A FORETASTE OF HEAVEN…

I returned to the parish that I was pastor from 1991 to 2004, for a foretaste of heaven, the wedding liturgy and banquet following. I witnessed the marriage vows of the daughter of a very good friend of mine who I have known since 1991 before he married. I married him and his wife in June of 1996 and had to privilege of celebrating their daughter’s wedding this past Saturday in the very same church.

The Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Augusta, Georgia photographs very well as does the wedding party! 

And if I do say so myself, this is how you renovate/restore a historic church as yours truly oversaw it. It was begun in 1857 and completed and consecrated in April of 1863 as the Civil War was raging. The tabernacle remained dead center, never placed on a side altar. Please note the altar—it is the original altar consecrated in 1863 and in continuous use until this day. In the late 1960’s the altar was separated from the reredos so Mass could be celebrated facing the nave. In the mid 1990’s I had the entire structure, altar and reredos, dismantled. The reredos was pushed closer to the back wall of the apse, the altar placed in its original place with supports beneath. When it was pulled forward, no supports were placed in the basement for the new location which cause the floor of the sanctuary to sag a bit. My reorientation of the altar-table also allowed for the celebration of the Mass ad orientem or facing the nave. I knew this would return even in 1996!!!! The previous set up did not allow for the Mass to be ad orientem as the altar was placed on the edge of the last step up to the altar. 

The pipe organ, also historically restored during my reign, was delayed in arriving from New York due to the war. Father Abram Joseph Ryan, the priest-poet of the Confederacy became the parochial vicar of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in 1866 and helped to raise funds to bring the Jardine Tracker Pipe Organ to the church from New York by giving recitals of his poetry.