Scenes from Requiem Week in San Diego (Pt. 1)

Sunday Training and Exercises

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On the occasion of two Solemn High Requiems, the chanting of the Office of the Dead, and the recent admission of two new Brothers from San Diego, Brother Ashley Paver, a great help to the Oratorian community in Cincinnati, flew out to visit us and fulfill his office as Ceremoniere for the San Diego Brothers. In preparation for a triduum of liturgical events, the Brothers and Chorus Breviarii met on Sunday afternoon for server training. 

This was followed by Laetare Sunday Vespers recto tono with the priests of St. Anne, as well as the Exercises of Sunday Afternoon according to the Manual, the latter of which included an exhortation to persevere in our decades-long efforts to establish the Oratory in San Diego. The details for the rest of the week were also sorted out.

The Monday Night Requiem

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Since Brother Steven Holc directs the choir at the Pala TLM, the chaplain to Pala, Fr. Peter Adrian Miller, O.Praem, was celebrant for Monday night's Solemn High Requiem Mass for Maria Holc. Fr. John Lyons, F.S.S.P. was the deacon for the Mass, and Fr. Earl Eggleston served as subdeacon. Aside from the Brothers and Chorus Breviarii San Diego, those in the loft that night included members of Chorus Breviarii Murrieta, the choir at Holy Martyrs Anglican Ordinariate Parish, and Fr. Eggleston's acolyte schola. The motet during Communion was Jacquet of Mantua's O Jesu Christe. Since the burial was not to take place that day, the Benedictus with antiphon Ego sum was sung between the absolution of the catafalque and the In paradisum. It was the first liturgical service at which newly-admitted Brother Adrian Ople wore his Oratorian collar.

Fr. Eggleston chants the Epistle.

Fr. Lyons chants the Gospel.

Fr. Peter Adrian preaches on the
charity of a mother.

Brother Tom Gray fulfills his usual role
of ringing the bell at the consecration.

The servers and clerics
process to the catafalque.

A Televised Time Capsule for Tradition

The Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego have been meeting again on Friday nights during this holy season of Lent to pray the Exercises and enjoy supper with one another. Our first meeting was the Friday after Ash Wednesday at Fratellino's house, and I believe that there were around ten Chorus Breviarii members in attendance that night. The following week, about seven of us met at the house of Marlon Munguia, our newest San Diego Brother. Supper that night included vegetable soup and two loaves of homemade sourdough bread.

Crucifix, candles, and pax-bredes prepared for Exercises.

Our next host was Brother David Latorre, though Brother Rich Dawes served as our cook for the night, preparing cream of mushroom soup for us in David's kitchen. Rich also provided other foods such as pumpernickel and assorted panes dulces. It would have been fitting to have Exercises in David's private chapel, but squeezing seven men into a room the size of a walk-in pantry would have been a difficult feat, so we opted for the more spacious living room. Following Exercises that night, the younger guests visited the barn and fed David's horse, while the older Chorus Breviarii members reminisced about previous years getting lost while trying to access David's property in the San Diego backcountry. We also looked at various mementos organized in David's shelves; some parish anniversary books provided some interesting information, such as that the relics in the main altar at St. Anne are those of the obscure martyrs Ss. Gratus and Beatus, or that the vestments in vogue in the 1990s were indeed quite hideous.

David's mantle includes a illuminated sticker depicting
the stained glass window above the high altar of St. Anne.

The most interesting memento from David's archives was a recording of a Spanish-language news segment on the Traditional Latin Mass that aired on Univision around November 2006. The late Carl Horst, sacristan of San Diego's original TLM congregation at Holy Cross Cemetery, likely distributed the DVD copies of this recording to various members of the Holy Cross TLM as a keepsake, since the majority of the Univision segment consisted of footage from the usual Sunday TLM at Holy Cross alongside interviews with various members of the congregation. Many of the faces in the news segment are familiar since they still attend Mass at St. Anne. David himself was interviewed for the segment, with Brothers Tom Gray and Ron Clemente standing behind him.

Fr. Victor Szczurek, O.Praem. and Archbishop Cordileone were also interviewed in English and Spanish respectively. Following the days of Holy Cross, Fr. Victor served as a regular chaplain to the Traditional Latin Mass communities in North County before they were exiled to Pala, and his chaplaincy was from there succeeded by the chaplaincy of Fr. Peter Adrian Miller, O.Praem. Fr. Victor was also often the celebrant or hebdomadary for many of our events, including Missa Cantatas at St. John the Evangelist in Encinitas and All Hallows Vespers at the Serra Chapel at Mission San Juan Capistrano. During his interview, Archbishop Cordileone (who was at that time still an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of San Diego and the Titular Bishop of Natchez, Mississippi) made references to the liturgical conservatism of then-Pope Benedict XVI. The opinions on reverence, beauty, and tradition expressed by His Excellency today seem to have remained unchanged since this interview from nearly two decades ago, when Summorum Pontificum had yet to be published. We pray that we may be able to celebrate Mass or Vespers with His Excellency again in the future, and we hope that whoever is appointed to our diocese to succeed McElroy is gracious enough to permit His Excellency to celebrate the Traditional Rite whenever he comes through town.

Mar. 31 - Apr. 2 (Mon-Wed): Fauré Requiem and Other Services

Folio 116r of Turin-Milan Hours (c. 1420)
Anonymous Flemish, Mass for the Dead

Monday, March 31, 18:30 (6:30 PM)

Solemn High Requiem for Maria Holc

w/ Gregorian Ordinary and Proper

Celebrant: Rev. Fr. Peter Adrian Miller, O.Praem.

Tuesday, April 1, 19:00 (7:00 PM)

Traditional Chanted Office of the Dead

(Vespers, 1st Nocturn of Matins, and Lauds)

Hebdomadary: TBD

Wednesday, April 2, 18:30 (6:30 PM)

Solemn Traditional Latin Funeral Mass

for John Menzies & Jean Burt Polhamus

w/ Fauré Requiem in D Minor, Op. 48

Celebrant: Rev. Fr. John Lyons, F.S.S.P.

St. Anne Catholic Church

621 Sicard St. San Diego, CA 92113-2396

Text of Requiem Mass with translation for mobile devices. 

Please join us for two Sung Traditional Requiem Masses during the week of Laetare Sunday. The first (on Monday) will be for the repose of the soul of Maria Holc, mother of one of the Brothers in San Diego. The second (on Wednesday) will be for the repose of the souls of John M. Polhamus and Jean B. Polhamus, parents of Chorus Breviarii founder John B. Polhamus. Music for the latter Mass will be taken from Gabriel Fauré's choral Requiem (1890) and the traditional Gregorian chant propers. Additionally, all are free to join us on Tuesday night for the praying of the Office of the Dead for the repose of these souls.

Welcome, Brothers!

Warm congratulations to Adrian and Marlon, who traveled to London to become the latest (but hopefully not the last) Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego!

Saturday, Jan. 25: Mass of the Conversion of St. Paul

Conversion of Saul (c. 1542-1545)
Michelangelo (1475-1564)

Saturday, January 25, 9:00 AM

Sung Traditional Latin Mass of the

Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle

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 Brothers of the Little Oratory will once again be singing for one of Fr. Eggleston's Masses at St. Anne Catholic Church in Logan Heights. Come and celebrate the conversion of Saul of Tarsus from the Pharisees' chief agent of persecution against the early Church to the blessed Doctor of the Gentiles. Let us pray that through the conversion of St. Paul, all nations, including our own, may convert unto Christ, the Light of revelation to the Gentiles.

Dr. Mahrt's Requiem at the Mission Dolores

On Thursday, January 10, one of the Brothers and a postulant drove up north to sing for the Solemn High Requiem of Dr. William Peter Mahrt, president of the Church Music Association of America (CMAA) and a publisher for New Liturgical Movement. The Requiem took place in the basilica church of the Mission Dolores (Misión San Francisco de Asís), adjacent to the much older 1776 adobe chapel originally used by Franciscan missionaries. Mary Ann Carr-Wilson, who in the past has collaborated frequently with the Brothers, was one of the singers our envoys recognized at the Requiem. Many of the others who sang for the funeral were students of Dr. Mahrt while he taught at Stanford University. Two obituaries; a sermon from His Excellency the Most Reverend Msgr. Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, who preached before the absolution; and other related articles are available in the links below.

• "In Memoriam" - Fr. David Friel at Corpus Christi Watershed
  
  
• Obituary from the Church Music Association of America
  
  
• Archbishop Cordileone's sermon
  
  
• Archbishop Cordileone's establishment of the William P. Mahrt Chair in Sacred Music (2022)
  
  
• Special Issue of Sacred Music Journal (deadline 2/10)
  

All who served the Mass that day (MC, crucifer, etc.) appeared to be priests. Two deacons sat in choro alongside Abp. Cordileone in choir dress, Fr. Joseph Illo of Star of the Sea Church, a Norbertine from St. Michael's Abbey, a Dominican friar, and other clerics. Another elderly Dominican friar sat in the nave of the basilica with a walker. The vestment set worn included a Neri-style chasuble.

My homily for the funeral Mass of Prof. William P. Mahrt: "Only the best for God: in our worship..with all of the blessings He has entrusted to us, in our personal, professional & social lives. Professor Mahrt has taught us the joy and simple goodness of such a life of… pic.twitter.com/6DvKkHhEge

— Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone (@ArchCordileone) January 18, 2025

Some Photos from Karolina Zapolska

The full photo album from Dr. Mahrt's funeral can be viewed at the bottom of the CMAA obituary, as well as on CMAA's Facebook.

Photos from the Mission Complex

The following photos were taken in various parts of the Mission complex before the Mass. Aside from the basilica church and the chapel, the complex also includes a museum and a cemetery. The cemetery's burials include Costanoan Indians converted by the Franciscans, Spanish colonial officials, as well as American-era Irish and Italian settlers.

A replica Costanoan hut

Grave of two baptized Costonoans

A bugia

Preparations for Mass

A kneeler used by JP2

Side altar of the adobe chapel

Our Lady of Refuge,
Patroness of California

A reliquary of St. Junipero Serra

Singing Materials and Dr. Mahrt's Favorite Motets List

At the funeral reception, some of the singers joined in singing Dr. Mahrt's favorite motets, which are listed below: 

• Caeleste beneficium (Jean Mouton)
• Sicut cervus (Palestrina)
• O magnum mysterium (Victoria)
• O Salutaris Hostia (La Rue)
• Christum ducem (Josquin des Prez)

The program for the Mass and other printed materials can also be found in the photos above. Helen Waddell's (d. 1965) English translation of a hymn from Prudentius, the Roman Christian poet who wrote Corde natus, was included at the end of the Mass booklet. In fact, it is listed as Hymn X in the Liber Cathemerinon, immediately after Hymn IX, Corde natus. The original Latin text and the English text from the booklet can be found in the links below.

• Hymnus circa exequias defuncti (Tufts University)
  
  
• Hymnus ad Exequias Defuncti (Wikisource / Vicifons)
  
  
• Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing (2004 blogpost)
  

A Quote from St. Philip

"If God be with us, there is no one else left to fear."

From the January 10 entry of
the Maxims and Sayings of St. Philip Neri

Translated by the Rev. Fr. F.W. Faber, Cong. Orat.

Requiescat in pace.