Cool European Churches

This is a picture of St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest, Hungary, which my friend Kristine took on a recent trip of hers to Europe. She went with American Music Abroad and played concerts in cool places and spent the rest of the time wandering around looking at castles and houses and churches and eating desserts with great names like "Heisse Liebe" (Hot Love for those of you without a working knowledge of the noble German language.)

I would love to go to Europe solely for the cathedrals and basilicas and other awesome churches. I could spend hours just looking at the art and the architecture and being unable to identify any of it by name but loving it all the same. Hey, I'm taking Humanities this year (11th grade), so maybe by the end I'll be able to throw out some art styles and sound almost like I'm well-cultured. Then again, to be cultured in this country really doesn't take much effort...

Anyway, the inscription on the front of the basilica is "EGO SUM VIA VERITAS ET VITA," which is "I am the way, the truth, and the light" from John 14:6. (I guess Latin doesn't have articles... but Latin is one thing that I am rather clueless about, as the Latin teacher at my high school is pretty crazy. I still managed to get her for German I, however... And let me tell you, German has too many articles, and they're always changing case on me. Gah, it's crazy!)

I love churches so much. I even like looking at Ugly Churches, if only because it makes looking at those really stunning marvels of God's Glory In Architecture all the more stunning. My head turns at every steeple I pass... I would love to see the great churches of Europe.

I'd like to be an architecture major in college and start a movement towards building pretty churches that reflect the majesty of our Heavenly Father. I think we owe God the best of everything we create, and I think that the little brick boxes that pass as churches today aren't living up to their full potential. But, I'm biased, and if I had my way only the churches I think are pretty enough would be built.

Oh, I wish I had my way...

Tridentine Mass

The other day, I got the wonderful opportunity to attend my very first Tridentine Mass. I'd been looking forward to this ever since Bishop Rhoades authorized the weekly celebration of a Latin Mass. I went with my best friend and her mom, who remembers the days of old when it was alwasy in Latin.

It was held at the Cathedral Chapel of St. Lawrence, right by St. Patrick's Cathedral in Harrisburg. The church itself was pretty. Not knowing a whole lot about architecture, I can't tell you much about it, but it had really pretty stained glass windows and an elaborate sanctuary at the front of the church. It had a great churchy smell too -- wooden pews, burning candles, and the faint scent of incense left over from another mass.

Personally, I really liked it. It felt so... Catholic. We were sort of worried when we first went in, because we were the only three ladies there without a veil of some sort. We were early, though, and as time wore on quite a few others came without a head covering. They were saying the Rosary before Mass.

I was really just in heaven the whole Mass. Although the priest (FSSP) wasn't very loud and it was really hard to follow, especially for a first timer like myself, it was really beautiful. I liked his sermon, too -- there was nothing conciliatory about it. It elaborated on the Gospel, quoted about half the saints on record, and didn't try to dress sin and guilt up to seem better than it was. After it ended, I felt like I had something to think about and I felt challenged to examine myself and change my ways. It was pretty sweet.

And receiving Communion kneeling and on the tongue... I think it's more reverent than your average Mass these days. Oh, and the bells. And the altar servers. And the Latin. It really rocked, I tell you what. I appreciate that Mass for its reverence and mostly for its focus on God. When you go, you have no doubts why you're there. It's not for an hour of amusement. It's not for good music, good stories, or good company. It's to worship God.

Plus, it's really neat to think that you're participating in something that has been around in some capacity since the sixth century, and really didn't change much since the sixteenth century. The fact that you're worshiping in the same way countless saints and other holy people have worshiped down through the centuries... it really makes you feel good.

Unlike some people who really enjoy the Latin Mass, however, I'm okay with a well celebrated "New" Mass, too. I have a weakness for singing pretty hymns. I don't like most of what these "new fangled" liturgical composers have come out with -- it makes me want to retch, which isn't a feeling I like to associate with Mass. But really old music (say, Gregorian Chant and that sort) I like, and slightly newer music (in relation to chant -- up until the mid-ish 1900s or so) really drives me wild. As much as I disagree with Protestants on a lot of things, they have produced some pretty good music. I'm a Charles Wesley fan, m'self. Hymns drive me nuts with pleasure.

I just wish that there was more conformity in the celebration of Mass, and that priests and laypeople wouldn't try to change and water down the Mass to make it appeal to more people. If Protestants come to my church, I want them to feel lost. I want them to see the grandeur, the ritual, the beauty, the reverence, and the worship of Catholicism.

I wish the English translation of the Mass was better, too. Just reading the translation in the Latin Mass missal, I was struck by how much more beautiful and profound it seemed. I wish we would go back to some of the text translated from the Latin. I think the Novus Ordo has potential, but I think people take advantage of it.

We need to win back the Mass for God.

Amos, An Introduction

It recently came to my attention that I need to be able to ramble freely to myself somewhere about things, especially all things religious. I'm a Catholic, I love being Catholic, and I really feel like talking about Catholicism. So we'll see how it goes.

Hyfrydol, by the way, which I've chosen as the title of this blog, means "Good Cheer" in Welsh. I think it's appropriate because it's the feeling God gives me when I do His work, and it's the title of one of my absolute favorite hymn tunes. There are a bunch of different hymns set to this tune, but one of my favorites is:

Alleluia, Sing to Jesus (William C. Dix)

Alleluia! sing to Jesus! His the scepter, His the throne.
Alleluia! His the triumph, His the victory alone.
Hark! the songs of peaceful Zion thunder like a mighty flood.
Jesus out of every nation has redeemed us by His blood.

Alleluia! not as orphans are we left in sorrow now;
Alleluia! He is near us, faith believes, nor questions how;
Though the cloud from sight received Him when the forty days were o’er
Shall our hearts forget His promise, “I am with you evermore”?

Alleluia! bread of angels, Thou on earth our food, our stay;
Alleluia! here the sinful flee to Thee from day to day:
Intercessor, Friend of sinners, Earth’s Redeemer, plead for me,
Where the songs of all the sinless sweep across the crystal sea.

Alleluia! King eternal, Thee the Lord of lords we own;
Alleluia! born of Mary, Earth Thy footstool, Heav’n Thy throne:
Thou within the veil hast entered, robed in flesh our great High Priest;
Thou on earth both priest and victim in the Eucharistic feast.