Pannini (1691-1765)

'People all round me were cheering, but my throat was dry, and I do not think that I could have cheered to save my life. Strangely, perhaps, I was not aware of any emotional appeal in the sight before me: the appeal was purely to the mind and imagination.
                              There was an elderly man in white, borne shoulder-high in a chair that trembled slightly as it advanced, but I was looking not at one man or one Pope: I was looking at all history and at all Popes. It seemed to me that everything else in the world was young. I had seen the oldest living thing in the world: I had seen the visible expression of a corporate memory that goes back into the very beginning of the Christian Age.'

'The great chair was lowered from the shoulders of the bearers. The white figure stepped from it and walked to a white throne under a scarlet canopy. One by one the Cardinals approached and kissed his ring. High voices sounded from the Sistine Chapel, and the Pope rose and knelt before the altar ................. '  'It was a moment I cannot describe. I saw a line of men kneeling into the dim perspective of the past, and the first in the long line was St Peter.'

    “Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam”

Ack. 'In the Steps of St Paul' by H.V.Morton

           Published by Rich and Cowan, London, 1937.                                       

                                                
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'May Our Blessed Lady guide and protect our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI'

'St Peter, pray for us.'

'Missa Salisburgensis' - baroque splendour

I was interested to read the account of the recent visit of the Papal Choir to Westminster Cathedral, which revealed in a practical way, the extent of the Holy Father’s goodwill towards our Country. Without doubt the visit was very much a personal expression of gratitude for the warm welcome he received on his visit to  the United Kingdom, and for the sacred music performed in the his presence, particularly at Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.


This is the first ever visit of the Papal Choir to this country , a truly historic event, which has allowed us to hear sacred music sung by a choir trained in the European continental style, as distinct from the style and technique of Westminster Cathedral Choir, faithful to the post-war Catholic choral tradition inculcated by the late George Malcolm. 


The continental choral tradition  has been described as ‘fulsome’ in its manner of presentation,  which while creating impressive and lively sound, loses perhaps a little in purity of tone and clarity of enunciation; whereas George Malcolm insisted, among other things, on the importance of these particular qualities, delivered directly and precisely. Since then, this tradition has been honed to near-perfection, with Westminster Cathedral Choir now regarded as one of the finest Cathedral Choirs in the world. 


Moving from the 21st century to the 17th century, allows me to introduce a magnificent Baroque composition by Heinrich Ignaz Biber (1644-1704), namely his ‘Missa Salisburgensis’, composed for the great celebrations in Salzburg in 1682, commemorating the cities 1100th anniversary as a centre of Christianity, a jubilee unparalleled in the High Baroque era. 


That the papal state of Salzburg enjoyed precedence over the Habsburg emperors and bishoprics, indicates its unique importance, both spiritually and temporarily, with preparations for the ambitious anniversary celebrations beginning years before the event. 

                           Salzburg Cathedral Facade

The archdiocese of Salzburg regarded itself as the focal point of Roman and Venetian tradition, and ‘Missa Salisburgensis’ was composed not only for the glory of God, but also for the honour of Salzburg. 


There are six ‘choirs’ in all, comprising two principal vocal choruses with string accompaniment; a ‘chorus’ of recorders and oboes , a ‘chorus’ comprising cornets and trombones; and two groups of court trumpeters,’ outward manifestations of the secular power of the archdiocese, whose fanfares  represented the union between heaven and earth.’ 


The choirs were situated separately, but in complementary areas of the Cathedral, representing the ‘Choirs of angels standing upon every one of the towers of the heavenly Jerusalem, armed with all the instruments of the time, glorifying Almighty God, the Creator of all things.’ 


That is the message of this great Festival Mass, ‘the innermost concern of which, is the unification and strengthening of every section of society in the archdiocese, in the praise of God.’


 Spare a few minutes to listen to the ‘Kyrie’ and ‘Gloria’ from this extraordinary work – you will be blown away – figuratively speaking, of course! I find it deeply spiritual, powerful , and very moving. 


I think that Fr Blake from St Mary Magdalen’s, Brighton, as a baroque devotee, will particularly enjoy this. What about a performance at your Church, Father, it would be a full-house, without a doubt! Sublime sacred music, composed for the glory of God, and performed for the honour of God.                                           
                                    
                                                   KYRIE!KYRIE!

                           
                                                                        

Our Blessed Lady, Queen of Heaven and Earth, guide and protect our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI

'Viva Cristo Rey! Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!

                                

With the Holy Father currently visiting Mexico, a country of which I  know nothing, I thought it time to learn a little about it.


 Mexico, officially the ‘United Mexican States’, is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal District, with a total area of 761,606 sq. miles, making it the world's 14th largest country by area.

Legislation is based on the ‘1917 Constitution’ formulated as a result of the Mexican Revolution and ensuring  powerful control of the Church by the State,  including the banning of public Masses and religious garb, and  the wholesale  elimination of every aspect  of Catholic education. It capped a century of setbacks for the church, which had enjoyed a government-imposed monopoly of faith for most of the 300 years following Spain's conquest of Mexico in 1521. The revolutionary impositions  sparked the 'Cristero War' of 1926-29 in which tens of thousands of Catholics died  opposing  oppressive State anti-religious laws and violent persecution. The anti-Catholic Constitution remained in force throughout the 20th century, with  religious education outlawed and replaced by  government Marxist/socialist teaching, and  state control of church property and lands. Occasional and gradual  relaxation of the party line were revealed by such events as the open-air Masses and meetings celebrated on the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1980 and 1990. The past decade has seen a more 'conservative' government in power, with a corresponding improvement in Church/State relations.

In spite of decades of religious oppression and interference by the State,  the 2010 census reveals that of the over 112 million population, 82% are of the Roman Catholic faith, with 42% attending Mass weekly. The nearly 93 million Catholics, constitute in absolute terms, the second largest Catholic community in the world after Brazil.  The country is divided into 90  dioceses and there are 15,700 priests and 46,000 men and women in religious orders. The Metropolitan provinces were rearranged on 25 November 2006.


Mexico has one of the world's largest economies, and is categorised by the World Bank as a  newly emerging industrialised country and an emerging power. Great disparity exists between rich and poor, with earnings of  rural workers only 30% that of comparable workers in urban areas, with approximately 46% of the population - 52 million persons, living in extreme or moderate poverty. Mexico is the largest North American car-producing nation, surpassing both Canada and the U.S; and the last decade  has seen enormous growth in the electronics industry providing strong competition to the markets of S.E.Asia. 
    

I have recently been reading a book entitled ‘Red Mexico’ written by  Captain Francis McCullagh, based on his experiences in 1928 in Mexico, the time of the ‘Cristero War’, in which Catholics - particularly the clergy and  young men and women, were arrested and executed without trial, solely because of their  faith. Francis McCullagh, an ex-soldier, journalist and Catholic, had previously visited Russia to see for himself the horrors of the Bolshevik revolution. In this book he equates his experiences in Mexico with those in Russia, seeing diabolical influences in both.
Below is an extract from ‘Red Mexico’; the author has been talking to Senor X, a leader of the local  A.C.J.M. organisation, in permanent hiding from the State police:-
                   
                  “Of all the histories of Saints which Senor X told me that night in a hiding place close to the Prefecture of Police (and all the more likely, therefore, to escape suspicion), the most touching was about a gentle, innocent, and quite unworldly pair,  Joaquin Silva and Manuel Melgarejo, two martyrs whose names are as well known among Mexican Catholics as the name of Edmund Campion was among Elizabethan Catholics.   Silva was 27 years of age at the time of his death and Malgarejo 17.

On 6th September 1926 both left Mexico City for Zamora on a vague pilgrimage of protest and propaganda against the anti-religious legislation of Calles, but without weapons, money, luggage, or military plans.  “Con el intento de trajabar  por la santa causa de cla Iglesia” ("Something of the good old Spanish style about this"). It was just such a pilgrimage as St Francis of Assisi might have undertaken with a companion as simple, frank, pious, outspoken and unworldly as himself; and Silva, whose whole life had been like that of St Francis,  uttered from time to time remarks filled with strange significance, remarks which might have dropped from the lips of ‘il Poverello’ himself.  These remarks are treasured up today in the heart of the Mexican people, and the young man who uttered them is revered as a Saint.

Such a simple pair could not well escape detection; and it was not long before an agent of Calles had ingratiated himself with them and wormed out of them the fact that they belonged to the A.C.J.M.(Catholic Association of Mexican Youth).  This agent was a General, no less, his name was Zepeda.  He posed as a pious Catholic, and on the pretence of showing them scars on his breast, he let them see as if by accident, that he wore a number of religious medals around his neck.  Soon afterwards, this aged Judas threw off the mask and said: “Amigos, estan ustedes perdidos: los tenemos presos” (“Friends, you are lost.  You are our prisoners”).   To which Joaquin replied: “As to me, kill me or do what you like with me, but as for this youth who is only seventeen years old, let him go free.”  But Melgarejo would not have it so.  “No, Joaquin,” he said, “I wish to die with thee.”

Plutarco Elias Calles (1877-1945)  -  President from 1924 -28
Noted for fierce oppression of Catholics leading to Cristero War. Founder of the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), later becoming the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which governed Mexico for more that 70 years.

General Tranquilino Mendoza, the G.O.C. in Zamora, offered to set them free if only they promised to cease their propaganda work and to leave the A.C.J.M.,  but they refused and were condemned to death.  On hearing sentence passed on him, Silva remarked, quite simply, that on entering the presence of God, he would pray for General Mendoza and General Zepeda.

They were brought from the barrack where they had been imprisoned to the cemetery, for, save in Mexico City, shooting is almost always carried out in the cemetery, beside an open grave.

Silva refused to have his eyes bandaged.  “Do not cover my eyes,” he said, “I am not a criminal. I myself will give you the signal to fire.  When I say ‘Viva Cristo Rey!  Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe! (Hail Christ the King! Hail Virgin of Guadalupe!) then you can fire.”

In some respects the Mexican Army is very peculiar, for against this extraordinary arrangement the O.C. firing party had nothing to say, and a condemned man is never handcuffed or prevented from talking as much as he likes.

Silva certainly talked a good deal, but every word went home, for he talked like one who sees the true value of things and does not judge life and death by the standards of the ordinary man.  When he told the members of the firing party that he forgave them and would pray for them, one of the soldiers was so overcome by emotion, that he threw away his rifle saying ‘Yo no tiro joven, yo pienso com ousted, yo soy catolico’ (I will not fire, young man. I think as you do. I am a Catholic.)  This soldier was shot on the following day.

When the last moment of Silva had come nigh, and he could see the muzzles of the five rifles facing him at ten paces distant, he turned suddenly to Melgarejo and said: “Descubrete, porque vamos a comparecer delante de Dios” (“Take off your hat, for we are going to appear before God”), then, addressing the firing party, he cried, “Viva Cristo Rey! Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!” whereupon the soldiers fired, and he fell dead, pierced by all of the five bullets.  On seeing this, Melgarejo tumbled to the ground in a swoon, and the soldiers killed him before he had regained consciousness.

Senor X gave me a list of apparently miraculous cures that have been wrought through the intercession of Joaquin Silva; and Joaquin’s brother Jose Silva, who lives in the United States, says that at the very moment of the execution he distinctly heard his own name called by a voice which he at once recognised as Joaquin’s. At that time he did not even know that Joaquin had been arrested.

For several nights in succession I met Senor X and he introduced me to other members of the A.C.J.M.  They were all between twenty and thirty years of age, but nearer as a rule, to twenty than to thirty; and they were the best types of Mexican youth that I had yet met.  I even found my way into the circle wherein moved the martyrs whose arrest I will later describe. I am glad that I did so for I was thus placed in a position to contrast the snow-white innocence, the untiring industry and the Christian charity of these young men,  with the dark background of crime and hatred and blood against which four of them moved, like Angels passing the mouth of Hell, when on the 23rd November 1927, they crossed the garden of the Prefecture of Police on their way to death.

As for Senor X, he himself suddenly disappeared one day as completely as if the ground had opened up and swallowed him; and taking into consideration all the circumstances that surrounded his disappearance, I came to the conclusion that he had gone to join his young disciples, Silva and Melgarejo."

Ack.  ‘Red Mexico’ by Capt F McCullagh. (Brentano’s Ltd, London. 1928)

                                   
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Our Lady of Guadalupe, guide and protect our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI