Back on the 17th of March, the feast of Saint Patrick, a small group of Chorus Breviarii members and others from Holy Martyrs paid a visit to the Mission San Diego de Alcalá. The mission is significant for a variety of reasons. It was the first mission founded by Saint Junípero Serra in Alta California, being founded alongside the beginnings of the city.
That Lent some of us prayed a 54-day novena to Saint Junípero for the conversion of California. One part of the devotion was to visit one of the 21 California missions during the novena period. We chose to make a day of it and attended daily Mass and Stations of the Cross at the mission.
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| Mass for the feast of Saint Patrick |
Afterwards we gathered in the garden in front of the statue of Father Serra and prayed a rosary for the conversion of our home state and an end to the sin of abortion, LGBT confusion, and so on. To accompany our rosary we sung various hymns, such as Holy God We Praise Thy Name, Faith of Our Fathers, and most specially a hymn to Father Serra written by an alumnus of Thomas Aquinas College.
We hope to return to the mission soon and hope that many more Californians will honor
their founding father and pray for his intercession for the
evangelization of his state which has grown to hate him.
¡San Junípero Serra, reza por nosotros!
¡Viva Cristo Rey y Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe!
On September 10, some members of both Chorus Breviarii Murrieta and San Diego were invited to sing at the weekly Spreckels Organ Concert in Balboa Park, San Diego. Directed by John Burt Polhamus, we and a variety of singers from other groups opened the concert with My Country 'Tis of Thee.
The main feature of the concert was a series of organ pieces played by Alison Luedecke, including a duet between her and John Polhamus. We then sang two opera pieces: The Roulette Song from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Grand Duke, and the Pilgrim's Chorus from Richard Wagner's Tannhauser.
The concert concluded with the National Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.
Read the write-up on the Brothers San Diego blog here.
First Vespers of the English Martyrs in commemoration of the transferred Patronal feast of Holy Martyrs of England and Wales Catholic Church to be prayed by the Chorus Breviarii and Brothers of the Little Oratory following the 4:00 P.M. vigil mass.
