Deo Gratias to 2024 (Pt. 1)

Frater Jon T's picture of us at Martinmas supper

For our American readers keeping up with our blog, we hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we pray for your acclimation to whatever penances you have planned for the rest of St. Martin's Lent and Advent. The Brothers and Chorus Breviarii give thanks to God for their ability to continue their activities, both liturgical and recreational, throughout the liturgical year. To commemorate the end of the 2024 liturgical year, we present some photos from events much earlier in the year that we were unable to post earlier. We have a large backlog of photos from earlier in the year and from years past, so stay tuned for more.

First Visit to the Chaldean Cross

Our poster designer Martin helped to organize the St. Anne Young Adult Group's first hike up to the Chaldean Holy Cross in Jamul, CA on Passion Saturday. Fr. Jesus Valenzuela, F.S.S.P. led the young adults in praying the Stations of the Cross while climbing to the summit of the hill, which was about 900 feet above sea level. We were joined by Mr. Peter O'Connor, F.S.S.P., a seminarian at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, NE. Mr. Grant Dunn, who was leading the young adult group at the time of the hike and has sung in choir with the Brothers for a few Vespers events in the past, is also currently enrolled in his first year at the Denton seminary. Our climb to the top was very penitential, as aside from the steep incline and loose dirt, we also had to deal with a cold drizzle that eventually intensified into windy rain. The rainy conditions died down when we were halfway down the mountain. 

Set on private land between rural and suburban East County, this cross commemorates the persecuted Christian communities of the Middle East, many of whom have been martyred for their embrace of the faith. Many persecuted Middle Eastern Christians have come to the United States, with a large percentage of them being Chaldean Catholics such as the family who installed this cross last December, the Attishas. Counting the Catholic communities alone, there are also Melkites, Maronites, and Syriacs. The Chaldeans have established a large presence in El Cajon and adjacent communities, with a monastery located just east of Montgomery Field. The prominent placement of the Chaldean Cross makes it visible from the southern edge of Rancho San Diego, a community located just south of El Cajon proper which is home to St. Peter's Chaldean Cathedral and an adjacent convent. The future site of an expanded St. Anne Catholic Church is located on the northern edge of Rancho San Diego, only a brief walk from the Chaldeans' seminary in El Cajon. 

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Interestingly, the unity between the Chaldean communities of El Cajon and Rancho San Diego was the subject of a lawsuit filed a couple years ago by LiMandri & Jonna LLP that disputed the legality of the new San Diego County Supervisorial District boundaries. As business-oriented Catholics who have suffered at the hands of Muslims, the Chaldeans have generally voted along conservative lines like the rest of East County. Both the Chaldean community and the County's Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) admitted that the redraws were made in the interest of "BIPOC" activism, with the Chaldean Coalition claiming that "BIPOC" / BLM / anti-conservative interests motivated the push to dilute the Chaldean vote. Meanwhile, the County claims that the IRC was acting in the interest of immigrant and refugee communities, which may highlight that Arab Muslim communities in East County are politically closer to fellow Muslim refugees in San Diego's Mid-City neighborhoods than Chaldeans in East County. Regardless of the validity of the IRC's justification, the lawsuit was rejected in 2023, leaving Rancho San Diego's Chaldean community in the county's most diverse Supervisorial District, with some of the areas represented including immigrant neighborhoods, Black communities, and homosexual enclaves. In general, the District votes solidly liberal.

Many of our younger Chorus Breviarii members are familiar with both Fr. Andrew "Andy" Younan, chorbishop and seminary rector, and Fr. Ankido (Enkidu) Sipo, abbot, due to their positions as professors at JPCatholic University in Escondido. Fr. Andy also offers the Sunday Divine Mysteries in the Chaldean Rite ad orientem at Mar Narsai Chaldean Catholic Mission, which shares facilities with Holy Martyrs of England and Wales Anglican Ordinariate Parish, the home parish of our Chorus Breviarii brethren in Murrieta.

Delayed Tenebrae Scenes

We currently have multiple days of Tenebrae videos from both 2023 and 2024 that we plan on uploading to YouTube around Ash Wednesday of 2025. We also have a large collection of photos from both St. Anne and Holy Martyrs. As at last year's Tenebrae services at St. Anne, Fr. Valenzuela was our hebdomadary. Mr. Peter O'Connor, F.S.S.P. and Mr. Grant Dunn also joined us for Tenebrae, each one reading a Lesson. Since 2022, a few of us have made it a custom to visit the Ruthenians at Holy Angels Byzantine Catholic Church following Tenebrae of Holy Saturday for the celebration of Jerusalem Matins, where we always see Chorus Breviarii associate Gary Huber leading as cantor.

Courtesy: Bert Porciuncula

The Crown Point Country Club

Our annual Paschal Gaudeamus took place on April 22 at the highly-exclusive and extremely secretive Crown Point Country Club. Chorus Breviarii members from down near the Mexican border all the way up to Murrieta gathered to enjoy the end of Lenten fasting to engage in Paschaltide feasting. Our potluck dinner, which included bratwurst, "Tasting is Believing" chicken, and various other dishes was delicious. Highlights at the club that night included an outdoor grill and tiki bar, heated and unheated saltwater pools, and live coverage of the San Diego Padres. My own dip in the pool was followed by some cozying-up by the fire-ring. Considering the cold air that often passes over Crown Point, some modest drinking also aided in warming up the body. For information about the club's history, membership dues, and actual existence, please contact Mr. John B. Polhamus.

Ecce quam bonum et quam jucundum, habitare fratres in unum!

Wednesday, Nov. 27: Votive Mass against the Pagans

The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila (1513-1514)
Raphael (1483-1520); Fresco at the Apostolic Palace

Wednesday, November 27, 18:30 (6:30 P.M.)

Sung Votive Mass against the Pagans

(for the Defense of the Church)

Celebrant: Rev. Fr. Earl Eggleston

St. Anne Catholic Church

621 Sicard St. San Diego, CA 92113-2396

Text with translation for printing or reading on mobile devices.

The Gospel of the Last Sunday after Pentecost prophesies the calamities that befell Jerusalem at the hands of the pagan Romans for the Holy City's rejection of the Son of God. Its eschatological and apocalyptic nature also reminds us of the godless world's present assault against the Church, in which clergy and laity alike also seem to reject Christ. To pray for the defense of Christ's Church against the heathens and the heretics, the Brothers and Chorus Breviarii will be singing for a Votive Mass against the Pagans being offered this Wednesday evening at St. Anne Catholic Church. Please join us in a spirit of penance.

A Requiem on the Palos Verdes Peninsula

This past Lent, the Brothers and a couple of Chorus Breviarii members sang the chants of the Requiem Mass for the father of Frater Jon T. Velasco. The Mass (New Rite due to the difficult situation post-TC) was offered at St. John Fisher Catholic Church, located in a prominent spot on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. This was possibly the first Chorus Breviarii / Brothers event outside the Dioceses of San Diego and San Bernardino in half a decade or more. Our drives north began quite early, about 6 a.m., since we needed to avoid the worst of the morning rush hour both in San Diego and Los Angeles. Once we got off the traffic-choked highways onto the city streets, our drives took us past some classic California storefront designs. While driving along these streets, Frater Tom Gray recalled previous events we had at St. John Fisher, as well as at Ss. Peter & Paul in Wilmington. Fratellino's drive took him up the PCH, where he enjoyed breakfast at the Hot'n Tot Coffee Shop with Chorus Breviarii Murrieta organizer Ken Onoda.

The ascent from the flat Los Angeles basin up to the top of Palos Verdes is a wonderfully scenic drive. A rugged and prominent piece of land towering over the flat floodplain to the northeast, the Peninsula is ecologically and geologically similar to the California Channel Islands, and it likely used to be an island itself. There are some fantastic views of both the ocean and the Greater Los Angeles area atop this almost-island, with some great lookouts available along the northern edge of the parish property. Being Los Angeles, however, these views of the city are a bit whited-out with smog. Fratellino and I took pictures by some trees lining a nearby road.

The current church building for St. John Fisher is very modern and round, with a walled-off Blessed Sacrament chapel, a petite non-rectangular sanctuary with a small altar, and a sound-absorbing ceiling. A statue of the parish patron is located toward the back of the right-side pews.

Fr. Peter Adrian Miller, O.Praem., chaplain to the Pala TLM community, offered the Mass ad orientem and in black vestments. The Epistle and Gospel were identical to the traditional readings for the Traditional Mass of burial, with the addition of the Maccabean lesson from the Traditional Anniversary Mass due to the N.O.'s requirement of an Old Testament First Reading.

We sang Anima Christi as a votive chant following the distribution of Holy Communion to the faithful, and following the In paradisum, we sang Cardinal Newman's "Lead, Kindly Light" as a final hymn.

Following Mass, we joined Frater Jon T. and his family for lunch, where we enjoyed good food, good company, and beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean.

Through our pious supplications, may God grant rest to the soul of Meynardo J. Velasco. +R.I.P.

Remember, O most sweet Jesus,

that no one who has had recourse

to Thy Sacred Heart,

implored its help, or sought its mercy

was ever abandoned.

O Heart of Jesus! be Thou my joy,

my peace, my repose

in this world and the next.

Our views at lunchtime.

The 7-Eleven at the end of Hawthorne Boulevard
(LA County Road N7) plays crime-deterrence music
(classical music) from its loudspeakers.

Courtesy: Fratellino

Courtesy: ronscout / Vaticanguard

Photos from St. Didacus 2024

Last week, we sang for the Feast of our Diocesan Patron, St. Didacus, according to his feast day in the Universal Calendar. Our chants selections included Mass VI, Credo IV, Iste confessor Domini sacratus (the pre-1632 hymn of a Confessor), and Dulce lignum. Following Mass, the Brothers and Chorus Breviarii continued the tradition of enjoying dinner at Rudford's Diner on Old Highway 80 (El Cajon Boulevard). As a Solemn Feast that would have been considered a Holy Day of Obligation for our diocese centuries ago, we found it fitting to feast rather than fast despite it being a mere day after the beginning of St. Martin's Lent!

Thursday, Nov. 21: Mass of the Presentation of Mary

The Presentation of the Virgin Mary
in the Temple of Jerusalem (1534-1538)
Titian (1490-1576)

Thursday, November 21, 9:00 AM

Sung Traditional Latin Mass of the 

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Celebrant: Rev. Fr. Earl Eggleston

St. Anne Catholic Church

621 Sicard St. San Diego, CA 92113-2396

Text with translation for printing or reading on mobile devices.

A small group from the Brothers of the Little Oratory and Chorus Breviarii will be singing for one of the morning Masses at St. Anne Catholic Church. At three years of age, the Most Pure Virgin was brought to the Temple of Jerusalem by her parents St. Anne and St. Joachim in thanksgiving for the miraculous birth of Mary in their old age. At the temple, the child Mary would be consecrated to God and educated in preparation for her role as the God-bearer. Come and celebrate this wonderful Marian feast at this holy temple dedicated to the Virgin's pious mother, St. Anne.

Vespers at Old Calvary Cemetery 2024

A small group of Chorus Breviarii members sang Vespers of the Dead for the repose of the souls in Pioneer Park, formerly known as Calvary Catholic Cemetery, San Diego's second Catholic cemetery. Following the chanting of Vespers under the large eucalyptus trees, we processed with the crucifix down the hill to the collection of gravestones at the edge of the park overlooking Washington Street / Old Highway 80. The full story of Calvary Cemetery's abandonment is too messy to detail here, but to summarize, it appears that the Diocese under Bishop Buddy and the City of San Diego couldn't agree on who should be in charge of maintaining the cemetery following the establishment of Holy Cross. The City owned the land, but City Council expected the Diocese to maintain the grounds. Vandalism and plant overgrowth worsened over the years, and the City soon decided to take advantage of a newly-passed California law that allowed abandoned cemeteries to be converted into parks. Overall, it seems that while the individuals buried in El Campo Santo in Old Town have fallen victim to secular revelries and distorted views of the afterlife divorced from the Catholic heritage of San Diego's first cemetery, the individuals buried in Calvary Cemetery have fallen victim to apathy. There are still tacky ghost tours that occur at Pioneer Park during October and November, but because the cemetery site is located in a residential area rather than a popular tourist destination like Old Town, it's more likely for visitors to Old Calvary to be interested in physical activity or a relaxing outing, rather than ghost hunts.

For further reading, there is plenty of information online about the founding and eventual abandonment of Calvary Cemetery on various websites about San Diego's local history and unique sites.

For the holy souls buried in this park, may they find eternal rest.

Courtesy: Victoria Martino