The video below is the celebration of Mass for the Solemnity of the Holy Family at the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. After the Mass, there was to be a procession to the Church of Saint Joseph, the site where Jesus, Mary and Joseph, The Holy Family, lived. However, due to inclement weather, they were unable to do so. Instead the “para-liturgy” for that takes place in the Basilica after the Prayer after Holy Communion.
There are some unusual aspects to this liturgy. First, the vestments are quite beautiful and approximate the materials of the Eastern Rite vestments.
The Mass is a hybrid of Latin and the vernacular in Nazareth. Mostly the priestly prayers are in Latin and the sung or spoken parts of the laity in the vernacular.
Something quite unusual, which I have never seen before, is at Holy Communion. Children who are not of the age to receive Holy Communion have the Ciborium placed on top of their head. Never witnessed that before. Must be a custom of that area?
At the end of the Mass, the celebrant blesses the congregation with the Icon of the Most Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This would have taken place at the Church of Saint Joseph to end the Mass.
When I was on a priestly sabbatical in Rome in 2013, we made a pilgrimage to Israel and visited the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Within the basilica there is a chapel built on the exact spot where the Angel Gabriel announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would conceive the Christ-Child within her womb.
4 comments:
The celebrant is the franciscan custos of the Holy Land, who although only a priest is permitted by ancient custom to wear the pontificals in churches where the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land is present
Thanks for that info! I found it interesting that he wore the dalmatic under the chasuble.
Briefly, the Franciscans were present in the Holy Land as far back as 1229. After the fall of the Latin Kingdom in 1291, the Patriarch and friars had to retreat to Cyrus but they were allowed to send two friars every year to officiate the liturgies at the Holy Sepulcher but essentially, there was no longer any hierarchy in the Holy Land. Pope Clement VI officially constituted the Franciscans as the Custodians of the Holy Land in 1342 with the primary role to maintain the liturgical celebrations in the shrines, especially at the Holy Sepulcher. Meanwhile, In the physical absence of the Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem and with no hierarchy otherwise present, the title was vested ex officio to the Custos (superior), who was vested with episcopal-like privileges, including the use of Episcopal insignia, much like that of a Prefect Apostolic in a missionary country who’s a priest with limited Episcopal authority. With the restoration of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in 1847, and thus Episcopal authority over Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyrus, the Custos no longer used the crosier as a sign of authority, but was allowed to use pontificals including the episcopal miter, ring and pectoral cross in recognition of his historical role as the only ecclesiastical authority in the Holy Land for more than six centuries.
Hail Caesar on his throne!
Some of the detail on the vestments looks more Oriental to me.
I've seen the base of the chalice placed on a child's head where not yet fully initiated in the Eastern Church. In some Orthodox Churches, communicants kiss it's base after receiving.
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